Adoration of the Kings (Gerard David, London)

The Adoration of the Kings by the Early Netherlandish painter Gerard David (c. 1460 – 1523) is a painting in oil on panel, probably from after 1515, now in the National Gallery in London (NG 1079). The painted surface measures some 60 by 59.2 centimetres (23.6 in × 23.3 in), and the panel is about 2 centimetres (0.79 in) larger in both dimensions. The panel comes from a dismantled altarpiece from which one other panel appears to survive, the Lamentation that is also in the National Gallery (NG 1078).

The Adoration of the Magi is a common subject, which often represents the Nativity of Jesus in art, especially in this period, when the opportunity was often taken to show rich costumes in the figures of the Biblical Magi and their retinue, as for example in the slightly earlier Adoration by Jan Gossaert, also in the National Gallery, to which David is sometimes thought to have contributed. Though that is a much larger and more crowded painting, David may have borrowed aspects of the composition here from it.

However, David's treatment here is relatively simple and restrained, with the five main figures occupying most of the picture space, and none of the angels who are prominent in most of the many other depictions of the Nativity by David and his workshop. As very often, the Adoration of the Shepherds is here conflated with that of the three kings. Behind the king on the right two of the shepherds kneel, and behind them three heads from the royal retinues wear exotic turbans. Another figure in a turban stands in shadow some steps up the staircase in the tower at left, cut off at the edge of the paint, this is "clearly Saint Joseph".

The traditional ox and ass are not in the main scene, but can be seen through the ruined wall above the foremost king's head, respectively sitting and grazing on a patch of grass. There is a view of a section of the suburbs of Bethlehem visible at the centre, and to the right the imposing walls and skyline of the town itself.

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