It is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon[1] Since it is horizontal rather than vertical it was probably commissioned for a private collection rather than as an altarpiece.

Peter C. Sutton suggested that, as Rubens' treatments of this subject in vertical formats were for known ecclesiastical commissions as altarpieces, the horizontal format, which is shared with Rubens' Adoration painted for the Statenkamer of Antwerp's town hall, c.1608–09, might suggest that the Lyon painting was also a secular commission.

The painting arranges full-length figures across the canvas, backed by a frieze-like crowd showing a variety of mature male types, twelve in all.

[5] In the Baroque style, this painting gives a desacralized version of the scene of the adoration of the child Jesus, held by the Virgin on a layer of straw, by the Magi: indeed, this one places his hand on the bald head of one of them, while the latter, kneeling, kisses one of his feet.

The scene takes place in a dark stable lit by a ray of light coming from the left.