The Adoration of the Magi
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
Sizes
About this painting
A painting of kings bringing gifts was itself a gift. Ippolito II d'Este commissioned it for Henry II of France and Diane de Poitiers, and its frame sets their HD monogram among crescent moons, bows and arrows, the attributes of the goddess Diana.
Mary's face shows little joy as she presents the Child to the kneeling king. Matthew has the magi open their treasures: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Irenaeus read the myrrh as the gift for one who should die and be buried.
In the story every gift is given. The picture never reached the two whose initials it wears.
Sources: Mary read as pensive/sad, sensing the tragic destiny of her son; Christ Child blessing while gazing intently at the king, the compositional focus · Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, masterpiece record, 'Adoration of the Magi — Titian' · Corroborated across Ambrosiana's page, thearkofgrace.com, and artsupp.com; traceable to Federico Borromeo, De pictura sacra (1624), trans. Kenneth S. Rothwell Jr. (I Tatti Renaissance Library, Harvard University Press, 2010) · Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies) III.9.2, Roberts–Donaldson translation
And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11 · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), from the project’s own corpus at data/bible_drc.js
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 16,255 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.