Virtual Nativity - The Magi travel towards Bethlehem

Relief of the Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem

by Benedetto Antelami (or his school), in the late twelfth century.

Mosaic at the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

Benedetto Antelami was born c.1150 and died c. 1230 in Parma, and was an Italian sculptor and architect considered to have been one of the greatest of his time. A relief of the ‘Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem’ can be seen in Fidenza Cathedral, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. In this relief the Wise Men are shown riding horses.

Many early works of art depicting the Magi show them on horseback. However, T. S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’ offers a dramatic monologue focusing on the famous biblical story of the three kings from the East travelling to Bethlehem to pay homage to the baby Jesus. He imagines one of the kings giving an account of the journey on camels.

The first five lines of the poem are taken, with poetic alterations, from a Nativity sermon preached by the Bishop of Winchester, Lancelot Andrewes, for King James on Christmas Day 1622.

‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’

In the sixth line of the poem camels are shown to carry the Magi.

‘And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,’

In the Mosaic at the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo the men are now distinguished by the first of the conventions that would determine their appearance in the future:

one is shown as a white-haired, bearded man;
the third in line is shown as a dark-haired man with a beard;
and the middle one is shown as a youthful man with no beard.

Their gifts are distinct as well:

the first man carries an open vessel which clearly shows that it is full of gold;
the second man’s closed vessel, with its upturned rim suggests the rising of the smoke of incense;
and the third man carries a round vessel with a lid, suggestive of an ointment pot.

The ‘Magi’ mosaics, completed in 565 AD, are part of the mosaic panels on the north side of the Basilica’s nave. They are named in the mosaic:

Balthassar;
Melchior;
and ‘Caspar’

This is thought to be the earliest example of the three names being assigned to the Magi in Christian art.

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