c. 1529

The Adoration of the Magi

French, active 1517, died between September 1541 and January 1542

This window represents the visit of the three wise kings to the infant Christ. The complex scene is composed of large pieces of brilliantly colored glass, further detailed with intricate staining and painting, as in the face of the Virgin Mary and costumes of the three kings. Created by Jean Chastellain after designs inspired by the prints of Albrecht Dürer, the window reveals the technical mastery of Chastellain’s workshop, which pushed stained glass techniques to their limits. This work belongs to a set of twenty windows that once decorated a chapel in the Church of the Knights Templar in Paris.