Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi—the presentation of the three wise men before the infant Christ—was among the grandest subjects of Christian iconography, traditionally staging an encounter between the exotic East and the stable at Bethlehem. In Baroque Naples the subject was popular for church altarpieces, where the procession of the Magi permitted elaborate displays of costume, jewellery, horses, and exotic retinues. Cavallino's 1640 version at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is held in one of the world's great collections of Italian Baroque painting. The KHM's acquisition of Neapolitan works reflects the deep political and cultural ties between Naples and the Austrian Habsburgs, who succeeded the Spanish as rulers of Naples in 1707. Cavallino's treatment would almost certainly domesticate the grand processional convention into a more intimate register, concentrating on the devotional exchange between the kings and the Holy Family rather than the spectacle of their arrival.

The Adoration format requires colour variety—the Magi's contrasting costumes, their exotic gifts—against which the pale Holy Family serves as a devotional anchor. Cavallino's palette would be relatively rich here compared to his monochromatic devotional subjects. The Magi's gifts—gold, frankincense, myrrh—receive the kind of still-life precision he brings to significant objects.