How does Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475) elucidate its Botticelli, the Medici, and Portraits of the Medici Family?
The Medici were a very powerful and wealthy family in Italy in the 1400s. In the 1470s, Sandro Botticelli developed a close relationship with the Medici family. The Medici family commissioned a series of artworks painted by Botticelli throughout the late 1400s. These works include Portrait of a Young Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder (c. 1474/75), where the man resembled the likeness of Cosimo de' Medici, and changed the direction of portrait painting, especially with the use of such a prominent male subject. Furthermore, Botticelli painted multiple different portraits of Giuliano de’ Medici throughout the 1470s.There are different theories of who is included or if they are even included at all. One interpretation comes from the first edition of Giorgio Vasari's Lives (1500). Vasari wrote that the oldest Magus, Caspar, was a depiction of Cosimo de’ Medici (r.1434-1464), who was the head of the Medici household and Medici Bank from 1429-1464. Vasari goes on to write that the Magus in the middle represents Giuliano de’ Medici (1453-1478), and that the last Magus is Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici, the son of Cosimo de’ Medici. Another interpretation comes from Heinrich Ulmann's 1983 monograph on Botticelli in which he proposed that the central Magus is actually Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (r.1464-1469). Ulmann also suggests that the dark-haired man behind the youngest Magus is Giuliano de’ Medici (b.1453-d.1478) and that the young man with the sword on the left is Lorenzo de’ Medici (r.1449-1492), otherwise known as Lorenzo il Magnifico. Most scholars agree that The Adoration of the Magi includes the Medici family patron, Cosimo de' Medici and his sons Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (r.1464-1469) and Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici (b.1421-d.1463), as posthumous portraits, as well as his grandsons Lorenzo de' Medici (r.1449-1492) and Giuliano de' Medici (b.1453-d.1478), as living portraits.The inclusion of the Medici portraits in Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi shows just how influential the family was in Italian society at the time. Moreover, the Medici were customarily shown as the magi because they were members of the Florentine confraternity, the Company of the Magi.It is also possible that their portraits were used to convey the desire for divine protection for the Medici family. Whether Botticelli's intimate relations with the Medici brothers allowed the wealthy Gaspare to introduce the portraits of their kinsmen in his altar-piece, or Gaspare was glad for this opportunity to pay a graceful compliment to these powerful personages is hard to tell. It is, however, apparent from the great pains Botticelli took with these figures, that this formed an important part of the task.
Lorenzo de' Medici Caspar The Adoration of the Magi Giorgio Vasari confraternity Giuliano de' Medici Botticelli Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici The Medici Adoration of the Magi Portrait of a Young Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder Lorenzo de’ Medici Giuliano de’ Medici Sandro Botticelli Medici Bank Lives Cosimo de’ Medici Cosimo de' Medici Piero di Cosimo de' Medici