Quote of the Day

"Art is never finished, only abandoned."
―  Leonardo da Vinci

The Christmas Story: Adoration of the Magi

Sandro Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi - Oil on panel - 3′ 8″ x 4′ 5″ - Uffizi Gallery - Florence (click photo for larger image) Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445 - 1510) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, often patronized by the Medici. After a successful early career, however, Botticelli fell under the influence of extremist Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola who, in the 1490s, convinced many Florentines that they needed to repent their sins by burning their material possessions in a massive public bonfire. Consequently, most of Botticelli’s early works met their fate, except for those that had already been acquired by his patrons.

Botticelli’s posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work. 

The work presented here is one of seven versions of this subject painted by Botticelli. Featured are prominent members of the Medici family (including Lorenzo and Giuliano) in varying states of worship before the newborn Christ. The artist found a way to bring the ancient past into the present.  He even included himself in the work, on the extreme right, gazing fixedly at the viewer.

The Christmas Story: The Procession of the Magi

Benozo Gozzoli, 1459-52 - Procession of the Magi - Fresco - Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence (click photo for larger image)A cavalcade of the great and good (or the rich and powerful) wends its way down a steep valley on the way to Bethlehem. Gozzoli’s fresco, with its deer, hounds and horses, its hunting and social conversation, could almost have been painted from life. These “Magi” include a throng of Medici godfathers and retinue. The artist himself is among the portraits contained within the painting. The image commemorates real events – the annual Epiphany procession in 15th-century Florence – in its effort to make biblical events real for contemporary viewers. This work is the high point of the Magi chapel in Florence.

Benozo Gozzoli (c. 1421-1497) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Probably a student pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for his series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions with a fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence.

Did You Know?

Artist Willard Wigan once inhaled his own work.

What’s that, you say? He inhaled a painting?? The man must be enormous! Not quite. Wigan’s works are ‘micro-sculptures’, so tiny they must be viewed through a microscope. In creating his art, Wigan has to slow his heartbeat and work between pulses. The work he inhaled was Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, but apparently she was even better when remade.

The Christmas Story: Annunciation to the Shepherds

Taddeo Gaddi - Annunciation to the Shepherds - c. 1330 - Fresco - Cappella Baroncelli, Santa Croce, Florence (click photo for larger image)The Gospel of St. Luke reports that the shepherds were tending their flocks outside Bethlehem when an angel suddenly appeared, announcing that the savior has just been born in the town of Bethlehem.

Medieval painter Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1290 - 1366) was the Florentine son of a painter and mosaicist. According to Cennino Cennini, Taddeo was was also Giotto’s godson and worked with him for twenty-four years. In 1347, Gaddi headed a list of the best living painters compiled for the purpose of choosing a master to paint a new high altarpiece for Pistoia Cathedral.

In the work featured here, the artist imagines the scene taking place on a steep hill in the middle of the night. Only one of the shepherds is awake so far, the other is hunched like a rock behind him. Sheep and dogs are beginning to stir, as the angel speaks from above – a shepherd and his flock waking up to the astonishing news. Gaddi was very involved in the study of light effects, perhaps as a consequence of the solar eclipses that repeatedly occurred in the 1330s. Indeed, studying the solar eclipse in 1339 led Gaddi to develop a serious eye illness.