Monforte Altarpiece

Old copies of the work show the Nativity and Circumcision of Jesus on the wing panels. The central panel has been reduced in size at the top. In 2023, a detailed reconstruction of the missing top portion was completed for an exhibition on van der Goes' work at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. A detailed description of the process and a photograph of the result are included in an article by museum curator Dr.

It is recorded as the work of Hugo van der Goes. Materials recorded for it are oil paint and oak panel. It is associated with Germany. The record gives 1470 as its date of establishment or first appearance. It is associated with Early Netherlandish painting. Recorded genres are religious art. The recorded subject matter is adoration of the Magi. It forms part of triptych.

• Title — Monforte Altarpiece • Artist — Hugo van der Goes • Year — c. 1470 • Medium — Oil on wood • Height Metric — 147 • Width Metric — 242 • Metric Unit — cm • Imperial Unit — in • City — Berlin • Museum — Gemäldegalerie

The work takes its name from a convent in Monforte de Lemos, in northern Spain, where it is presumed (from the dates of copies made in Flanders) to have arrived in the early 16th century; before that its history is unknown. The dating to c. 1470, early in van der Goes' short active career is based on stylistic considerations. It was offered on the London art market in 1910 (though still in Spain) and acquired by Wilhelm von Bode and Max Jakob Friedländer for the Gemäldegalerie in 1914, after Friedländer went to Spain to view it and the Spanish government finally agreed to its export. The purchase caused a dispute between Friedländer, whose attribution to the then little understood van der Goes was based on similarities to his Portinari Altarpiece in Florence, and the leading art historian Heinrich Wölfflin. Wölfflin's formalist approach made him think the painting was much too late to be by van der Goes, and from the 16th century. It is now generally accepted that the work is by van der Goes, though its style is indeed very advanced for its date. Among other works clearly influenced by the painting is the Adoration of the Kings by Jan Gossaert (1510–15) in the London National Gallery, which uses some of the figures and broad elements of the composition.

Monforte Altarpiece is recorded as made of oil paint and oak panel. Associated with Germany. Recorded from 1470.