Triptych with the Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity, and the Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Description The center panel of this triptych depicts the Adoration of the Magi, along with the Journey of the Magi. As is commonly seen at this period, the youngest magus (or wise man) is a dashing black man. Following an issue raised in the Walters' exhbition Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Art (catalogue edited by Joaneath Spicer, 2012-13), one must ask who the model for this figure was. It appears to be based on a life study, especially as the style in which the painting is executed suggest that the study was made in Antwerp. See also other treatments of the same subject by Stetter and Santacroce in the Walters. On the left panel is the Nativity with the Shepherds Guarding Their Flocks. On the right panel is the Rest on the Flight into Egypt with the Fall of the Pagan Idols.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Treatment	loss compensation
12/31/1969	Examination	examined for condition
12/31/1969	Treatment	repaired
1/01/1900	Examination	examined for condition
8/19/1939	Treatment	cleaned; other
8/19/1939	Treatment	other
2/23/1942	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation; coated; other
2/23/1942	Treatment	coated; cradle removed; inpainted; varnish removed or reduced
11/17/1969	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation; coated
11/17/1969	Treatment	coated; inpainted
3/09/1981	Examination	examined for condition
5/23/1981	Examination	examined for condition
9/01/1984	Examination	examined for condition
9/18/1984	Examination	examined for condition
3/09/2011	Examination	examined for condition

Provenance Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902