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# Sad faces and Balthazar's golden ship in Pieter Bruegel the Elder's “Adoration of the Magi”
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/na-kartine-poklonenie-volkhvov-pitera-breigelia-starshego-vse-ochen-grustnye-khotia-povod-v-obshchem-to-schastlivyi-rozhdenie-spasitelia/
- Published: 2019-12-26T10:52:56.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:09:10.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Art, Observations, Humour

In Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "Adoration of the Magi" everyone looks thoroughly miserable, though the occasion is, broadly speaking, a happy one: the birth of a saviour. And then there is Balthazar, the only guest who has brought a decent present: a golden ship with a nautilus shell of rare beauty inside. I quite understand the feelings of the Holy Family; I, too, am usually given all sorts of rubbish

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_2219@26-12-2019_13-52-56.jpg)