The Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi by Albrecht Dürer: A work made of woodcut in black on ivory laid paper.

What to notice

Follow the procession toward the kneeling king and child; Dürer compresses architecture, costume, gifts, and distant landscape into a remarkably dense devotional scene.

Discover

Dürer organized the Magi, their gifts, attendants, architecture, and distant landscape within a compact print. Precise line gives devotional narrative the descriptive abundance and spatial complexity associated with his graphic work.