Rubens: The Adoration of the Magi

Public Domain Image: ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ (1633-1634), oil on canvas painting by Peter Paul Rubens, 328 cm x 247 cm, located at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, England, UK.

The Adoration of the Magi, the oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), depicts the Biblical episode as is given in the Gospel of Matthew's (2:11) in which ‘Three Wise Men’, or ‘wise men from the East’ visits the newborn Jesus Christ, though the number of men is not mentioned in Matthew's account.

Traditionally, ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ in art, refers to the Nativity of Jesus and the visit of the Three Magi, who followed a star to find Jesus and visited him with gifts of myrrh, frankincense and gold and worshipped him. The Orthodox Church celebrates The Adoration of the Magi on the Feast of the Nativity (on Christmas day, December 25). The significance of the visit of the Biblical Magi is often taken to represent that from birth Jesus Christ was recognized as king of the earth.

Oil paintings by William Edward Frost

Image: L'Allegro (1848), oil on canvas painting by William Edward Frost, size 97 cm x 71 cm, currently located at Royal Collection of the United Kingdom, Windsor, United Kingdom.

Image: Venus and Cupid (Vénus et Cupidon) oil on canvas painting by William Edward Frost, dimensions 31.8 cm x 46.4 cm sold by Christie's London on February 20, 2003, now believed to be in The Forbes Collection of Victorian Pictures and Works of Art II.

English painter of the Victorian era William Edward Frost (1810-1877) had established a reputation as a portrait painter before he turned to historical and mythological subjects, including the sub-genre of fairy painting characteristic of Victorian art. In 1839 Frost won the Royal Academy's gold medal for his ‘Prometheus Bound’, and in 1843 he won a prize in the Westminster Hall competition for his ‘Una Alarmed by Fauns’. Frost was elected associate member of the Royal Academy in 1846, and he became a full member in 1870.