Black Presence - II

Who are the Magi? Where do they come from? What do they look like? ​
The answer is not so obvious. ​
Justin Randolph Thompson analyzes the figure of Balthazar, a man we all are familiar with given his presence in the Christmas crib. ​
Over the centuries this Wise Man changes his features and becomes a black character dressed in the European fashion.​
A history of cultural exchanges between Africa and the Old Continent, where African presence indeed influenced the artists of the Renaissance as in the case of the Adoration of the Magi by the German Albrecht Dürer.

In collaboration with: Black History Month Florence BHMF