Adoration of the Magi (Lorenzo Monaco)

The Adoration of the Magi is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian late Gothic artist Lorenzo Monaco, created c. 1420-1422.

According to some hints in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, it could have been executed for the church of Sant'Egidio in Florence, when it was reconsecrated by Pope Martin V. Later it is documented in a room facing the cloister of the monastery of San Marco, where it was seen by Fra Angelico.

The painting includes a large composition with a rather reduced use of a gilded background, a typical element of most Lorenzo's works.

On the left is portrayed the nativity scene, within an architecture showing Lorenzo's refusal of the contemporary introduction of geometrical perspective in art.

The Madonna, wearing a dark blue garment with three stars (symbols of virginity), is sitting on a stone and showing the Christ child to the spectators.

Detail of the hound.