The Epiphany is an oil painting

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

 on wood panels triptych

Triptych

A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...

 painted by Hieronymus Bosch around the year 1495. This triptych is also sometimes referred to as "The Adoration of the Magi".
The centre panel measures 138 x 72 cm

Centimetre

A centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of . Hence a centimetre can be written as or — meaning or respectively...

, and the wings measure 138 x 34 cm.
The original version hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid and another version (copy) in the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...

, Philadelphia. It is not to be confused with the 74 x 54 cm Bosch painting of the name Epiphany, which may have been a working model for the triptych The Epiphany.

Exploration

The Adoration of the Magi altarpiece

Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...

 triptych, commissioned for Peeter Scheyve and Agnes de Gramme in 1495-1499, contains some elements which are unique to Bosch when compared with other Netherlandish triptychs. The central panel depicts the newborn Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

 in Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

’s lap, with the three kings present. The ramshackle barn and insidious looking characters inside seem to invoke feelings from the viewer of looming danger. Two peasants look down from the roof; others try to catch a glimpse from holes in the barn wall or by climbing trees. The middle ground shows two of the kings’ followers riding toward each other as though entering battle against each other; a third cavalry rides closer to the city in the distance. The background of Jerusalem features a windmill in the center, a symbol which Bosch almost always incorporates in some way.

The flanking panels portray praying patrons with their namesake saints: Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

 and Agnes

Agnes

-People:*Agnes , a female given name *Agnes of Assisi*Agnes of Gandersheim, Abbess of Gandersheim and Quedlinburg*Agnes of Poitou, Regent of the Holy Roman Empire*Agnes of Tristain, fictional character...

. The side panels’ middle and foregrounds lack complete spatial continuity with the central panel, although they appear significantly similar enough to read the triptych as a panorama. Chronologically, the events of fore, middle, and backgrounds are concurrent throughout the panels. The three panels coherently run into one another; division due to the frame does not separate scene from scene or time differences.

Peter and the male patron appear on the left panel, which corresponds to Christ’s right side, the position of honour. Beyond them, Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

 dries linens by a fire. Even though this is the only triptych of his that has a donor portrait

Donor portrait

A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or her, family...

, Bosch continues with the artistic norm in portrayal of donors. In the middle ground of this panel curious creatures inhabiting a field dance to bagpipes. Finally, the right panel has the female patron and saint, with a fleur-de-lis

Fleur-de-lis

The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...

. A lamb

Domestic sheep

Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

, the emblem of St. Agnes, lies on the ground, above the praying woman. In the background, a woman flees on a road away from a wolf, while a man closer to the foreground cannot escape unfortunate demise at the jaws of another wolf.

When the hinged outer panels were closed (originally probably most of the time), a grisaille

Grisaille

Grisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...

 Mass of Saint Gregory

Mass of Saint Gregory

The Mass of Saint Gregory is a subject in Roman Catholic art which first appears in the late Middle Ages and was still found in the Counter-Reformation. Pope Gregory I The Mass of Saint Gregory is a subject in Roman Catholic art which first appears in the late Middle Ages and was still found in...

is seen on their outside, also with a donor portrait.

Tradition of Netherlandish triptych painting

The Bosch Adoration differs from many other Northern Adoration triptychs by depicting the saints and donors on the same plane as Christ, but on the wings. Compared to his contemporaries, Bosch breaks with a common tradition of preserving each wing to be a separate event and chooses a continuous view. Bosch’s work possibly dates to about ten years before van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes was a Flemish painter. He was, along with Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Gerard David, one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters.-Biography:...

, perhaps inspiring the Portinari altarpiece

Portinari Triptych

The Portinari Altarpiece or Portinari Triptych is an oil on wood triptych painting by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes representing the Adoration of the shepherds....

’s similar side panels of the donor in prayer on the wings with a saint. Memling

Hans Memling

Hans Memling was a German-born Early Netherlandish painter.-Life and works:Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Rhein region, it is believed that Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne, and later worked in the Netherlands under Rogier van der Weyden...

’s St. John altarpiece also dates to the same time as the Portinari

Portinari Triptych

The Portinari Altarpiece or Portinari Triptych is an oil on wood triptych painting by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes representing the Adoration of the shepherds....

, but the scenes on the flanks are disconnected in theme from the center panel. One of Memling

Hans Memling

Hans Memling was a German-born Early Netherlandish painter.-Life and works:Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Rhein region, it is believed that Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne, and later worked in the Netherlands under Rogier van der Weyden...

’s Adoration triptychs from before 1470 looks similar to the Columba

Columba

Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...

 in layout, using van der Weyden

Roger van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden or Rogier de le Pasture was an Early Flemish painter. His surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. Although his life was generally uneventful, he was highly successful and internationally famous in his...

’s layout as opposed to the Portinari. An Adoration triptych known as The Pearl of Brabant, by the younger Bouts

Bouts

Bouts is the name of*Aelbrecht Bouts , An early Netherlandish painter, son of Dirk*Dirk Bouts, An early Netherlandish painter, father of Aelbrecht...

 lacks the continuous panels which van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes was a Flemish painter. He was, along with Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Gerard David, one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters.-Biography:...

 displays, putting Christopher and John the Baptist

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

 on the side panels in different settings than the Adoration scene. Historically, in addition to van Eyck

Van Eyck

Van Eyck , also Van Eijk is a Dutch surname meaning "of Eyck" or "of Eijk"...

, the elder Bouts used the wings of the triptych to act as extensions of the central space, but this occurs in different themed works since he never painted an Adoration. Two different approaches are common in the history of the Netherlandish triptych painting, and Bosch’s layout remains traditional in the general history of van Eyck

Van Eyck

Van Eyck , also Van Eijk is a Dutch surname meaning "of Eyck" or "of Eijk"...

 and van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes was a Flemish painter. He was, along with Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Gerard David, one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters.-Biography:...

, but strayed from the style imagined by van der Weyden

Roger van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden or Rogier de le Pasture was an Early Flemish painter. His surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. Although his life was generally uneventful, he was highly successful and internationally famous in his...

and his subsequent followers such as Bouts.