The Adoration of the Magi

Andrea Mantegna

ca. 1475–80 · Engraving (centre of composition completed, rest in outline) · Drawings and Prints

This engraving, known only in this incomplete state, is one of the earliest unfinished prints to have survived. It reproduces, on the same scale, the right-hand portion of an important painting by the artist, and its odd cropping suggests that a fuller composition may have been originally intended. We do not know why impressions were pulled even though the print was incomplete, but perhaps Mantegna’s fame made them attractive to collectors. The engraving is based on the central panel of Mantegna's triptych in the Uffizi, which dates about 1463-64. It has been formally attributed to Zoan Andrea by Hind (H.V.22.13), while Kristeller (Kristeller, 1901, p.463) and Zucher (TIB.XXV.Comm.98.008) left the attribution to anonymous.

Artist

Andrea Mantegna

Date

ca. 1475–80

Medium

Engraving (centre of composition completed, rest in outline)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925