Petworth House

Studio or follower of Jheronimus Bosch,

Adoration of the Magi, c. 1520.

Oak panel, 100 x 73.5 cm,

Petworth, Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (The National Trust), NT63.

This is a relatively faithful copy of the central panel of the Prado Adoration, although some significant changes were made.

The format of the composition was changed into a rectangle, and the horizon was lowered significantly, the stable’s rooftop of the stable now pierces through it. This enhances the effect of depth in the painting and ‘modernises’ it with respect to the Prado original. A similar effect is created by the reduced size of the Virgin.

The infrared photographs show that she was initially painted with the same dimensions as in the original. We can only speculate about the reasons for this change but the effect of it can be described as a somewhat more naturalistic relation between the size of the stable and the figures in it.

Curiously, exactly the same changes were observed in the version now in Philadelphia.

References

From Bosch’s Stable 2018, 52-59, 77-82, 94, cat. no. 23.