An Unsilent Night

Rubens’s Adoration of the Magi is a noisy masterpiece that melds religion and politics

Adoration of the Magi (1609–1629) by Rubens. Prado, Madrid. (Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Peter-Paul Rubens’s gigantic painting loudly contradicts the folkloric silent night.

This typically muscular painting by the Flemish master is deafening. The Holy Family greet a huge commotion when the Magi arrive to offer gifts to the divine king of Christian…