Királyok imádása

At the centre of the painting stand the kings, who approach from the left to adore the Child. The Madonna is seated on the ground at the right edge of the picture, in an open stable with a thatched roof. She wears a red, long-sleeved dress and a blue mantle, the colour of which has now darkened. With both hands she holds her Child, dressed in a long golden-yellow garment, who is leaning forward towards the gift of the kneeling elderly king: a golden vessel. The second king stands somewhat farther back, wearing a green robe and mantle, holding in his hand a horn-shaped cup filled with myrrh. To his right stands the young king, dressed in blue with a cinnabar-red mantle over it; he holds with both hands the golden vessel containing frankincense. On his head is a golden-yellow, cap-like crown. The middle king may have worn a similar headdress, but as a result of the trimming of the painting it is no longer visible today. The faces of all three kings are distinguished by radiant haloes, as befits saints. The figures of the two standing kings are further emphasized by the wedge-shaped golden field projecting into the upper part of the painting. At the far left of the scene, in front of the rocky background, two yellow camels and a grey horse are waiting. The painter places the encounter between the Child and the elderly king along the diagonal axis of the picture. The two other kings stand on a parallel plane. The depth of space is suggested by placing the figures one behind another.

In this work by a follower of Bernardo Daddi, Jesus is not shown as an infant, as in the works of Giotto and his pupils, including Daddi’s London triptych, but rather, following the apocryphal writings (Pseudo-Matthew 16), as a child of about one year old, as we see in Sienese and Assisi painting of the early 14th century. In the painting, the vivid colour characteristic of Sienese Trecento painting and its immediacy are combined with solemn simplicity.

Mária Prokopp, 1993

Proveniencia

Ipolyi Arnold gyűjteményéből

Irodalom

• Cséfalvay Pál, szerk.: Keresztény Múzeum, Esztergom. Budapest, 1993. Corvina, 215, kat.sz. 72. "Bernardo Daddi követője" (Prokopp Mária)
• Boskovits Miklós: Korai olasz táblaképek, Budapest, 1966. 12. "Bernardo Daddi követője, 1330-as évek"
• Boskovits Miklós-Mojzer Miklós-Mucsi András: Az esztergomi Keresztény Múzeum képtára. Budapest, 1964. Akadémiai Kiadó, 29. "Bernardo Daddi követője, 1340-es évek"
• Magyarország műemléki topográfiája I. Esztergom 1. Esztergom műemlékei (összeállította: Genthon István; Budapest 1948) "romagnai 14. századi festő"
• Gerevich Tibor: Esztergomi Műkincsek, in Prímás Album, Budapest 1928,179-263. "romagnai 14. századi festő"