What plots are actually hidden in the "Adoration of the Magi" by Gentile da Fabriano

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Looking at this magnificent work of Gentile da Fabriano, imagine yourself.. no, not in the Uffizi gallery, but in front of the altar itself, decorated with this work of art. It is impossible not to notice the multitude of subjects, the striking shimmer of golden colors, the detailed, accurate work of the master. What plots did Gentile include in this panel and, most importantly, for whom was such a magnificent work created?

History of creation

In 1423, a very wealthy merchant and banker Palla Strozzi decided to give his city an unprecedented luxury work. Strozzi spent an unprecedented amount on the construction and decoration of the chapel in the Church of Santa Trinita. He entrusted the difficult task of decorating the altar to the painter Gentile da Fabriano. Gentile is a master who has a great love for luxury, elegance, and the magnificent court style of the late Gothic style, which is commonly called international gothic. The artist's impressive skills were developed during his many trips to art centers throughout Italy. Gentile is a pagan from the city of Fabriano (over a hundred miles southeast of Florence).

The years spent in the northern cities of Venice and Brescia increased his love for court ornaments and an interest in the depiction of plants and animals. The customer had to be satisfied with the richness of the materials used in the work. But as a result, we see something else - luxury demonstrates the exquisitely refined world of the aristocracy, the antipode of the Florentine bourgeoisie. Such is the undeniable paradox of this work of art - a magical representation of the Middle Ages in the middle of a pragmatic city where the bank replaced the church.

An altar fit for kings

The altar depicts several gospel stories of the birth of Christ, exactly as they were retold in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The upper part of the frame imitates a triptych with a division into three semicircles (lunette), but the artist fills the entire space with one subject, breaking with the traditional multi-part form of the altarpiece. This innovation is due to Gentile's desire to show the journey of the Magi as a whole action and as a series of events. And we see this on the panel - everything in the picture moves as a single procession. The central panel of the altar is dedicated to the scene of the adoration of the Magi. According to the plot, these wise men came from unknown eastern lands to offer gifts to the newborn baby Christ.

The upper part of the composition is made up of 3 lunettes: 1. in the far left corner, the Magi climb a mountain in search of the star they believed to have announced the prophecy of the birth of the Messiah. Following this star, the Magi lead their imposing retinue to Jerusalem. 2. on the second and third lunettes, the artist showed how the Magi follow from city to city (to the city of Bethlehem).

The plot then unfolds in the foreground, where the Magi arrive in a small cave. In it, Joseph and the Virgin Mary take refuge with the newborn Jesus. Each of the Magi in turn offers the baby his gift and kisses the foot of the tiny baby. The landscape in the background is created without taking into account the rules of perspective, Gentile is limited to placing deeper plans one above the other, bringing the horizon line up. The Virgin Mary in the foreground is dressed by the artist in a large blue cloak, which symbolizes her heavenly purity. In addition, the blue paint here - an expensive lapis glaze - adds wealth to the picture and, of course, delights the common people.

Even more remarkable, the scenes in this complex structure create a kind of visual thesis on the different types of light and shadow. In the main scene, the famous star of Bethlehem illuminates the surrounding trees, gilding the edges of their leaves and casting intricate shadows behind the heads of the maids to the left.

Non-standard incarnation of the plot

Reproducing a religious plot, Gentile resorts to exoticism (depicting foreign realities). Not only is the altar rich visually, but also the narrative details. Unlike his colleagues who created works with a similar plot, Gentile used the worship of the Magi as an opportunity to demonstrate his technical prowess and visual imagination. The Magi are not dressed in ancient robes, as we are used to seeing and as the biblical story itself says. The costumes of the Magi are deliberately written in a luxurious and exotic way. The royal retinue is replete with a variety of characters, intricate fabrics and rare animals. Gentile also puts in the picture outlandish animals (monkeys, cheetah), people of a different race (Mongol), elements of oriental clothing (turban).

By the way, the retinue in Gentile's work reminded the audience of the diplomatic powers of the customer Strozzi: the banker traveled as a member of official Florentine visits to various cities throughout Italy. By the way, Gentile did not forget to portray the customer himself. Strozzi stands behind the third sorcerer with a falcon - an attribute of the Strozzi family (strozzieri in Tuscan means "falconer").

Moreover, Gentile saturates his work with elements that are far from the gospel story: into the cities, behind the battlements of which graceful Gothic buildings interspersed with domes are visible, the procession enters along wooden bridges. The fields are planted with grapes and fruit trees. A fallow deer runs away from the hunter with the dog. At the left edge of the picture lies a robbed lone traveler with a slit throat. The dog in the right foreground looks in fear at the horse, which is about to casually step on it. In the far left corner, two female ministers curiously (and somewhat roughly) examine the precious gift that one of the Magi presents to the holy family.

These episodic (and sometimes even sarcastic actions) invite viewers to carefully and with special curiosity examine each area of the panel, discovering something new in this non-standard biblical story.