Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi (1423)

Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi (1423)

Gentile da Fabriano, or Gentile di Niccolò di Giovanni di Massio (c. 1370 – c. 1427) was born in or near Fabriano, near Ancona in the Marche. The most sought-after and famous artist in Italy during the first quarter of the 15th century, he carried out important commissions in several major Italian art centres and was recognized as one of the foremost artists of his day. Sadly, most of the work on which his great contemporary reputation was based has been destroyed, which may be why he is not more widely known today.
Gentile da Fabriano first worked in Venice, but his early frescoes are now destroyed. By 1422 he had joined the Florentine guild, and started a workshop. He is regarded as a leading exponent of the so-called International Gothic style, and his pictures are elegant and stylish. In fact his unifying use of light predates Masaccio. He probably taught Jacopo Bellini in Florence.

Gentile's art is typical of the International Style, a manner of painting which became popular at courts throughout Europe in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Characterized by a refined decorative elegance, a concern for continuous rhythms, and the lavish use of gold and bright colors, this aristocratic manner fused the stylized art of the Middle Ages with the emerging naturalistic interests of the Renaissance.

In 1423, for the sacristy of Santa Trinità in Florence, he painted his masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi (now in the Galleria degli Uffizi, in Firenze). Commissioned by Palla Strozzi, this brilliant narrative spectacle is rich with sentiment, psychological observation, and an unusually detailed description of nature.

Gentile da Fabriano died that year while working on a fresco cycle in San Giovanni in Laterano.[1]

Giovanni di Paolo's The Presentation of Christ in the Temple formed a predella with a series of panels showing the Annunciation (National Gallery of Art, Washington), the Nativity (Pinacoteca Vaticana), the Crucifixion (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), and the Adoration of the Magi (Cleveland Museum of Art). Three of these scenes adapt in a highly original fashion compositions deriving from Gentile da Fabriano's famous Adoration of the Magi altarpiece of 1423, painted for the Strozzi chapel in Santa Trinita, Florence (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence).
Trained in Siena, Giovanni di Paolo was heir to a long tradition of famous painters who worked in the city. The artist borrowed heavily from his contemporaries in creating his own highly personal and graceful style. Giovanni di Paolo depicts the arrival of the Magi at Bethlehem in a wealth of color and detail befitting the riches they brought the Christ Child. The Magi pay homage to Christ as he sits on the Virgin's lap beneath a blazing, golden star. Crowns, sumptuous robes, a crowd of servants (one sprawling to remove the spurs of the standing king), and even a pet monkey stress the wealth and power of the visitors. The visit of the Magi is described in the Book of Matthew as the epiphany, when the arrival of Christ became known to the world. Magi are literally astrologers, but over the centuries, popular legends transformed them into kings and they are usually shown in royal robes and crowns.






St. Nicholas and the Three Gold Balls. From the predella of the Quaratesi triptych from San Niccolo, Florence. 1425. Tempera on wood. Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome. The scene illustrates the episode in which Nicholas saved three impoverished girls from prostitution by tossing three gold balls through their window one night.		Gentile da Fabriano, St. Nicholas and the Three Gold Balls. From the predella of the Quaratesi triptych from San Niccolo, Florence. 1425. Tempera on wood. Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome.
Quaratesi Altarpiece: Pilgrims at the Tomb of St Nicholas of Bari Gentile da Fabriano A Miracle of St. Nicholas. The last surviving work by Gentile da Fabriano documents, in this pilgrimage scene, an interesting chapter in the history of religion. It shows the viewer the pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Nicholas in Bari, the popularity of the pilgrimage site, and also, in the figure of the man front left, an instance of miraculous healing.		Gentile da Fabriano. A Miracle of St. Nicholas. From the predella of the Quaratesi triptych from San Niccolo, Florence. 1425. Tempera on wood. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.



Podere Santa Pia situated in panoramic position in the Maremma countryside
Holiday accomodation in Tuscany \| Podere Santa Pia \| Artist and writer's residency
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Podere Santa Pia	Podere Santa Pia, garden view, April	View from Podere Santa Pia on the coast and Corsica

[1] Originally named Gentile di Niccolò di Giovanni di Massio, he was named after his birthplace, Fabriano in the Marches. He carried out important commissions in several major Italian art centres and was recognized as one of the foremost artists of his day, but most of the work on which his great contemporary reputation was based has been destroyed. It included frescos in the Doges' Palace in Venice (1408) and for St John Lateran in Rome (1427). In between he worked in Florence, Siena, and Orvieto. His major surviving work is the celebrated altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi (Uffizi, Florence, 1423), painted for the church of Sta Trinità in Florence, which places him alongside Ghiberti as one of the greatest exponents of the International Gothic style in Italy. It is remarkable not only for its exquisite decorative beauty but also for the naturalistic treatment of light in the predella, where there is a night scene with three different light sources. Gentile had widespread influence (much more so initially than his great contemporary Masaccio), notably on Pisanello, his assistant in Venice, Jacopo Bellini, who worked with him in Florence, and Fra Angelico, who was his greatest heir. The best work in English on Gentile is the chapter on the artist in Raimond van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, vol. 8 (1927). Luigi Grassi, ed., Tutta la pittura di Gentile da Fabriano (1953), in Italian, is useful for its illustrations. Additional literature Christiansen, Keith, Gentile da Fabriano, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982. Vasari, Giorgio. La vite del più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti. Gentile da Fabriano e il Pisanello. Ed. Adolfo Venturi. Florence, 1896 (originally 1568). Gentile da Fabriano e l'altro Rinascimento, catalogo della mostra (Fabriano, 21 aprile-23 luglio 2006), Electa, 2006. Fabio Marcelli, Gentile da Fabriano, Silvana, 2005. Andrea De Marchi, Gentile da Fabriano. Un viaggio nella pittura italiana alla fine del gotico, Federico Motta, 2006 (I ed. 1992).

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