The Retable of the Magi

On the occasion of Holy Christmas, the Museo Diocesano Carlo Maria Martini hosts an extraordinary work: The Retable of the Magi, a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture from the southern Netherlands. Made in Brussels in the late 15th and early 16th century by the atelier of the Flemish carver Jan II Borman (ca. 1460 - ca. 1520), this imposing painted and gilded sculptural ensemble represents a unique example of the workshop, having preserved the original polychromy and decorative apparatus. It is also one of the rare Flemish altarpieces in Italy, still in its original destination.

The wooden altarpiece is presented after a complex restoration carried out between 2022 and 2023 at the’Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique (IRPA) in Brussels, which restored the work to its original appearance with refined polychromy and sophisticated decorative techniques. This restoration was made possible thanks to the support of the Fondation Roi Baudouinof the Fondation Périer-d'Ieteren and of Intesa Sanpaolo, as part of the project Returns.