Boijmans van Beuningen

Follower of Jheronimus Bosch,

The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1540,

Oak panel, 72 x 58,5 cm,

Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2440.

This painting is a faithful copy of the panel in New York and has about the same dimensions. With the help of a carefully executed underdrawing, all the compositional elements were transferred. Whether this was done directly from the original or through an intermediary drawing cannot be determined at this moment. As is often the case with copies, this painting helps us to better understand the original. Caspar’s cloak for instance, is clearly green in the copy, while it has changed into a brown in the original. But the original also helps in our correct reading of the later version: Mary’s mantle, which originally must have been bright blue in both works, has degraded into a dull greenish colour in the copy. In this case it becomes clear that the use of costly ultramarine pays off, at least in the long run..

References

From Bosch’s Stable 2018, 69-70; F. Lammertse (ed.), Van Eyck to Bruegel 1400-1500. Dutch and Flemish Painting in the Collection of Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam 1994, 122-125.