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The Adoration of the Magi

late 1750s
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 643
Tiepolo’s compositional ingenuity is apparent everywhere in this oil sketch: the crowded space compressed between the ruins of a triumphal arch, column, and fallen cornice; the impossibly thin and towering ladder; the aggressively foreshortened cow at lower right, and the red-turbaned king’s elbow that juts out towards the viewer. Tiepolo varied the skin tones of the three magi, or wise men, and their pages to contrast with those of the Holy Family and underscore their arrival from distant lands. While probably made in preparation for an altarpiece, the sketch, with its animated paint handling, appealed to collectors in its own right.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Adoration of the Magi
  • Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid)
  • Date: late 1750s
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 23 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. (60.3 x 47.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1937
  • Object Number: 37.165.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Adoration of the Magi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, Etching
Adoration of the Magi
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
ca. 1753 (?)
Half-dressed Nymph with two children, surrounded by four men, from the Scherzi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, Etching
Half-dressed Nymph with two children, surrounded by four men, from the Scherzi
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
ca. 1743–50
St. Joseph with the Child Jesus
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
The Family of the oriental Peasant, from the Scherzi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, Etching
The Family of the oriental Peasant, from the Scherzi
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
ca. 1740
A Shepherd with two Magicians, from the Scherzi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, Etching
A Shepherd with two Magicians, from the Scherzi
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
ca. 1740

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