3-002-459 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Balthazar, c1700. The costume identifies the man as Balthazar, the name by which Europeans in the Middle Ages came to identify the youngest of the three kings who followed a new star to Bethlehem in Judea to pay homage to the divine child born under it. Balthazar, the African, is identified as a king by a crown atop the broach on his turban. The kings are usually depicted as very grave but this Balthazar looks right at us with an open, friendly demeanor. This is most likely not simply one of three paintings of the kings as semi-historical figures but rather a portrait of a specific man who wished to be depicted as the magnificent figure of Balthazar.