<exchanging gazes> 12: Adorations in the Collections of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
The homage paid to the Infant Christ and the Virgin by angels, the Magi, shepherds and donors is the theme of this edition in the <Exchanging Gazes> exhibition series, on occassion of the Christmas holidays.
It brings together thirteen works by artists including Luca di Tommè, Jacques Daret, Fra Bartolommeo and Marc Chagall, who depicted both the events described in the Gospels and private devotional images of the Virgin and Child. Only the Gospels of Matthew and Luke describe episodes such as the Birth of Christ and the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi, for which reason artists had to turn to other more complete accounts when devising their works, such as the Apocryphal Gospels, the Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Jacobo de Voragine’s Golden Legend and the texts of religious plays.
The works selected for the present exhibition, all of them from the Thyssen Collections, are notable for the presence of angels, which play a different role in each of the episodes depicted, while the influence of the above-mentioned texts is also evident in details such as the Virgin’s position, the clothing, and the manner of presenting the midwives, among other elements.
