Adoration of the Magi (San Marco)

Last updated
Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico in San Marco (c. 1441-1442) Angelico, affresco s. marco, adorazione dei magi cella 39.jpg
Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico in San Marco (c. 1441-1442)

The Adoration of the Magi in San Marco is a fresco by Fra Angelico in a double cell used by Cosimo de' Medici, created c. 1441-1442. [1]

The paintings in the double cell differ in some respects from Fra Angelico's frescos in others cells. The pictorial language is more descriptive and the colours are brighter and the composition is more complex. Compared to the other cells the contribution from Fra Angelico is less and those of his assistants, particularly Benozzo Gozzoli, is greater. [2]

The scene is generally dated to a period close to the Crucifixion with saints, with which it has some stylistic features in common, just after the completion of the cells on the outer side of the east corridor. Some relate this scene to the Council of Florence, held in 1439, due to the presence of characters with oriental shapes.

John Pope-Hennessy attributes the entire design to Angelico, also given the prestige of the location, and also confirms the intervention by Benozzo Gozzoli, proposed by Gengaro.

The scene is the largest in the cycle of cells and has the shape of a large lunette with a recess in the center that houses a tabernacle with Christ in mercy.

The Madonna, the Child and St. Joseph are placed on the left, while they receive the homage of the three Magi who, one at a time, are kneeling and delivering the gifts. Behind them the procession unfolds, made up of men of letters, knights, men of science and soldiers. Unlike the same theme treated in the predella of the tabernacle of the Linaioli (1433–1435), here the scene is treated in a more traditional way, with a horizontal development that has been related to the composition of the Crucifixion with the saints which is in the chapter house of the convent. Even the background with chipped rocks is drawn from tradition. Various poses of the characters are also found in some scenes from the predella of the San Marco Altarpiece.

The light is diaphanous and crystalline and gives rise to a soft and delicate colour scheme which, together with the wealth of characters, is one of the best characteristics of the work.

The work is often seen as leading to Gozzoli's later commission and more famous painting of the same subject in the Magi Chapel in the Palazzo Medici. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fra Angelico</span> Early Italian Renaissance painter (c. 1395–1455)

Fra Angelico, OP was a Dominican friar and Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent". He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence, then worked in Rome and other cities. All his known work is of religious subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domenico Veneziano</span> Italian Renaissance painter (c. 1410–1461)

Domenico Veneziano was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorenzo Monaco</span> Italian painter (c. 1370 – c. 1425)

Lorenzo Monaco was an Italian painter and miniaturist of the late Gothic to early Renaissance age. He was born Piero di Giovanni. Little is known about his youth, apart from the fact that he was apprenticed in Florence. He has been considered the last important exponent of the Giotto style, before the Renaissance revolution that came with Fra Angelico and Masaccio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adoration of the Magi</span> Worship of the Infant Jesus by Magi in art

The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings or Visitation of the Wise Men is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2:11: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benedetto Bonfigli</span> Italian painter

Benedetto Bonfigli was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Perugia, and part of the Umbria school of painters including Raphael and Perugino. He is also known as Buonfiglio. Influenced by the style of Domenico Veneziano, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Fra Angelico, Bonfigli primarily painted frescos for the church and was at one point employed in the Vatican. His best-preserved work is the Annunciation, but his masterpiece is the decoration of the chapel of the Palazzo dei Priori. Bonfigli specialized in gonfaloni, a Perugian style using banners painted on canvas or linen. Little is known of his personal life, but he was an esteemed painter in Perugia before Perugino, who is said to be his pupil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benozzo Gozzoli</span> Italian painter (c. 1421–1497)

Benozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence. The chapel's fresco cycle reveals a new Renaissance interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco painters of his generation. While he was mainly active in Tuscany, he also worked in Umbria and Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Marco, Florence</span> Church, convent, and museum in Italy

San Marco is a religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, has three claims to fame. During the 15th century it was home to two famous Dominicans, the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher Girolamo Savonarola. Furthermore, the church houses the tomb of Pico Della Mirandola, a Renaissance philosopher and the so called "Father of Humanism."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Nazionale di San Marco</span> Art museum, historic site in Florence, Italy

Museo Nazionale di San Marco is an art museum housed in the monumental section of the medieval Dominican convent of San Marco dedicated to St Mark, situated on the present-day Piazza San Marco, in Florence, a region of Tuscany, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Themes in Italian Renaissance painting</span>

This article about the development of themes in Italian Renaissance painting is an extension to the article Italian Renaissance painting, for which it provides additional pictures with commentary. The works encompassed are from Giotto in the early 14th century to Michelangelo's Last Judgement of the 1530s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magi Chapel</span> Chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

The Magi Chapel is a chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence, Italy. Its walls are almost entirely covered by a famous cycle of frescoes by the Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli, painted around 1459 for the Medici family, the effective rulers of Florence.

