Monday, January 18, 2021

Procession of the Magi - Fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

"He who pursues the path of excellence in his labours, although it is, as men say, both stony and full of thorns, finds himself finally at the end of the ascent on a broad plain, with all the blessings that he has desired.  And as he looks downwards and sees the difficult and perilous way that he has come, he thanks God for having brought him out safely, and with the greatest contentment he blesses those labours that he has just been finding so burdensome.  And so, recompensated for his past sufferings by the gladness of the  happy present, he labours without fatigue, in order to demonstrate to all who see him how heat, cold, sweat, hunger, thirst, and all the other discomforts that are endured in the acquiring of excellence, deliver men from poverty, and bring them to that secure and tranquil state in which, with so much contentment, Benozzo Gozzoli enjoyed repose from his labours."

"This man was a disciple of Fra Giovanni Angelico, by whom he was loved with good reason, and by all who knew him he was held to be a practised master, very rich in invention, and very productive in the painting of animals, perspectives, landscapes, and ornaments.  He wrought so many works in his day that he showed that he cared little for other delights; and although, in comparison with many who surpassed him in design, he was not very excellent, yet in this great mass of work he surpassed all the painters of his age, for in such a multitude of pictures he succeeded in making some that were good.  In his youth he painted a panel for the altar of of the Company of S. Marco in Florence, and, in S. Friano, a picture of the passing of S. Jerome, which has been spoilt in restoring the façade of the church along the street.  In the Chapel of the Palace of the Medici he painted the Story of the Magi in fresco." 

– from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

Benozzo Gozzoli
Procession of the Magi
(with portraits of the Medici and their contemporaries)
1459
fresco
Cappella dei Magi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence