Strata: Exhibit Watch: Magi Reunited

Bearing gifts, they traversed afar, and now they’re coming together again.

In 1618, the great Flemish artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens painted portraits of the three wise men. For the first time in 130 years, these paintings can be viewed together in the exhibit Peter Paul Rubens: The Three Magi Reunited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. They will be on display through July 5, 2015.

The three paintings were commissioned by Rubens’s childhood friend, Balthasar Moretus. The project held special significance for Balthasar, since he and his brothers had been named after the magi—Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar. Although the paintings stayed together in Antwerp, Belgium, until 1876 and then briefly in Paris until 1881, eventually they dispersed across the world. The Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, now holds the portrait of Gaspar, and the Museo de Arte de Ponce near San Juan, Puerto Rico, has the portrait of Balthasar. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, houses the last of the trio, the portrait of Melchior. It was given to the National Gallery of Art in 1943 on the condition that it could not travel, which is partially why the three paintings have not been reunited in so long.