Il Viaggio dei Magi
A text held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, from an epigraph to this "Procession of the Magi," notes the presence of regum dona. The three princely gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are explicitly named in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew 2:11. Further identification of the figures, in contemporary dress, is customary: the natural starting point to look at the murals is the east wall and from left to right. The youngest of the Magi, Caspar, is associated with the east, and therefore with the light of dawn. This symbolism continues with the south wall representing noon and middle age for Balthasar the mature Magus, and the west wall representing the sunset and old age for Melchior the aged Magus.
Painting in Renaissance Italy reveals the standing of the artist. The patron or donor of the painting was depicted kneeling shoulder to shoulder with the saints, while the painter might disguise himself amongst the peasantry, in rustic costumes, on the sidelines, or, as is the case with his fresco The Journey of the Magi, include his self-portrait in the procession, with the attribution Opus Benotii written around the rim of his cap.
The procession sets off from Jerusalem - the white fortified city which can be seen on the hill behind Lorenzo - and heads off towards Bethlehem. The intervening landscape is crowded with birds and animals of Gozzoli's native Tuscany. Gozzolli included vegetation and floral motifs:
- West wall
- bushes of white and red roses
- cypresses
- orange tree
- South wall
- bushes of white and red roses
- cypresses
- East wall
- laurel (the laurel is significant as a means to identify Lorenzo de Medici).
- orange tree
- holly bush
- palm tree
Technique
After a coat of plaster had been laid on the wall in preparation for the fresco Gozzoli made clever use of major undulations in the wall surface, on which light falls at slightly differing angles, to produce variations in colour and especially in the appearance of gilding.
