Paintings of the three wise men created by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens for his childhood friend Balthasar Moretus have been reunited for the first time in 130 years at the National Gallery of Art.

And while biblical in theme, the pictures offer a glimpse into a friendship fostered 400 years ago.

Rubens painted the portraits around 1618 for his friend, who was head of the Plantin Press, the largest publishing house in 16th- and 17th- century Europe. The paintings were together for almost 300 years, until they were sold at a Paris auction in 1881.