One bright star shines with rays over the dark land.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Star Leads the Wise Men
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
Pannemaker and Ligny signed this night scene at the lower right. Doré leaves most of the sky a smooth dark gray, so the few stars, and one above all, stand out as small points of white paper.
A caravan moves through the dark: camels hung with tassels and fringes, riders with spears, servants on foot with staffs and jars. High on the tallest camel sits an old bearded man with a crown and a staff. Everyone looks toward a single bright star low in the sky at the left.
From the text
- The star “went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the Child was” (Matthew 2:9)
- “they rejoiced with great delight” (Matthew 2:10)
- They set out after they had heard King Herod (Matthew 2:9)
The artist’s own
- A crowned rider; Matthew calls them Magi, not kings, and does not say how many
- A large caravan with armed riders and servants on foot
- Camels and harness in the style of travelers Doré’s century knew from the East
Details
The star
The crowned rider
An old man with a long beard and a crown sits high on a camel.
Harness
Fringes and tassels hang from the camel’s saddle.
The caravan
Riders with spears stretch away into the night.
Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 2, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1874 (acc. 75.267 A) · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.