The Adoration of the Magi

Hans Kemmer's Adoration of the Magi, dated around 1520 and now at the National Museum in Warsaw, places this German painter within the broad production of Adoration subjects across northern Europe in the early sixteenth century. Kemmer was active primarily in Lübeck, the great Hanseatic city on the Baltic, working for the wealthy merchant community that had made the city one of the commercial centres of northern Europe. Lübeck's artistic culture in the early sixteenth century was shaped by the Flemish influence that came through the Hanseatic trading network, and Kemmer's work reflects this while also showing awareness of the German Renaissance tradition stemming from Dürer. The Adoration of the Magi, as the presentation of worldly wealth and power before the divine, had obvious resonance in a merchant city. The Warsaw museum's holding reflects the broad collection of northern European panel painting assembled in Poland's national museum.

Kemmer's Adoration employs the standard northern European compositional approach — the Holy Family at the stable receiving the three kings and their entourages — with particular attention to the rendering of courtly costume and exotic attendants. The figure style reflects Flemish influence filtered through the North German-Hanseatic tradition. Colour is rich and descriptive with the costumes of the Magi providing chromatic variety against the more austere manger setting.