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Seeing Double

In Kansas City, you can see the same painting in two different museums located only blocks apart. But, how could that be?! That’s because one is a miniature at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures! Lee-Ann Chellis Wessel, an IGMA Fellow since 1989, added egg tempera painting to her repertoire after traveling and studying in Italy. She reproduces works of “The Old Masters,” such as Gherardo di Jacopo Starna, on tiny wooden panels. Adoration of the Magi can be seen in full-scale at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Art museums across the world feature masterpieces depicting the Adoration of the Magi, the name traditionally given to images of three kings, or wise men, visiting Jesus in the nativity after following a star to find him. The three magi, commonly considered to be Melchior (a Persian scholar), Caspar (an Indian scholar), and Balthazar (an Arabian scholar), bring Jesus gifts. They’re not at the top of our wish list, but they were ordinary offerings for a king: gold (a valuable metal), frankincense (used as a perfume), and myrrh (used as an anointing oil).

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