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.
The above painting is a classic work of the Renaissance. The naturalistic realism, use of light and shade, and the perfect human body sketch- representing better understanding of the human anatomy at that time in Europe than earlier. Moreover, the lively depiction of the background and the setting where the subjects are being placed and the event is shown to be unfolding adds an effect further picturesque effect to the art. In terms of theme, it represents the spirit of he early Renaissance when religious and mythological themes were the only dominant sources while the revival of he Greeko-Roman style in the art gave theses paintings a more refined, real like look.