<i>San Marco Altarpiece</i> 1438–1443 painting by Fra Angelico

The San Marco Altarpiece is a painting by the Italian early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico, housed in the San Marco Museum of Florence, Italy. It was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici the Elder, and was completed sometime between 1438 and 1443.

<i>Annunciation of Cortona</i> Painting by Fra Angelico

The Annunciation of Cortona is a panel-painting altarpiece or retable by the Italian Renaissance painter Fra Angelico: once housed in the Church of Gesù of Cortona, it is now held at the Museo Diocesano in Cortona.

<i>Coronation of the Virgin</i> (Fra Angelico, Louvre) Altarpiece by Fra Angelico

The Coronation of the Virgin is a painting by the Italian early Renaissance master Fra Angelico, executed around 1434–1435 in Fiesole (Florence). It is now in the Musée du Louvre of Paris, France. The artist executed another Coronation of the Virgin, now in the Uffizi in Florence.

<i>The Crossing of the Red Sea</i> (Sistine Chapel) Fresco by Biagio dAntonio

The Crossing of the Red Sea is a fresco executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. Of uncertain attribution, it has been assigned to Cosimo Rosselli.

<i>Tabernacle of the Linaioli</i>

The Tabernacle of the Linaioli is a marble aedicula designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti, with paintings by Fra Angelico, dating to 1432–1433. It is housed in the National Museum of San Marco, Florence, Italy.

<i>Adoration of the Magi</i> (Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi) Painting by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi

The Adoration of the Magi is a tondo, or circular painting, of the Adoration of the Magi assumed to be that recorded in 1492 in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence as by Fra Angelico. It dates from the mid-15th century and is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Most art historians think that Filippo Lippi painted more of the original work, and that it was added to some years after by other artists, as well as including work by assistants in the workshops of both the original masters. It has been known as the Washington Tondo and Cook Tondo after Herbert Cook, and this latter name in particular continues to be used over 50 years after the painting left the Cook collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea di Giusto</span> Italian painter

Andrea di Giusto, rarely also known as Andrea Manzini or Andrea di Giusto Manzini was a Florentine painter of the late Gothic to early Renaissance style in Florence and its surrounding countryside. Andrea was heavily influenced by masters Lorenzo Monaco, Bicci di Lorenzo, Masaccio, and Fra Angelico, and tended to mix and match the motifs and techniques of these artists in his own work. Andrea was an eclectic painter and is considered a minor master of Florentine early Renaissance art. Andrea trained under Bicci di Lorenzo as a Garzone. He painted his most significant works, three altarpieces, in the Florentine contado, or countryside; these altarpieces were created for Sant’Andrea a Ripalta in Figline, Santa Margarita in Cortona, and the Badia degli Olivetani di San Bartolomeo alle Sacce near Prato. Aside from his major altarpieces, Andrea painted several Frescoes over the course of his career. He, along with other minor masters, are also known to have provided several different types of art, including triptychs and frescoes, for Romanesque pievi, or rural churches with baptistries. Moreover, he was well known for several types of smaller craft objects, such as small tabernacles. He is said to have worked between 1420 and 1424 under Bicci di Lorenzo on paintings for Santa Maria Nuova. He is said to have worked with Masaccio in painting the Life of San Giuliano for the Polyptych of Pisa, including the painting of the Madonna and Child, in 1426. He also appears to have collaborated in 1445 with Paolo Uccello in the Capella dell'Assunta in the Prato Cathedral. In 1428, he is listed as a member of the Arte dei Medici e Speziali guild in Florence as "Andrea di Giusto di Giovanni Bugli". His son, Giusto d'Andrea, was also a painter and worked with Neri di Bicci and Benozzo Gozzoli. Andrea died in Florence in 1450.

<i>Armadio degli Argenti</i> Italian paintings

The panels of the Armadio degli Argenti are a series of tempera paintings on panel created by Fra Angelico ca. 1451–1453 and completed later by other hands using his preparatory drawings. They are now in the Museo nazionale di San Marco in Florence.

<i>Mystical Nativity</i> (Filippo Lippi) c. 1459 painting by Filippo Lippi

The Mystical Nativity or Adoration in the Forest was painted by Fra Filippo Lippi around 1459 as the altarpiece for the Magi Chapel in the new Palazzo Medici in Florence. It is now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, with a copy by another artist now hanging in the chapel. It is a highly individual depiction of the familiar scene of the Nativity of Jesus in art, placed in a mountainous forest setting, with debris from woodcutting all around, rather than the familiar stable in Bethlehem, and with the usual figures and animals around the mother and child replaced by others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosimo de' Medici's cell</span>

Cosimo de' Medici had two friar's cells reserved for him in the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence. This was intended as a place for personal retreat and was used as a guest room for other important guests.

References

  1. "Adoration of the Magi and Man of Sorrows (Cell 39) by ANGELICO, Fra". www.wga.hu. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  2. "Adoration of the Magi by GOZZOLI, Benozzo". www.wga.hu. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  3. "Adoration of the Magi (cell 39)". professor-moriarty.com. 11 April 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2023.