The Adoration of the Kings

The Adoration of the Kings

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Support Type: Wood Panel
Paint Type: Tempera
Current Location: The National Gallery, London, England
Location History:Apparently from the Palazzo Capponi, Florence. First recorded in the Beckford Collection, Bath, by Passavant and Waagen. It passed by inheritance to Beckford’s son-in-law, the 10th Duke of Hamilton; seen at Hamilton Palace by Waagen.

Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), the son of renowned artist Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti, was one of the highly accomplished painters belonging to the Early Renaissance era. Initially, his father Filippo Lipi trained him and he later went to seek guidance from Sandro Botticelli. In Botticelli’s workshop, he was able to advance in the ditinctive style with the combination of expressive and graceful figures with eloquent body movement, topped off with a rich colour palette. Lippi’s paintings consisted of animated compositions, subtle chiaroscuro, refined lines, warm colour palettes, and Netherlandish art landscapes for the background. Filippino gained fame for his completion of Masaccio’s frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel, and the creation of Carafa Chapel frescoes, Rome and Strozzi Chapel, Florence. His creative combination of classical antiquity, emotion, and motion helped make the transition between the Early and High Renaissance, and his expressive style foretold Mannerism. “The Adoration of the Kings” by Filippino Lippi is one of the finest early religious paintings created around 1475-1480, when he worked under Sandro Botticelli. The painting depicts a scene where the Three Kings are giving their gifts to Child Jesus, while additional figures such as St. Mary Magdalen, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, the Archangel Raphael, and Tobias are around against the harsh landscape of a chapel. This artwork differs from the intricately decorated compositions for the Renaissance era in Florence because Filippino focused more on the harsh landscape and the lives of saints, most likely reflecting the spiritulity of his patron. The painting was likely commissioned by Francesco del Pugliese, a Florentine merchant. He was a follower of the famed Dominican reformer Girolamo Savonarola, who most likely inspired Lippi the ideals about the saints and he executed it in the figures in his paintings. Filippino mastered the delicate figures enhanced by expressive gestures, rich colours, andd it is also a demonstration of Botticelli’s influence and landscapes of North Europe.

Sources:

Location source: nationalgallery.org.uk
Location History: nationalgallery.org.uk
Information Compiled by Ragini Shete
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