Description
Although the identity of the artist responsible for this small devotional painting is today unknown, the renowned art historian Max Friedlander attributed this painting to the so-called Master of the Saint Lucy Legend. That artist worked in Bruges—and perhaps also in Spain—during the late 15th century. He is thought to be responsible for over thirty remarkable altarpieces; other noteworthy examples of his work can be found at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The interest shown in resplendent fabrics and in rendering the deep spatial recession of landscape elements are typical of this artist, as is the sweet, almost resigned expression of the Virgin. Scholars feel certain that the artist who painted the Timken’s Adoration of the Magi must have been familiar with other great Netherlandish paintings of the same subject, such as the version painted by Hans Memling that is today at the Prado in Madrid. Like this much smaller rendition of the scene, the Prado’s triptych also features a handsome African king, Balthazar, striding into the scene from the right and holding a jewel encrusted reliquary in his left hand.
