About the Artwork
Adoration of the Magi
ca. 1525
Joos van der Beke van Cleve
ca. 1485-between 1540 and 1541
Netherlandish
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Oil on oak panel
Center panel: 35 × 25 1/2 inches (88.9 × 64.8 cm) Left wing: 35 × 11 inches (88.9 × 27.9 cm) Right wing: 35 × 11 inches (88.9 × 27.9 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb
45.420
Public Domain
Markings
Signed, on scabbard: J B [artist's monogram]
Provenance
by 1817, Count Caspar Heinrich von Sierstorpff [1750-1842] (Bad Driburg, Germany);1842, by inheritance to his son, Count Ernst von Sierstorpff [1813–1855] (Bad Driburg, Germany);
1855, by inheritance to his son, Count Bruno von Sierstorpff [1845–1870] (Bad Driburg, Germany);
1870, by inheritance to his brother, Count Ernst von Sierstorpff [1846–1879] (Bad Driburg, Germany);
1879, by inheritance to his sister, Baroness Hedwig von Sierstorpff [1848–1900] (Bad Driburg, Germany);
April 19, 1887, sold by (R. Lepke, Berlin, Germany) auction Sierstorpff’schen Gemälde-Galerie vom Schlosse Driburg, lot 96 [as the Master of the Death of the Virgin].
Hermann Emden (Hamburg, Germany);
May 3, 1910, sold by (R. Lepke, Berlin, Germany) auction H. Emden, lot 85 [as by the Master of the Death of the Virgin];
1911, sold by (Bangel, Frankfurt, Germany), lot 46;
by 1916, until at least 1925, M. van Gelder (Castle Zeecrabbé, Uccle, Belgium);
1931, (Paul Bottenwieser, Berlin, Germany);
between 1935 and 1936-1940, (Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., New York, New York, USA);
1945, (Cosmos Art, Inc., New York, New York, USA);
1945-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA) with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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von Sierstorphff, Caspar Heinrich. Für die Kunstfreunde welche meine kleine Gemälde Sammlung besuchen wollen. Braunschweig, 1817, pp. 263-67.
Justi, C. "Bevorstehende Auktionen; Berlin." Cicerone, 1910, pp. 251-252, p. 255 (ill.).
Friedländer, M.J. Von Eyck bis Bruegel. Berlin, 1916, p.111.
Friedländer, M.J. Von Eyck bis Bruegel. Berlin, 1917, p. 110.
Baldass, L. Joos van Cleve: der Meister des Todes Maria. Vienna, 1925, p. 2, note. 76; p. 25, cat. 54.
Friedländer, M.J. Altniederländische Malerei. Leiden, vol. 9, 1931, pp. 25, 33, 127, no. 10, pl. 16.
Flemish and French Primitives. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. Toledo, 1935, cat. 6.
"Notable Works of Art Now on the Market." Burlington Magazine 69 (December 1936) pl. 1.
Golden Gate International Exposition. Exh. cat., San Francisco, 1940, cat. 131.
Richardson, E.P. "The Adoration of the Magi." Bulletin of the DIA 25, no. 1 (1946): pp. 13-16 (ill.).
Justi, Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen. 1895, vol. 16, p. 25.
Fiamminghi e Italia. Exh. cat., Groeningemuseum. Bruges, 1951, p. 43, cat. 29.
Richardson, E.P. Catalogue of the Whitcomb Gifts, Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1954, p. 55.
Puyvelde, L. van. Les Premitifs Flamands. Brussels, 1959, p. 75 (fig. 155).
Detroit Institute of Arts Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 90 (ill.).
Friedländer, M.J. Early Netherlandish Painting. Leiden and Brussels, 1972, vol.IXa, p. 53, cat. no. 10, pls. 20-21.
Cummings, Frederick J., ed. Selected Works from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1979, p. 94, no. 65 (ill.).
Silver, L. The Paintings of Quinten Massys. Oxford, 1984, p. 93, pl. 84.
From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, p. 370.
Kotková, O. Netherlandish Painting 1480-1600, series The National Gallery in Prague, Illustrated Summary Catalogue I/1. Prague, 1999, p. 46, under cat. no. 14.
Leeflang, M. "Joos van Cleve's Self Portraits: New Insights." Jérome Bosch et son Entourage et Autres études, Le Dessin Sous-jacent et la technologie dans la Peinture. Colloque XIV. Louvain, Paris, and Dudley, MA, 2003, pp. 175-182, esp. p. 178.
Hand, J.O. Joos Van Cleve The Complete Paintings. London and New Haven, 2004, pp. 79, 81, 151, cat. 61.1 [as Joos van Cleve and workshop.]
Leeflang, M. "Uytnemende Schilder van Antwerpen Joos van Cleve: atelier, productie en werkmethoden." Diss., Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, 2007, pp. 11, 15, 19, 42, 45, 50, 58, 60, 68-69, 71-75, 88-90, 128, 148, 184, 198-199, 204, 213, 222-223, 225-228, cat. 9.
Leeflang, M. "Joos van Cleve's Adoration of the Magi in Detroit Revealing the Underdrawing." Bulletin of the DIA 82, nos. 1/2 (2008): pp. 61-75 (figs. 1, 25, 9, 12, 13, 15, 18).
Leeflang, M. Joos van Cleve: A Sixteenth-Century Antwerp Artist and his Workshop. Turnhout, 2015, pp. 6, 37, 105-112 (figs. 3.15, 3.19, 3.21).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Joos van der Beke van Cleve, Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1525, oil on oak panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb, 45.420.
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