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| The Adoration of the Magi | |
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| Artist | Lorenzo Monaco |
| Year | c. 1420–1422 |
| Medium | Tempera on panel |
| Dimensions | 115 cm× 183 cm(45 in× 72 in) |
| Location | Uffizi Gallery, Florence |
The Adoration of the Magi is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian late Gothic artist Lorenzo Monaco, created c. 1420-1422. It is now housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The painting is known by a rather complete documentation. It was executed by Lorenzo with the help of three assistants, and, despite the reduced size, he was paid the huge sum of 182 florins. According to some hints in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters , it could have been executed for the church of Sant'Egidio in Florence, when it was reconsecrated by Pope Martin V.
Later it is documented in a room facing the cloister of the monastery of San Marco, where it was seen by Fra Angelico. A source from 1810 reports how the work was initially attributed to Fra Angelico himself.
It was restored in 1995.
The painting includes a large composition with a rather reduced use of a gilded background, a typical element of most Lorenzo's works. The upper part is in the form of a frame creating a triptych.
On the left is portrayed the nativity scene, within an architecture showing Lorenzo's refusal of the contemporary introduction of geometrical perspective in art. The Madonna, wearing a dark blue garment with three stars (symbols of virginity), is sitting on a stone and showing the Christ child to the spectators. St. Joseph is sitting in the lower left corner and looking upwards.
The centre and right scenes are occupied by the Magi's procession. Differently from the Gospel tradition, they are not all portrayed as old men, but with three different ages symbolizing the ages of man. Their followers include a variety of ethnicities, from the Moors to the Tatars, as well as animals such as hounds and camels. In the upper part is a landscape of Giottoesque inspiration. The garments of the standing Magi and the one next to him have writing in Arabic.
In the cusps are a Blessing Redeemer and, in the middle, two prophets. In the 15th century between the cusps were added two further prophets and an Annunciation , partly executed by Cosimo Rosselli.
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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.