The journey of the magi
Origins, Myth and Reality – The true story of the three kings
1 December 2027
Digby hall , hound street, sherborne at 3 pm and 7 pm
Journey of the Magi-Benozzo Gozzoli 1459
Benozzo Gozzoli- Corteo del Magi-1459
Benozzo Gozzoli-Corteo Del Mag – 1459
Stained Glass window Chartres Cathedral
The Journey of the Magi is one of the best loved stories associated with the birth of Christ and has been illustrated by artists as various as Sandro Botticelli, Hieronymous Bosch and Peter Paul Rubens. But how did this myth arise and what made it so appealing to artists over the centuries ? In this lecture Leslie Primo traces the story from its Eastern and pagan roots to its current Christian interpretation. He examines the changing iconography of the story and the inclusion of the black king, whose depiction presented such challenges to European artists. Finally, he examines the actual origins of the story and asks why we still cling to this picturesque legend rather than the biblical story in our Western society. The whole talk is illustrated with a variety of beautiful – and sometimes – surprising images, which range across the centuries.
Leslie Primo
Art historian, Leslie Primo is an author and broadcaster, graduating from Birkbeck,
University College, London with an MA in Renaissance studies. He specialises in early
Medieval Art and Architecture, Italian Renaissance art, German art in the age of
Reformation, Medici & Patronage, and mythology in the work of Peter Paul
Rubens. Leslie lectured at the National Gallery, London for 18 years, and has appeared
on the BBC speaking in Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, and on the Life of
Michelangelo, and also presented Turner: Light and Landscape. He was a contributor to
the Oxford Companion Guide to Black British History, an art history consultant for the
Getty publication, Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Ar t and
was published by the Royal Academy Magazine for the Entangled Pasts exhibition, 2023-
2024. Leslie’s book, ‘The Foreign Invention of British Art’ is published by Thames &
Hudson in 2025 .