The Adoration of the Magi

Raffaello Botticini · c. 1495

Medium

Tempera on panel

Original size

Diam.: 104.2 cm (41 in.); Framed: Diam.: 127 cm (50 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Italian Renaissance

Raffaello Botticini's *Adoration of the Magi* brings together the reverent stillness of Florentine devotional painting with the rich, layered narrative that made this biblical subject so beloved in the Renaissance. Botticini was the son of the respected Florentine painter Francesco Botticini, and trained within that workshop tradition before developing his own voice. Working in tempera on panel — the dominant medium of late fifteenth-century Florence before oil fully took hold — he achieved the jewel-like luminosity and precise linework characteristic of the period. His figures carry a quiet solemnity, arranged with care around the central act of homage, each detail of drapery and expression considered. The Adoration of the Magi held particular significance in Florence, where the Confraternity of the Magi organised elaborate processions each Epiphany, and wealthy patrons frequently commissioned the subject as an act of personal devotion and civic pride. This hand-painted oil reproduction translates Botticini's delicate tempera work into a medium that deepens the colour and enhances the sense of presence, bringing the painting off the panel and into your space with the warmth and detail that a print simply cannot convey.