Adoration of the Magi (Gentile da Fabriano)

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Adoration of the Magi

Gentile da Fabriano, 1423

Tempera on panel, 203 × 282 cm

Florence, Uffizi

The Adoration of the Magi is a painting by the Italian artist Gentile da Fabriano. The work, housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, is considered his finest work.

The painting was commissioned him by the Florentine literate and patron of the arts Palla Strozzi, at the arrival of the artist in the city in 1420. Finished three years later, it was placed in the in the new chapel of the church of Santa Trinita which Lorenzo Ghiberti was executing in these years.

The works shows both the international and Sienese schools influences over Gentile's art, mingled with the Renaissance novelties he knew in Florence. The panel portrays the path of the three Magi, in several scenes which starts from the upper left corner (the voyage and the entrance in Betlehem) and continue clockwise, until the larger meeting with the Virgin and the newborn Jesus which occupies the lowest part of the picture. All the figures wear splendid Renaissance costumes, brocades richly decorated with true parts in gold and precious stones inserted in the panel. The typical Gentile's attention for details is also evident in the exotic animals, such as a leopard, a dromedary, some apes and a lion, as well as the magnificent horses and a hound.

The frame is also a separate work of art, characterized by three cusps with tondoes portraying Christ Blessing (centre) and one Annunciation (Archangel Gabriel on the left and the Madonna on the right). The predella has three rectangular paintings with scenes of Jesus life as a child, the Nativity, the Flee to Egypt and the Presentation at the Temple (the latter a copy, the original being in the Louvre of Paris).