The ''Adoration of the Magi'' or ''Uffizi Triptych'' is a group of three tempera-on-panel paintings by

Andrea Mantegna Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order ...

, dating to around 1460. Their three subjects are the ''

Ascension of Christ The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate la, ascensio Iesu, lit=ascent of Jesus) is the Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising to Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to the N ...

'' (86 by 42.5 cm), ''

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

'' the largest and central panel (76 by 76.5 cm) and the ''

Circumcision of Christ The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, which states: And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, his name was called Jesus, the name called by the angel before h ...

'' (86 by 42.5 cm). They were gathered as a trio in the 19th century, although some art historians doubt that they were created as a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

set in the way they are now arranged. They are now in the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

History

Most scholars agree the three works were commissioned in the 1460s for

Ludovico III Gonzaga Ludovico III Gonzaga of Mantua, also spelled Lodovico (also Ludovico II; 5 June 1412 – 12 June 1478) was the ruler of the Italian city of Mantua from 1444 to his death in 1478. Biography Ludovico was the son of Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga and ...

's private chapel in the Castle of St. George in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

(together with the ''Death of the Virgin'', now in the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, and ''

Christ Bearing the Soul of the Virgin ''Christ Bearing the Soul of the Virgin'' is a tempera on panel painting measuring 27.5 by 17.5 cm by Andrea Mantegna. It was completed around 1462 and is now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Ferrara. It shows Christ in an almond-shaped cloud ...

'', now in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

). The paintings for the chapel are mentioned in two letters from Mantegna to Ludovico dated April 1464 and in

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

as "a painting y Mantegna in which are scenes with small but very beautiful figures ... in the castle at Mantua, for the chapel". Other scholars such as Fiocco argue that there is no evidence for how the three works got from Mantua to Florence and that they were instead produced in Tuscany during one of Mantegna's two trips there in 1466 and 1467. Stylistic reasons, however, link the work to Mantegna's final period in Padua, which ended in 1459, rather than to his maturity in Mantua. The first secure reference to the three paintings dates to 1587, when it was found cut up in Valle Muggia near

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

among the belongings of Don Antonio de' Medici. They were inherited before in 1632 entering the collection of the

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany ( it, Granducato di Toscana; la, Magnus Ducatus Etruriae) was an Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In th ...

, where the ''Adoration'' was misattributed to

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered ...

. The three works were exhibited together from 1827, with a gilded new neo-Renaissance intaglio frame which compensated for the differing sizes of the central work and the side panels. Most modern critics note the differences between the three works, including their form, format, setting and quality, especially between the ''Circumcision'' and the other two works.

Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 189 ...

doubted that the three works were conceived as a single unified triptych and theorised that instead they all came from different locations in the same chapel, as did ''

Death of the Virgin The Death of the Virgin Mary is a common subject in Western Christian art, the equivalent of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Eastern Orthodox art. This depiction became less common as the doctrine of the Assumption gained support in the Roman ...

'' and ''

''. According to Longhi, ''Circumcision'' replaced ''Death of the Virgin'' when it was decided to limit the scheme solely to scenes from Christ's life.

Adoration

The panel was probably located in the chapel's apse. The Magi are depicted while descending to the Child's grotto from a path carved out in the rock. The Virgin is portrayed with a crown of angels, according to a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

model. Another version of the painting sold for the then record price of $10.5 million in 1985.https://articles.latimes.com/1985-04-19/entertainment/ca-15137_1_mantegna-paintings Los Angeles Times - Getty Pays $10.5 Million For Painting

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adoration Of The Magi (Mantegna) Paintings by Andrea Mantegna 1462 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Uffizi Mantegna Camels in art Angels in art Mantegna Mantegna