THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 85

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

Benozzo Gozzoli was the favourite pupil of Fra Angehco, and much of his earlier work resembles that of his master, but in the famous picture of "The Journey of the Three Kinfrs to Bethlehem," in the chapel of the Medici Palace at Florence, we find he had taken many hints from Gentile da Fabriano. Behold the rich caparisons of the horses, the fairy-like landscape with its ca3tle3, rocks, trees, and birds, all depicted with minute realism. Gozzoli did not depict Oriental monarchs with swarthy retinues, but he selected his types from the crowds around him, and for the vanitj

-^— — — ' of his own generation he drew the feature* of all the prominent Florentines in the year 1460. In the pictures and sculptures found in the Catacombs at Rome and in the Church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna, the " Adoration of the Magi " is usually depicted in a very simple manner. The Blessed Virgin, the Hold Child, the penthouse, the ox and the ass, and the star are all delineated, vihile the Magi are, usually dressed in Phrygian caps, anaxyrides, short tunics, and flowing mantles, and each is carrying his gifts to place i^ the outstretched hands of the Holy Infant

Although three Magi appear in the earliest known pictures, yet wo find that for symmetry two, four, and in some ca-es six, are portrayed. The number three became definitely fixed m the fourth century. These early Chiiatian artists cndca\oured to rr-tall tho e\ont in v \ory '-nnple manner, but in later ;i^ps tho became more maunific<=nt For example, wo may take the work of Llcntile da Fdbriano, who be-

longed t«' th« early Umbrian school, and we find his picture of the " Adoration of the Magi " full of exquisite feeling. The ruined building is shown aa the house of David, &nd the elder King kneela in utter lowliness before the Divine Child to kiss His feet, having- placed his crown on the ground. The second King is in. the act of offering his gift, and the third has just dismounted from his horse and is having his spurs removed by an obsequious attendant. The two or three servants who formed the sole train of the Magi in earlier works have now developed into a great company of attendants. The background of this remarkable picture shows us three arches. On one side we sec the three Kings in their own country, beholding the star from, the summit of a mountain. In the centre arch they ride in procession into Jerusalem and inquire ihe way of Herod, and. in the third they are returning to their own country. About the year 1442 Stephen Lochner painted his famou6 picture of the "Three Kings," which hangs in the cathedral, Cologne, and he was probably a scholar of the renowned Meister Wilhelm. This picture is remarkable for the solemnity and simple dignity of composition, for the depth and force of tone, and the beauty and harmony of colour. It also possesses a feeling of ideal grace, and is as .conspicuous in the loveliness of the Virgin with the Divine Child as in the dignity of the kings who worship and the knights wh« accompany them.—" The Childhood of Our Lord as Represented in Art," a beautifully illustrated article by Alfred C. Fryer, Ph.D., F.S.A., in the Christmas number of the Treasury.