Adoration of the Magi

Northern European painters of the Adoration kept to the Gospel and set it in the stable at Bethlehem. Venetian painters of Bassano's day had started moving it among imitation classical buildings. In this canvas from around 1555 to 1560, Bassano puts both into one picture, the humble shed and the grand architecture together.

It comes from the years when he was closest to Mannerism, the elegant, artificial style then at its height across Italy. The figures have long, unnaturally drawn limbs, the space between them is hard to read, and the cool, restless colour runs against the quiet devotion of the kings. Beside that stylisation he sets down realistic details with the same care. The picture belonged to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the Habsburg governor of the Spanish Netherlands, whose paintings formed the core of the Vienna gallery.