Adoration of the First Magus

Another panel from the Ávila altarpiece of Santo Tomás, this image focuses on the first Magus's presentation of his gift, placing the act of royal homage at center with ceremonial grandeur. The Adoration of the Magi combined the tender humanity of the Nativity with the splendor of kingly submission, making it among the most frequently commissioned altarpiece subjects of the fifteenth century. Berruguete's version shows the influence of Flemish Epiphany compositions he had studied, reinterpreted through the more monumental figure style absorbed during his Italian years at the Montefeltro court.

The genuflecting Magus's sumptuous costume is rendered with material precision learned from Flemish models, each embroidered surface and gilded vessel depicted with descriptive exactness. The spatial arrangement, however, reflects Italian training in constructing coherent architectural depth behind figural groups in a way that Flemish painters rarely attempted.