Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475) described by Vasari as "the finest of all that are now extant for its life and vigour"), his sons Piero (the second Magus kneeling in the centre with the red mantle) and Giovanni (the third Magus), and his grandsons Giuliano and Lorenzo. The three Medici portrayed as Magi were all dead at the time the picture was painted, and Florence was effectively ruled by Lorenzo. 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
Adoration of the Magi (Ospedale degli Innocenti) Adoration of the Magi (Ospedale degli Innocenti) The Adoration of the Magi is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Domenico Ghirlandaio, executed around 1485-1488 and housed in the Ospedale degli Innocenti gallery in Florence, Italy. The predella, painted by Bartolomeo di Giovanni, is in the same site. On 28 October 1485 Francesco di Giovanni Tesori, prior of the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence's orphanage, signed a detailed contract with Ghirlandaio regarding the commission of an altarpiece for the high altar of the annexed church of Santa Maria degli Innocenti. The subject chosen was the Adoration of the Magi, a common