Adoration of the Magi by Albrecht Durer Postcard

Adoration of the Magi by Albrecht Dürer, 1504, is an oil and tempera painting of the visit of the Three Wise Men to the newborn Jesus, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Magi had followed a star to the birthplace in the town of Bethlehem, depicted here with the manger, cattle and landscape ruins from the Biblical story. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a German painter of the Northern Renaissance whose work as an engraver, printmaker, mathematician and theorist secured his reputation as one of the greatest artists of Europe. His many paintings, portraits, altarpieces, watercolors, and engravings were the first in the Northern Renaissance to use classical motifs from antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Dürer’s unparalleled skill in drawing and engraving as well as mastery of perspective allowed him rapid execution of a range of motifs which elicit universal admiration to this day.