The Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi, painted around 1650, was one of the most frequently depicted subjects in Christian art, and Stom brings to it the nocturnal drama that was his signature. Working in Sicily far from the artistic centers of Rome or Amsterdam, Stom maintained the Caravaggist tradition well after it had fallen from fashion elsewhere in Europe. Stom's mastery of candlelight effects was among the most technically accomplished of all Caravaggist painters, surpassing many of his contemporaries in the subtlety of his graduated shadows and the warmth of his artificial illumination.

The infant Christ serves as the light source in a characteristic Stom composition, his radiance illuminating the adoring kings and creating the stark tonal contrasts of the Utrecht-Caravaggist tradition transplanted to a Sicilian context.