Today is the feast of Epiphany and it is becoming a bit of a tradition on this site to look at paintings portraying the Adoration of the Magi, who followed the eastern star to carry their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Baby Jesus. So let's focus for today on the artworks inside the Chapel of the Magi, part of Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence.
In the 1450s, Piero de' Medici commissioned Benozzo Gozzoli, one of his favourite painters, to fresco the chapel in the Medici Palace where his father Cosimo received visitors to the city.
The altarpiece originally featured Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Christ Child (though the latter is currently in Berlin, and a copy by a follower of Lippi is now in the chapel), and Gozzoli painted the apse sides walls with saints and angels in adoration in the style of his master, Fra Angelico. Thin vertical fresco sections show the shepherds, but the most striking part is the procession of the Magi.
The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem covers indeed three walls. Caspar, the youngest Magus representing Lorenzo de' Medici, opens the procession on a white horse. He is followed by Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo's father, and Cosimo his grandfather.
The lord of Rimini, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, and the lord of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, follow them together with a long procession of illustrious figures from Florence and the Renaissance, including humanists, philosophers, members of the Art Guilds and Benozzo himself (the figure looking towards the visitors and wearing a red hat with the inscription "Opus Benotii", The work of Benozzo).
The second Magus, Balthasar, is portrayed on a horse and a richly damasked gown, and has the features of Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologos; while Melchior, the oldest of the Magi, on the west wall, has the features of Joseph, Patriarch of Constantinople, who died in Florence during the Council (though some critics say it could be Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, who helped end the Great Schism by convoking the Council of Constance in 1414).
These paintings echoed the representation of the Adoration by Gentile da Fabriano in 1423: the latter was more Gothic in style with ornate gold work and a more hierarchical arrangement of figures, and it featured members of the Strozzi family as the Magi.
The representation by Benozzo Gozzoli was more ambitious since it was larger and showed a deep and strong connection between the Medici family and the Magi.
Lorenzo de' Medici was born on January 6; the Medici had long been prominent memers of the local confraternity dedicated to the Magi, and the Church of San Marco - with which they were closely associated as patrons - contained supposed Magi relics.
The richly and imaginatively elaborated Tuscan landscape with its castles, hunting scenes and fantastic plants were probably inspired by Flemish tapestries (Piero the Gouty was a collector) and their representation followed the principles of the "horror vacui" (fear of the void). Yet they aren't the only notable elements in these paintings.
The opulence and luxury of the clothes and garments portrayed in detail (think about the splendid gown donned by Balthasar/John Palaiologos or the headdress that characterises Caspar/Lorenzo) with rich and decorative elements and exquisite details are indeed among the highlights of these works of art and fashion designers could easily spend hours taking note and sketching the draped motifs, damasked garments and embellished robes donned by the characters in the procession.
The paintings were celebrated on the 24th December 1945 cover of Life magazine, that featured a coloured photoshoot of the chapel by Fernand Bourges.
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