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 (Stefano da Verona) in 1818 to the Pinacoteca di Brera, as a work by Stefano Fiorentino. The scene, some details of which come from the "Adoration of the Magi" by Gentile da Fabriano (1423) or a common model, is on two levels. The lower one shows the Magi and their procession homaging the Child and the Virgin; the upper one has several scenes with groups of shepherds, the arrival of the Magi led by the comet star and the final part of the procession with dogs and camels. The foreground depicts the Virgin who sits under the hut with the ox and the