Before the parades became popular in the 20th century, the reliefs and paintings of the Epiphany, present in cloisters, doorways and altarpieces of the churches, had a special projection in the Christmas celebrations. The word, from the pulpit, glossing the Gospel of St. Matthew, and those images were united, in perfect alliance, to show before the faithful the manifestation of Christ to the whole world, signified before those singular adorers.

As it is known, the only text that gathers the passage of the Epiphany is that of St. Matthew, which points out the gifts brought by the magi. More details are provided by the apocrypha: the Protoevangelium of James, the Pseudo-Matthew and the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. The first author who turned the Magi into Kings was Tertullian, a prolific writer and theologian who lived between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, whose works had a great influence on Western Christianity. Later, in the 6th century, Caesarius of Arles followed the same opinion. In iconography, Phrygian caps were replaced by crowns on their heads, even when they appear in the scene of sleep, sleeping in bed.

Regarding issue, St. Matthew mentions only a few magi. In the catacombs there are two, and even four. With the passage of time, liturgical, biblical and symbolic reasons imposed the issue of three, for the ages of man, the three continents then known, the three gifts and the sacred Trinitarian number. As for the names of Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar, it seems that their first appearance is in the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy of the fourth century. Bede the Venerable also recorded the names of the three kings around the year 700: "The first of the Magi was Melchior, an old man with long gray hair and a long beard, who offered the gold, symbol of divine royalty. The second, called Gaspar, a young, beardless young man of white and rosy complexion, honored Jesus by offering him incense, symbol of divinity. The third, called Balthasar, with a dark complexion, testified by offering him myrrh, which signified that the son of man should die." Later, in the IX century, in the Liber Pontificalis of Ravenna, dated 845 and with greater transcendence, Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar are also mentioned. To the African king, generally the name of Balthazar was applied and his black color was generalized in the iconography in the last times of the Age average, in plenary session of the Executive Council XV century. Previously, the rejection of the black color was defined by equating it to the devil or hell.

Their primitive clothing, showy and colorful, typical of the priests and wise men of the East, became simpler during the Romanesque period and the headdress, as has been indicated, was replaced by the royal crown. In this regard, it should be taken into account that the concept of magician had acquired a pejorative tone, equating it to that of sorcerer, and they wanted to dignify their image by attributing to them a royal position.

In the art of the centuries of the Modern Age they appear on horseback, with beautiful retinues, dressed as western monarchs, with ermine, rich cloaks, crowns and scepters. They once symbolized the three known continents, although they were also related to the three ages of man. Their main significance is that which connects them with the great manifestation, the Epiphany. Their gifts are associated with the Child King (gold), God (frankincense) and prophet (myrrh). This is the most generalized interpretation, although there are others, such as that of St. Bernard, who points out, in a more prosaic way, that the gold was destined to help the poverty of the Virgin, the incense to eliminate the bad smell of the stable, and the myrrh to deworm the Child, ridding him of insects and worms.

Examples in Romanesque times

The 12th century capitals of the cloister of Tudela or the doorway of San Miguel de Estella show the topic with great quality. The seated Virgin with the Child in her lap, as sedes sapientiae, receives the Magi who are presented in an attitude of adoration. Particular accredited specialization deserves the Epiphany and some passages of the cycle of the Magi in the so-called Bibles of Pamplona, which are two codices made by Ferrando Petri de Funes and his workshop around 1200. The written part is reduced to an anthology of fragments that explain the illustrations. Ferrando Petri was a canon of the cathedral of Calahorra who reached the degree scroll of royal chancellor between 1192 and 1194. His work consisted mainly in selecting and adapting the texts and arranging the illustrations. Specialists have detected the hand of three scribes and at least four painters. Today these bibles are preserved in two foreign libraries. The one in Amiens was commissioned by Sancho VII the Strong in 1197. Shortly after, the Ausburg copy was produced.

In the Gothic arts and the first appearances of Balthasar with dark skin at the end of the 15th century.

The cloister of the cathedral of Pamplona keeps the set of the Epiphany, in front of which, for centuries, the processional station has been held on the day of the Epiphany. As is known, the ensemble is the work of Jacques Perut and was made around 1300.    

The monumental tympanum of the sanctuary of Ujué also recreates the passage narrated by Saint Matthew. It is an outstanding example from the third quarter of the 14th century. Next to the scene, we find a kneeling male character that Rosa Alcoy has identified with Don Luis de Beaumont, lieutenant of the kingdom in the absences of Carlos II, based on the existing relations with the Book of Hours of his mother Juana II of Navarra and that of Don Luis with the sanctuary.

Gothic painting has bequest beautiful and delicate examples in the altarpieces of Santa Catalina and the chapel of Villaespesa in Tudela, the latter by Bonanat Zaortiga (1412). The altarpiece of Barillas, attributed by A. Aceldegui to Nicolás Zaortiga (doc.1443-1485), also contains an elegant painting of the Epiphany.

