The Adoration of the Magi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The convent church in Altenberg-an-der-Lahn in its present form was begun between 1250 and 1267 under the abbacy of Gertrud von Nassau (d. 1297), and construction continued until about 1280. These panels (acc. nos. 2003.478.1, .2), executed shortly thereafter, came from the apsidal window. Removed during the secularizations, they became the property in 1804 of Graf Franz von Erbach, who had them installed in his private funerary chapel at Schloss Erbach, where they remained until about 1940. The panels join two more representing the Annunciation that originally came from the same window and were acquired by The Cloisters in 1993 (acc. nos. 1993.251.1, .2). The distinctive style is characterized by the monumentality and bold outlines of the animated figures along with the somewhat archaized treatment of the draperies.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art