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| Adriaen Isenbrandt Adoration of the Magi Triptych (1510-12) |
I had an hour or so to spare in
Birmingham, last Sunday so decided to
visit its Art Gallery to see if any Renaissance Blacks were to be found.
It was quite easy, perhaps too easy, as the Gallery's paintings and sculpture were laid out chronologically. In its Medieval and Renaissance room I found an Adoration scene by Adriaen Isenbrandt (c1490 to 1551) with a
characteristic Black Magus complete with earring. He was in a Adoration panel flanked either side - dexter (right!) panel The Annunciation and sinister (left!) panel The Circumcision.
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| Adriaen Isenbrandt Black Magus Detail |
Isenbrandt‘s realistic, naturalistic style
with much exquisite detail in all parts of the composition, in oil on oak, follows the
style of two previous generations of Bruges artists :
1st Generation Jan Van Eyck (c. 1395–1441)
2nd Generation Hans Memling (1430 - 1494)
3rd Generation Adriaen Isenbrandt (c1490 to
1551)
The Black Magus presence most probably came from
Isenbrandt‘s awareness of Hans Memling’s (1430 - 1494) influential Adoration work (see below), as Memling had
done , for me, the definitive work that introduced the Black Magus presence
into the Adoration composition to other Netherlandish artists of the period.
Memling’s Adoration was itself a variation of a work by his master Roger van den Weyden (c1400 - 1464) - van Wyden’s foppish young, White Magus is substituted - fifteen years later - by Memling for an equally flamboyant young but Black Magus.
Memling’s Adoration was itself a variation of a work by his master Roger van den Weyden (c1400 - 1464) - van Wyden’s foppish young, White Magus is substituted - fifteen years later - by Memling for an equally flamboyant young but Black Magus.
Rodger van den Weyden, Adoration of the Magi, oil on panel, c.1455
Hans Memling, Adoration of the Magi, oil on
panel, c.1470-72,
Netherlandish rtists such as Hugo van der Goes (1440- 1482),
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) and Gerard David (active 1484; died 1523). Just like Adriaen Isenbrandt seem to have been aware of the Memling altarpiece with its Black Magus.
So, Adriaen Isenbrandt's Adoration Tryptch with its Black Magus takes its style from fifteenth century Bruges artistic traditions and its composition from Hans Memling to create a colourful, pleasing and typical Adoration with a Black Magus.
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| Adriaen Isenbrandt Adoration Triptych Detail |
Adriaen Isenbrandt Adoration of the Magi Triptych (Detail) (1510-12)
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