The first representations in painting with King Balthazar with dark skin are those of the main altarpiece of the cathedral of Tudela, work of Pedro Díaz de Oviedo made from 1487, another panel preserved in the cathedral of Pamplona from the late fifteenth century, that was in the presbytery until the reform of the cathedral and the painting of the altarpiece of the Visitation of Los Arcos that was already made by 1497, date of the death of its patron Bertol de Ayegui, abbot of Mirafuentes and Otiñano and beneficiary chantre of the parish of Los Arcos. In sculptural works, one of the first examples with the black king is a work imported from the Southern Netherlands, the Triptych of the Epiphany of Artajona (1500-1510) of late Gothic aesthetics.

During the long 16th century

Perhaps it is the 16th century, called by Fernando Marías as "long" in an interesting monograph, the one that left more representations of the topic in painting, sculpture and also in the sumptuary arts of Navarre. Documented works by local and foreign masters, Italian, French, Flemish, as well as some imported from different parts of Europe make up an abundant collection, in tune with the artistic richness of that century.

Expressive reliefs of the altarpieces of Lapoblación, Genevilla or El Busto show the expertise that their masters had reached, both in the work of gouge and polychrome, forming sets A quality. The miguelangelesco Romanism will leave repetitive schemes based on prints, among which stands out the relief of the main altarpiece of Santa María de Tafalla, made by Juan de Anchieta between 1581 and 1588 and completed by 1592 by his disciple Pedro González de San Pedro.

Among the pictorial examples are the version of the altarpiece of the doubt of Santo Tomás in the cathedral of Pamplona (1507), of late Gothic tradition and paid for by the royal auditor Pedro Marcilla de Caparroso, as well as the panels by the masters of the Pamplona workshop in its different stages with panels by Juan del Bosque, Juan de Bustamante and the Oscáriz family, and the altarpiece of Santa María de Olite, the work of Pedro Aponte. For their quality A we must mention the two large panels of the altarpieces of La Oliva -today in San Pedro de Tafalla- and Fitero. Their author, the Flemish Rolan Mois, established in the Aragonese capital, who had perfected his art in Titian's Venice, took a special liking to model , which he repeated in both monasteries, making a third version for his funeral chapel, which today is kept in the Museum of Zaragoza. In the contract for the Fitero altarpiece (1590), he was asked that in both the Epiphany panel and the Nativity panel he should ensure that the figures "are as natural as sample in the traça", as well as a general rules and regulations that required the artist to "paint in oil and with very perfect and fine colors and all with good grace". The Epiphanies of Mois have been related by R. Buendía to those of Cornelis de Smet in the cathedral of Antwerp and Giuseppe Salerno in the Sicilian church of Chiusa Schafani. A starting point for them could well be the composition devised by Giulio Clovio, which was engraved by Philippe Thomassin under model by Cornelis Cort around 1567.

An elegant painting of the Epiphany is from the end of the 16th century and of Mannerist aesthetics, currently preserved in the chapter house conference room signature by an artist, so far unidentified, named Iacobus de Marseille. The Flemish models are evident, and the inspiration can be traced to the Sadeler and Cornielis Cort prints.

The centuries of the Baroque

As in previous periods, we find eloquent and speaking characters, capable of transmitting emotions, also in the Epiphany scenes. Velázquez's father-in-law and teacher, the Sevillian painter Francisco Pacheco, wrote in his Arte de la Pintura (1649) about the empathy that artists should bring to their works: "Let the painter see to it that his figures move the spirits, some disturbing them, others making them happy, others inclining them to pity, others to contempt, according to the quality of the stories. And lacking this, let him think he has done nothing".

The reliefs of the altarpieces of Los Arcos and especially of Viana with the topic of the Adoration of the Kings are among the best in 17th century sculpture. The Viana altarpiece, the work of the Riojan sculptor Bernardo de Elcaraeta (1663), stands out for its quality. For the following century, the reliefs of the major altarpieces of Morentin and Irurita show the prevailing academicism of the last third of the 18th century.

As for paintings, some canvases by Vicente Berdusán deserve to be mentioned, especially the one of the staircase of the palace of the Marquises of Huarte, which comes from the cathedral sacristy of Tudela, made in 1661, with dependence on Rubenian models, according to a print engraved by Nicolás Lawers and another, more evolved, of the set of the capitular conference room of the aforementioned cathedral (1671). We will also highlight among the production of the painters established in Pamplona, the canvas of the Poor Clares of Olite, studied by Eduardo Morales and work of Lucas Pinedo (1650), which faithfully follows in its composition a print by Lucas Vosterman for painting by Rubens.

The sacristy of the beneficiaries of the cathedral of Pamplona preserves a painting of the Epiphany of the XVII century, with exuberant framework of golden carving, which on some occasions, if the rigors of snow and cold prevented the cloister procession of the Epiphany, was placed in the altar of the back room to perform the station there, as happened in 1887.

To the second half of the 18th century belongs the large canvas by José Bejes in the chapel of the Virgen del Camino in Pamplona, painted between 1778 and 1779 in late baroque style with evocations of the Italians Tiepolo and Giaquinto, with a certain tenebrism and discreet coloring, only enlivened by the red cloak of King Melchior and a small deep blue cloth carried by some angels in the upper area.

In the great conventual Baroque nativity scenes, the Child used to have on the feast of the Epiphany his little armchair or throne to receive the Magi, as King of Kings, as opposed to how he had been during the rest of Christmas, on the straw, before shepherds and shepherdesses.