The Adoration of the Magi
Jan Muller
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Having followed the star gleaming brightly in the sky above, the three kings (or magi) and their retinues have arrived to pay tribute to the Holy Family who have taken shelter at a dilapidated stable. Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child are seated in the center of the composition, outside the stable, illuminated by the star, as one of the kings kneels before them. He has given the chalice to Mary but still holds its lid between his fingers as he grasps the Child who blesses him. A second king stands at the right center, his back to the viewer and he is in darkness except for his turban and the elaborately decorated vessel he holds in his hands. The third king is a shorter, less imposing figure standing at the right. He wears a small crown, holds a covered bowl and is fully illuminated by the star. Jan Muller was one of the most sought-after Mannerist printmakers, engraving compositions of the leading artists of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In the mid- to late 1590s and early 1600s, he made a handful of spectacular night scenes, including the Last Supper after Gillis Coignet (2018.839.109), the Dead Christ Lamented by an Angel after Jacopo Ligozzi (61.658.11), The Raising of Lazarus after Abraham Bloemart (49.95.578) and two original designs by Muller, Belshazzar’s Feast (51.501.6341) and the present work. Instead of the flamboyant engraving technique he used in his prints after the Dutch Mannerists and artists from the court of Prague and these prints are characterized by longer, finer lines and extremely close cross-hatching to create the dense blackness from which the highlights can shine. Wider spaced hatching and cross-hatching provide the middle tones.
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.