Adoration of the Magi in the Snow

The Adoration of the Magi in the Snow (or Adoration of the Magi in a Winter Landscape) is a painting in oils on oak panel of 1563, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, now in the Oskar Reinhart Collection Am Römerholz in Winterthur, Switzerland. With two Italian exceptions, it is thought to be the first depiction of falling snow in a Western painting, the snowflakes boldly shown by dots of white across the whole scene, added when the work was otherwise completed.

The very common subject of the Adoration of the Magi, showing the visit of the three Biblical Magi to the baby Jesus and his parents, is given a resolutely down to earth treatment, set in a contemporary Netherlandish village. The weather is dull, the size of the painting relatively small, and the figures all well wrapped-up, making some details more easily seen in the numerous early copies, many by Bruegel's son Pieter Brueghel the Younger. These generally show snow on the ground, but not actually falling. It was Bruegel's second painting of the subject.

At 35 cm × 55 cm (14 in × 22 in) it is considerably smaller than most of Bruegel's other examples of "the crowded, high-angle, small-figure compositions of his middle years", mostly with crowds of figures in a village setting. These are mostly over three times higher, at between 110 and 120 cm high. Like many of Bruegel's paintings, it is signed and dated, but the date, in Roman numerals in the bottom left corner, is hard to read, though 1563 is now generally accepted.