“Adoration of Balthazar” is loosely based on Maarten de Vos’ 1599 painting titled “Adoration of the Magi.” In de Vos’ painting, Balthazar was an insignificant face in the background and could have easily been looked over by art viewers. In my piece, I wanted to focus on Balthazar, who I learned was a very interesting historical figure. Balthazar was an ancient king of Macedonia who was known to be one of the biblical Magi (more commonly known as the 3 wise men) who visited the infant Jesus soon after his birth. In the Roman Catholic Church he is a saint, and in the 8th century, Saint Bede described Balthazar as being of “black complexion.” Growing up, I was used to depictions of the 3 wise men as 3 lighter complexion men, and I created this painting to symbolically give Balthazar a voice and intrigue viewers enough to bring awareness to the historical figure.