Notticelli: Adoration of Magi

According to the Florentine artist, biographer, and Medici courtier Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), this painting contains the most faithful likenesses portrayed of Cosimo (kneeling before the Christ-Child) and Lorenzo (far right) Though the subject is Christian, the painting has a secular spirit, introduces individual portrait (Botticelli himself is in the far right-hand corner,) and serves to glorify the Medici family (Alinart/Scala/Art Resource)

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Dinesh ^club

As the fifteenth century advanced, the subject matter of art became steadily more secular. The study of classical texts brought deeper understanding of ancient ideas. Classical themes and motifs, such as the lives and loves of pagan gods and goddesses, figured increasingly in painting and sculpture. Religious topics such as
Annunciation of the Virgin and the Nativity, remained popular among both patrons and artists, but frequently the patron himself and his family portrayed. In Botticelli’s ‘Adoration of the Magi,’ for example, Cosimo de’ Medici appears as one of the Magi kneeling before the Christ child. People were conscious of their physical uniqueness and wanted their individuality immortalized. Paintings cost money and thus were also means of displaying wealth. Although many Renaissance paintings have classical or Christian themes, the appearance of the patron reflects the new spirit of individualism and secularism. ` Page 400

13 months ago.

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Notticelli: Adoration of Magi

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