ID: 700008649 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008649	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Adoration of the Magi (painting (visual work); Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi; probably commissioned by...; ca. 1440/1460; National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, United States); 1952.2.2)

Note: This brilliantly colored, richly decorated circular panel presents a splendid vision of the arrival of the Magi, accompanied by a courtly entourage. A 1492 inventory of Lorenzo de' Medici's estate possibly identifies this picture as the most valuable in the collection of the powerful Florentine family, and attributes it to Fra Angelico. The Adoration of the Magi actually appears to be the product of two artists; Fra Angelico may only have started the altarpiece, the greatest part of the work having been taken up by Fra Filippo Lippi. The Gospel (Matthew 2:1-12) account of the arrival of wise men from the East to adore the new king of the Jews is quite brief. Not until the third century were they identified as kings and their number set at three. In Western tradition Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar are kings of Persia, India, and Arabia, and represented as men of youth, middle age, and old age.

Titles:

Adoration of the Magi (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

painting (visual work) [300033618] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. 1440/1460

Creator Display:

Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi; probably commissioned by a member of the Medici family [preferred,VP,NGA-US]

painter Lippi, Filippo (Italian painter, ca.1406-1469) Extent: primary work [500019158]

commissioner (person who orders works) Medici, House of (Italian rulers, bankers, 15th-18th centuries) [500114961]

painter Angelico, Fra (Florentine painter, draftsman, ca. 1400-1455) [500029319]

Locations:

Current: National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, United States) [500115983] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 1952.2.2

Credit Line: Samuel H. Kress Collection

Other: Creation: Firenze [7000457] Firenze province (province), Tuscany (region (administrative division)), Italy (nation), Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: tempera on poplar panel

	tempera [300015062]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>, water-base paint)

	poplar (wood) [300012363]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, plant material, <wood and wood by product>, wood (plant material), <wood by composition or origin>, hardwood)

	panel (wood by form) [300014657]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, plant material, <wood and wood by product>, wood (plant material), <wood by form or function>)

Dimensions: tondo: overall (diameter): 137.3 cm (54 1/16 in.); framed: 188 x 171.5 x 12.7 cm (74 x 67 1/2 x 5 in.)

General Subject:

religion and mythology (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Adoration of the Magi [901000083]
	.....((Legend of the Nativity of Christ, Life of Jesus Christ, New Testament narratives, Christian iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	Magi [901001061]
	.....((Christian characters, Christian iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	Holy Family [901001175]
	.....((Christian allegory, symbolism, theme, Christian iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	tondo (painting) [300033622]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, paintings (visual works), <paintings by form>) (AAT)

	Epiphany (feast day) [300264546]
	.....(Activities Facet, Events (hierarchy name), events (activities), cultural events, holidays, religious holidays, Christian holidays) (AAT)

Provenance: Probably commissioned by a member of the Medici family, Florence; by inheritance to Lorenzo de' Medici [1449-1492], Florence.[1] probably Marchese Piero Guicciardini [1569-1626]; his widow, Marchesa Simona Machiavelli [1584-1658], Florence;[2] by inheritance to her great-nephew, Count Francesco Guicciardini [1618-1677], Florence; by inheritance to his son, Count Lorenzo Guicciardini [1652-1710], Florence; by inheritance to his son, Count Francesco Gaetano Guicciardini [1699-1780], Florence; by inheritance to his son, Count Lorenzo Guicciardini [1743-1812], Florence; by inheritance to his sons, Count Francesco [1776-1838] and Colonel Ferdinando [1782-1833] Guicciardini, Florence, in 1803;[3] sold July 1810 to Chevalier François-Honoré Dubois, Florence and Paris, as by Botticelli.[4] (Samuel Woodburn, London), by 1826, as by Fra Angelico.[5] William Coningham [1815-1884], London; (his sale, Christie & Manson, London, 9 June 1849, no. 34, as by Filippo Lippi).[6] Alexander Barker [d. 1873], London, by 1851;[7] (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 6 June 1874, no. 42, as by Filippino Lippi);[8] purchased by (Giovanni Calvetti [d. 1875], London) for Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold February 1947 through (Francis A. Drey, London) to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York, as by Filippo Lippi;[9] gift 1952 to NGA. -- Exhibition History 1868 Possibly National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds, 1868, no. 7 or no. 17. 1875 Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1875, no. 184, as The Adoration of the Infant Savior by Fra Filippo Lippi. 1909 National Loan Exhibition, Grafton Galleries, London, 1909-1910, no. 68, repro., as by Fra Filippo Lippi. 1919 Exhibition of Florentine Painting Before 1500, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1919, no. 26 as by Fra Filippo Lippi (no. 26 and pl. XXVI in illustrated catalogue published 1920). 1930 Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 93, as by Fra Filippo Lippi (no. 106 and pl. XXXVIII in commemorative catalogue published 1931; no. 35 in souvenir catalogue). 1944 Masterpieces from the Cook Collection, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1944-1945, no. 16 (Cook collection catalogue number), repro., as by Filippo Lippi. 1945 Masterpieces of the Cook Collection, Art Gallery of Toronto (now Art Gallery of Ontario); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1945, no cat.

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Adoration of the Magi	........ [VP]
	........ National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [online] (2001-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [online] (2001-)