The Adoration of the Magi

This circular painting, a tondo, was begun by Fra Angelico in the 1440s and finished by Fra Filippo Lippi after Angelico's death in 1455. It hung in the Medici Palace in Florence, and a 1492 inventory of Lorenzo de' Medici's estate listed it as the most valuable painting in the collection. The painting is round, 54 inches in diameter. The Virgin Mary and Christ Child sit at the bottom center, receiving the three Magi who kneel before them. Behind the Holy Family, a long procession of horses, camels, and figures winds around a hill and through an ancient arch. Nearly nude boys dance on the crumbling architecture above, a reference to the end of the pagan world. The colors are bright: reds, blues, golds, and greens, all painted in tempera on a poplar panel. Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar who painted in Florence in the 1430s and 1440s. He was known for his calm, luminous religious paintings. Lippi was a younger painter, a Carmelite friar with a more worldly style and a reputation for trouble. He took over the tondo when Angelico died, and most art historians think Lippi painted the majority of the surface as it exists today. The Adoration of the Magi was a major subject in 15th-century Florence. The city held a spectacular parade every five years reenacting the kings' journey, and the Medici family adopted the Magi as a symbol of their power and piety. The tondo format was popular for domestic devotional paintings in wealthy Florentine homes. Tempera on poplar panel, 137.3 centimeters in diameter. Tempera dries fast and produces clean, bright colors with sharp edges. The gold details on the Magi's gifts and the architecture are applied with careful precision. The surface is smooth, without the texture of oil paint. A round painting is unusual on a wall, and this print works best as a statement piece in a living room or entryway. The rich colors pair with warm wood tones, deep reds, and gold accents. The 18x24 size gives the procession room to read. The tondo shape is preserved in the print. The painting entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1952 as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. It is on display in the West Building. This is a public domain artwork, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.