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Bramantino, The Adoration of the Kings

Key facts
Full title The Adoration of the Kings
Artist Bramantino
Artist dates active 1490; died 1530
Date made about 1500
Medium and support Oil on poplar
Dimensions 56.8 × 55 cm
Acquisition credit Layard Bequest, 1916
Inventory number NG3073
Location Gallery C
Collection Main Collection
Previous owners
The Adoration of the Kings
Bramantino

Unusually, the kings are poised to pay homage rather than doing so, and Joseph - or it may be Saint John the Baptist - prominently points to Christ.

The peaks at the extreme right were originally intended as towers. In front a tiny angel appears on a cloud, presumably to announce the Nativity to the shepherds.

A grid and diagonals converging on the vanishing point are incised. Bramantino worked in Milan and this painting probably dates from the 1490s.

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