Predella panel from an altarpiece: The Departure of the Magi from Herod's Palace

Artist Unknown north Italian artist (Circle of Bonifacio Bembo) Italian, Cremonese, active 1442–died before 1482

Datecirca 1440–1450

MediumTempera and oil on panel

Dimensions12 1/2 x 16 1/2 in. (31.8 x 41.9 cm)
Frame: 17 1/8 x 21 x 1 1/4 in. (43.5 x 53.3 x 3.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.162

On View

On view

Label TextWith the Adoration of the Shepherds [52.9.161] and a third panel in a private collection, this anecdotally rich depiction of the Departure of the Magi from Herod's Palace is a rare survival from an unknown altarpiece that likely originated in the Duchy of Milan around the middle of the fifteenth century.

The copious decorative and narrative details—including the masonry and drawbridge of the palace, flutes hanging from the shepherd’s belt, and objects hanging from the stable post and thatched roof above—all point to the authorship of Bonifacio Bembo, who executed numerous artistic commissions for the rulers of Milan from the 1440s to the 1460s.
[L. Humphrey, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceWith Newhouse Galleries, New York; sold to NCMA, 1952.Published ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 193.

Perri Lee Roberts, Corpus of Early Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections: The South, Vol. 3 (Athens, GA: Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 2009), discussed 660, illus. (b-w) 661.

Clementina Santi, Pietro da Talada: Un pittore del Quattrocento tra l’Appennino reggiano e le Apuane (Lucca: Unione Comuni Garfagnana, 2015), 99, 101, illus. (b-w), 101.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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