Melchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration Group

Melchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration Group

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These three kings (see 52.83.1–.3) along with a seated Virgin and Child formed the central shrine of a large altarpiece with painted wings. The attenuated, elegant figures and the broad drapery patterns are characteristic of Late Gothic sculpture in Swabia. The Virgin and Child are still in the convent for which the altar was made, and the two painted wings - representing, on the outer sides, the Annunciation and the Visitation and, on the inner sides, the Birth and Dormition of the Virgin - are in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. One of the wings is dated 1489 and bears the name of the donatrix, Margarethe, daughter of the margrave Karl I of Baden and abbess of Lichtenthal from 1477 until her death in 1496.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Melchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration GroupMelchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration GroupMelchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration GroupMelchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration GroupMelchior of the Three Kings from an Adoration Group

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.