Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475) Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475) The Adoration of the Magi is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, dating from 1475 or 1476, early in his career. The work is on display at the Uffizi in Florence. Botticelli was commissioned to paint at least seven versions of "The Adoration of the Magi". This version was commissioned by Gaspare di Zanobi del Lama for his funerary chapel in Santa Maria Novella. In the scene numerous characters are present, among which are several members of the Medici family: Cosimo de' Medici (the Magus kneeling in front of the Virgin,
Adoration of the Magi and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path". Christian iconography has considerably expanded the bare account of the Biblical Magi given in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (–) and used it to press the point that Jesus was recognized, from his earliest infancy, as king of the earth. The scene was often used to represent the Nativity, one of the most indispensable episodes in cycles of the "Life of the Virgin" as well as the "Life of Christ". In the church calendar,