Adorable Nativities (Favorites from Washington’s National Gallery, 7)
Post published:December 23, 2015
After I’ve spent time looking at medieval art, this Italian Adoration of the Magi of the mid-15th century always makes me smile. Peacocks! Arches! Parades! Linear perspective! Lavish costumes and almost-naked men! There’s delight in literally every inch. I’ll need to stand and squint at the details when I see it next.
Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi (Italian, c. 1395 – 1455 ), The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1440/1460, tempera on panel. Washington, National Gallery, Samuel H. Kress Collection. Photo: National Gallery
On the other hand …
Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi waspainted twenty (or as many as forty) years later. The colors are similar. But the composition is radically different: between the painting above and this one, Leonardo had sketched out an Adoration organized by geometric forms, and composition was never the same. It would take too long to explain why: you’ll have to wait for Innovators in Painting.
Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1446 – 1510 ), The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1478/1482, tempera and oil on panel. Washington, National Gallery, Andrew W. Mellon Collection. Photo: National Gallery
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