Virgin and Child, from an Adoration Group

Overview Virgin and Child, from an Adoration Group Workshop of Hans Thoman German ca. 1515–20 On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 20 The Metropolitan Museum of Art has possessed the sculptures of the Three Magi (see. acc. no. 51.28a, b) offering their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in its collection since 1951. In 2013 the Museum had the exceptional opportunity to acquire the Virgin and Child and reunite these sculptures, originally part of a large altarpiece that was dismantled in the early nineteenth century. Altarpieces depicting the Adoration of the Magi were widespread in Germany during the late Middle Ages, particularly following the city of Cologne’s acquisition of the Magi’s relics in 1164.