Adoration of the Magi

Kings kneel before the Christ Child, the Medici crowd the scene, and at the far right a man in a golden cloak turns to meet your gaze: it is most likely Botticelli himself.

The story behind the painting

Around 1475 the Florentine banker and broker Gaspare di Zanobi del Lama, a barber's son from Empoli, commissioned Sandro Botticelli to paint the Adoration of the Magi for the altar of his funerary chapel in Santa Maria Novella. The subject suited him: Gaspare is the Italian form of Caspar, one of the three Magi, and his chapel was dedicated on 6 January, the feast of the Epiphany. In the 1470s Botticelli was also developing a close relationship with the Medici, the powerful banking family who commissioned many works from him. That bond shaped this panel, which places members of the family in the holy scene. Botticelli painted the subject at least seven times; this version, 111 by 134 centimetres, is the one made for Gaspare's chapel.

What to look for

Start at the centre top, where the star of Bethlehem sends gold rays down onto the Virgin and Child. Mary holds Jesus, with Saint Joseph behind them, all seated on a classical ruin that serves as a makeshift manger; greenery grows from its cracks, and a peacock perches at the right. To the left rises a classical arcade. Before the Holy Family the three kings kneel with their gifts. Now look to the group at the right: among them is an older man with white-grey hair in a blue robe who looks straight at you, the patron Gaspare. At the far right foreground stands a figure in a yellow and gold cloak, accepted by most scholars as Botticelli's self-portrait. Notice too the saturated reds and the gold-banded textiles.

Meaning and intent

The Magi were understood as the first Gentiles to recognise Christ, and later legend made each stand for a different part of the world. Florentine patrons, many engaged in international trade, were drawn to the riches the story allowed: exotic clothes, gold cups and luxury textiles that honoured both the holy figures and the patron. The identity of the Medici portraits is debated. Giorgio Vasari wrote in 1550 that the oldest Magus was Cosimo de' Medici, the middle one Giuliano, and the last Giovanni, Cosimo's son. Heinrich Ulmann later proposed the central Magus as Piero di Cosimo de' Medici and the young man with a sword at left as Lorenzo. The sources agree broadly that Cosimo and his sons appear, while differing on details.

Legacy

The painting stayed in its chapel for nearly a hundred years. The altar rights passed to the Fedini family around 1522, then around 1570 to Fabio Arrazola de Mondragone, who moved the panel to his palace. In 1575 his property was seized after his betrayal of Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici, and the painting entered the grand ducal collections, moving to the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in 1622. In 1796 it came to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where it remains. It travelled to the Minneapolis Institute of Art for an exhibition in 2022 and 2023. Once seen by candlelight, its reds may have glowed warmly; today's artificial lighting no longer reveals that effect.

Did you know?

Commissioned around 1475 by Gaspare di Zanobi del Lama for his chapel in Santa Maria Novella.
111 × 134 cm; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, since 1796.
The figure at far right in a yellow and gold cloak is widely accepted as Botticelli's self-portrait.
Wikidata dates the work to the 1470s; Wikipedia gives around 1475.

Wikipedia · Wikidata