Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475)
The Adoration of the Magi (Italian: Adorazione dei Magi) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli painted this piece for the altar in Gaspare di Zanobi del Lama's chapel in Santa Maria Novella around 1475. This painting depicts the Biblical story of the Three Magi following a star to find the newborn Jesus. The image of the altarpiece centers on the Virgin Mary and the newborn Jesus, with Saint Joseph behind them. Before them are the three kings who are described in the New Testament story of the Adoration of the Magi. The three kings worship the Christ Child and present him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. In addition, the Holy Family is surrounded by a group of people who came to see the child who was said to be the son of God.
Description Botticelli's scene is set within a landscape that includes classical ruins from the Greco-Roman world, such as the classical arcade in the middle ground at the left. The Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and the Christ Child are sitting upon one of these classical ruins that served as a makeshift manger where the birth (nativity) of Christ occurred. Greenery is growing out of the cracks in the ruin, and a peacock is perched at the right. The star of Bethlehem radiates gold rays at the top of the painting, highlighting the Virgin and Child.
The formal elements of Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi include solid, firm figures, and intense, saturated colors, especially reds. These elements helped the painting stand out on the altar, as it was competing with a magnificent frame and was muted by limited lighting. It is important to consider in which conditions the painting would have been viewed at the time it was created: after sundown, it would have been viewed in candlelight, which may have caused the reds to become warm and to appear as if they were glowing. This glow is not visible today as the painting is now lit by artificial lighting.
Style In his Lives, Vasari describes the Adoration in the following way:
of the heads in this scene is indescribable, their attitudes all different, some full-face, some in profile, some three-quarters, some bent down, and in various other ways, while the expressions of the attendants, both young and old, are greatly varied, displaying the artist's perfect mastery of his profession. Sandro further clearly shows the distinction between the suites of each of the kings. It is a marvelous work in colour, design and composition.
The attention to details, such as the garments rendering, shows the acquisition by the Florentine artist of the influences from the Flemish school at this point of his career.