Scripture · 1 Samuel 25:18-35
Matthew 2:11
The Adoration of the Magi
On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
The visitor closest to Jesus is carrying incense and wearing a priest's white vestments. Rubens has moved the bearer of gold to the left, where he looks out toward us instead.
About the artwork
That rearrangement changes the painting's emphasis. The red-clad man offers a visual entrance into the crowd, but the incense bearer kneels at the point where Mary presents her child. Servants, soldiers and riders rise behind them, giving the encounter the scale of a public ceremony.
The painting stood over the high altar of St Michael's Abbey in Antwerp. KMSKA connects the kneeling man's surplice and stole with the Eucharist, the celebration of Communion. Worshippers beneath the picture would therefore see a biblical offering related to the worship taking place at their own altar. The architecture reinforced the connection: Corinthian columns appeared both in the painting and in its monumental frame.
Featured in: 20 Famous Adoration of the Magi Paintings
What does Matthew 2:11 mean?
Matthew 2:11 names gold, frankincense and myrrh without assigning each gift to a particular visitor. Rubens uses that freedom to bring incense forward. His priestly figure is a later Christian interpretation of the Magi's worship, shaped for the abbey's congregation. The question of who recognizes Christ at Bethlehem becomes connected to how Christ is honored in the church that commissioned the picture.
Sources
KMSKA: The Adoration of the Magi.
Matthew 2 — Berean Standard Bible. The paired text read in its surrounding chapter.
Also from Matthew:Marriage of the VirginThe Dream of Saint Joseph
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