Palazzo Medici Riccardi - Table of Contents .................... ................ Architecture Around the World
Cappella
dei Magi - Chapel
of the Magi
Palazzo Medici Riccardi
Via Camillo Cavour 3, Florence,
Italy
Style: Renaissance
The Chapel of the Magi occupies an important place in the Medici Palace which Cosimo the Elder built, starting in about 1444, in accordance to the architectural design by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo. The Chapel is divided into two juxtaposed squares:
- "Adoration of the Christ Child" - a raised rectangular apse including an altar and 2-panel fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli
- "Procession of the Magi" - a large hall with 3-panel fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli, and seating (south wall not illustrated on this page)
2020 Photos
"Adoration of the Christ Child" Rectangular apse ... The
first pictorial element in the Chapel was the altar panel
bearing
Filippo Lippi's "Madonna with Child and Young St. John", which
was sold
during
the last century and today is in Berlin. In its place is a copy
attributed to the Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino, a follower
of
Lippi
... Flanking the altar are two frescoes panels - "Angels in Adoration" - that complement "Adoration of the Christ Child" Plaster ceiling above the altar ... Flanking wall frescoes: "Angels in Adoration, " by Benozzo Gozzoli .... IHS: Christogram "Angels in Adoration" - left panel fresco Lower right detail below: Detail - "Angels in Adoration" - left panel fresco "Angels in Adoration" - right panel fresco Three details below: Detail #1 - "Angels in Adoration" - right panel fresco Detail #2 - "Angels in Adoration" - right panel fresco Detail #3 - "Angels in Adoration" - right panel fresco "Madonna with Child and Young St. John" AKA: "Adoration of the Child" The painting is in oil on a poplar panel ... The center pictorial element in the Chapel was the altar panel of Filippo Lippi's "Madonna with Child and Young St. John", which was sold during the last century and today is in Berlin. In its place is a copy attributed to the Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino, a follower of Lippi ... Restored in 1992. ... "It is a highly individual depiction of the familiar scene of the Nativity of Jesus in art, placed in a mountainous forest setting, with debris from woodcutting all around, rather than the familiar stable in Bethlehem, and with the usual figures and animals around the mother and child replaced by others." - Hartt, Frederick, History of Italian Renaissance Art, (2nd edn.) 1987, Thames & Hudson (US Harry N Abrams) ... Detail #1 - "Madonna with Child and Young St. John" God the Father ... Holy Spirit depicted as a dove Detail #2 - "Madonna with Child and Young St. John" St. Romuald ... John the Baptist as a boy Detail #3 - "Madonna with Child and Young St. John" Marble panel below "Madonna with Child and Young St. John" Altar with wooden strigil motif |
Partial reprint "Procession of the Magi" Florence Webguide: Palazzo Medici Riccardi (online Feb. 2020) In 1459
the Medici commissioned Benozzo Gozzoli
to paint the family’s private chapel.
The very small, quaint and charming chapel has remained quite intact from Renaissance times and still contains all of its original furnishings. Gozzoli was a pupil of Fra Angelico's whose influence can be seen in spite of Gozzoli's much more vibrant use of color and fantasticated landscapes. The apparent subject of the painting is the 'Procession of the Magi', the three wise men on a journey to Bethlehem to see the newborn Christ child. But in actuality the fresco is working on several levels: In 1438 Cosimo financed a meeting called the Council of Florence in which the Eastern and Western factions of the church tried to resolve their differences. For this occasion the city became host to multi-national dignitaries and high-ranking authority figures from exotic eastern locations. Gozzoli's fresco, with its clear Byzantine images, is meant to recall the highly prestigious episode and the part the Medici's played in it. |
"Procession
of the Magi" - East Wall By Benozzo Gozzoli "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Detail #1 - "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Jerusalem Detail #2 - "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Detail #3 - "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Detail #4 - "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall The artist slipped his own self-portrait into the fresco. Not only is this the face of Benozzo Gozzoli but his name is also written on the cap to dispel any doubts! ... True to life representation of Lorenzo (left) and Giuliano. At the time of the painting these images represented the boys' real age, about 10. Detail #5- "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Although no longer living at the time of the painting, the family founder Cosimo the Elder was included in the crowd on a humble donkey ... Piero the Gouty to the right on a white horse ... "Having
begun the work in the
spring-summer of 1459, Benozzo probably completed the work rapidly over
the space of a few months, with the help of at least one assistant,
under the supervision of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici. It was
probably
Piero who suggested that the artist should use Gentile da Fabriano's
Adoration of the Magi as a model for the frescoes. The extraordinary
complexity and subtlety of the technique of execution, in which true
fresco alternated with dry fresco, permitted the painter to work with
meticulous care, almost as if he was engraving, like the goldsmith he
had been in Ghiberti's workshop." - Wikipedia: Magi Chapel
Detail #6 - "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Lorenzo the Magnificent represented as a young king, Caspar, one of the three Magi, on horseback. Detail #7 - "Procession of the Magi" - East Wall Carved wooden stalls below the mural .... Note marble floor Carved wooden stalls |
"Procession of the Magi" - West Wall By Benozzo Gozzoli "Procession of the Magi" - West Wall Three details below: Detail #1 - "Procession of the Magi" - West Wall Detail #2 - "Procession of the Magi" - West Wall Melchior, one of the three Magi Detail #3 - "Procession of the Magi" - West Wall Detail #4 - "Procession of the Magi" - West Wall Giuliano de Medici, an idealized likeness, with a cheetah, animal typical of Asia and seen in Florence when brought by the Byzantine representatives. Detail below: |