The Adoration of the Kings

Gossaert's Adoration of the Kings from around 1510-1515 in the National Gallery London is his most celebrated work, combining the Flemish devotional tradition of his training with the Italian Renaissance spatial ambition he absorbed during his 1508 Rome journey. The vast architectural setting — a crumbling Roman arch through which the Bethlehem stable is glimpsed — deploys his new Italian vocabulary of classical architecture in the service of a traditional Flemish narrative. The work's combination of Flemish surface precision, Italian spatial depth, and the sheer density of narrative detail in the figures and architecture made it one of the most ambitious Northern European paintings of its generation.

The elaborate architectural setting and the rich, brocade-like rendering of the kings' costumes demonstrate Gossaert's synthesis of Netherlandish detail with Italian Renaissance spatial design.