GENTILE DA FABRIANO
(b. ca. 1370, Fabriano Marche, d. 1427, Roma)

Adoration of the Magi

1423
Tempera on wood, 300 x 282 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Palla di Noferi Strozzi commissioned this famous altarpiece, signed and dated 1423 on the frame, for his family's chapel in the church of Santa Trinita in Florence. Wealth and culture of the donor are reflected in the lavish use of gold and in the pomp of the Magi procession, including also exotic animals as leopards and monkeys. If in this picture clearly emerges the persistence of International Gothic at the beginning of 15th Century, in the meanwhile the panel is ahead of its time showing in the predella scenes (Nativity, Rest during the Flight into Egypt and Presentation to the Temple) one of the basic innovations of Renaissance art: the blue sky at the place of the traditional gold background.