(Work of Filippino Lippi, 1496.
Exhibited at Uffizi Gallery in Florence)
The figures surrounding the Virgin represent the three biblical Magi and their entourage, but some of them are believed to depict members of the Medici family. The Holy Family is placed in the center of the painting and the three Magi kneel in the foreground.
In order to pay tribute to Pierfrancesco de Medici and his sons, the Augustinian monks of San Donato in Scopetto commissioned a painting from Leonardo da Vinci in 1481. Although Leonardo abandoned his work, the Augustinian monks asked Filippino Lippi to include the same figures and he included three members of the Medici.
For example, in the lower left corner of the painting is a man wearing a golden fur-trimmed cloak. As she kneels before the Christ-Child, she holds a large golden astrolabe. Several scholars have suggested that this figure may well represent Melchior, the oldest of the Magi, but with his face Pierfrancesco de Medici, although the object he holds is not the typical gift given by the Magi to the Christ-Child, i.e. gold.
Above the golden-robed Pierfrancesco are two male figures that Jonathan K. Nelson believes represent the sons of Lorenzo (1463–1503), who appears crowned and represents the youngest of the Magi, Caspar, and his brother Giovanni ( 1467–1498), listed as a servant. Giovanni, together with his older brother, holds a large silver-gold cup with a lid, to offer it to the baby Jesus. According to this interpretation, a Wizard remains undefined. He may be one of the two remaining men kneeling in the foreground.
Based on the faces depicted, it seems reasonable that the male figure kneeling before the Christ-Child (wearing a black cloak and blue scarf) is the older Magi, Melchior (notice how he has already offered his gift and Jesus is represented receiving it holds). If this is the case, then Pierfrancesco it will be the middle wizard, Balthazar. The younger Magi, Caspar, could either be the red figure, Lorenzo, or perhaps the kneeling man on the right, who is extending his gift to the Holy Family.
Traditionally, the three magi are depicted kneeling in artwork, which makes this a valid and reasonable hypothesis for labeling the Magi.
The general style of the table is similar to Pilgrimage of the Magi by Botticelli (work of 1475), which also pays great attention to detail and excessive use of color. Lippi used gold paint to emphasize the concept of celestial light and golden rays. It uses bright colors and gold to draw and direct the viewer's attention. The glowing golden rays serve as telltale markers, a sign of divine presence and spiritual energy.
Lippi designed the scene in a pyramidal shape, common to many Renaissance painters of his time, including Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. He placed the Virgin and Child at the top of the pyramid, with the other figures around them, wisely capturing a sense of movement and emotion, with the physiognomic types enlivening the whole composition.
Lippi is known for using warm colors in his paintings. These properties are shown in Pilgrimage of the Magi of, as well as in his other paintings, such as Tobias and Angelos and its Pilgrimage of the Kings. In addition, he has a way of creating an extremely vivid and naturalistic landscape in his works.
The brown-cloaked man on the lower right, with his right arm extended, wears a cloak decorated with a special art form, as are the Medici family cloaks on the left. This art style originates from Islamic countries. At Pilgrimage of the Magi of Dear from Fabriano this kind of art is also used. The Filippino Lippi by including this type of art in his painting, he shows how trade has connected different cultures, artistically and economically, as well as his knowledge and admiration of foreign works of art.
The dark haired man next to and behind him is seen wearing a gold earring with a pearl as long as his neck. More commonly, the use of the earring in Italian Renaissance art served to depict "the other", the "different".. Poggio Bracciolini claimed that Africans, specifically Ethiopians, wore more gems and gold than Italians. The Filippino Lippi he must have used other paintings and heard Bracciolini's stories before including these details. Anyone who looks at this table can immediately distinguish who is European and who is not.
Filippino Lippi was a prominent figure among the painters of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a mentor to many artists. He was born about 1457, in Prato, Tuscany. His father was the painter and cleric Fra Filippo Lippi, who broke his clerical vows, and after Filippino's birth he received papal permission to marry Lucrezia Buti.(the critic Vasari maintains that the couple never married).Ο Filippino initially trained in his father's workshop. He returned to Florence sometime between 1491 and 1494. Known for his intricate and energetic compositions, warm colors and naturalistic depictions of landscapes, he contributed to many frescoes in the chapels of Florence and Rome and produced very large paintings.
His works of this period include: the Apparition of Christ to the Virgin, the Pilgrimage of the Magi, The Sacrifice of Laocoon, Saint John the Baptist and Magdalene (inspired by his works Luca Signorelli).
He died on April 18, 1504, aged 47. Because of his great fame, all the workshops in the city were closed in his honor that day.
