Author: Sandro Botticelli
Date: About 1475
Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Technique: Tempera on wood
Dimensions: 111x134 cm

This work was commissioned by Gaspare de Lama, a wealthy Florentine banker, who wanted this painting to decorate his own funeral chapel inside Santa Maria Novella. In the center is the hut with the Holy Family, while the other characters are on either side of the scene. The hut is located in a raised point on a rock, with a part destroyed. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph behind them, on the other hand, form a kind of triangle, which continues towards the divine light above, leading the viewer to follow this upward motion with his eyes. At the top right there is a peacock, an animal that symbolizes immortality. The three Magi symbolize the three ages of man: youth, mature age and old age; the eldest among them has already given his offering to the Child Jesus and is now in a kneeling position before the latter. The other two magi, on the other hand, have placed their respective crowns and are now waiting their turn, kneeling, from behind, in a central position. The three Magi, after in-depth studies, were identified as Cosimo de 'Medici and his sons Piero il Gottoso and Giovanni. In the group on the left, with a long white dress and a hat on his head, Lorenzo de 'Medici can be recognized and in the other group, with a pensive expression and a black and red dress, his younger brother Giuliano de' Medici. The particular disposition of the characters and the fact that they all belong to the Medici family, suggests that it is a sort of genealogical tree of this family, starting with Cosimo de 'Medici, up to the young Giuliano de' Medici. In the foreground, on the right, with an orange dress and his gaze turned towards the viewer, is Sandro Botticelli himself in a self-portrait, and symmetrically on the other side, we see Agnolo Poliziano and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, right next to the knight. . The commissioner of the work, Gaspare de Lama, is also present among the characters: he has short white hair, a blue dress and is almost hidden in the group on the left in the background. The ruins in the background represent paganism now in ruins, and in contrast, Christianity is seeing the light, with the birth of Jesus in the foreground. Stylistically, the characters show all the characteristics that will then constitute a constant element in Botticelli's production: the melancholy expression of all the protagonists, the unreal, almost fairytale atmosphere of the scene and finally, the range of colors used, basically tends to gold, recalling the twilight light. This painting belongs to the early Renaissance.

Author: Agnolo Bronzino
Date: 1550-1570
Collection: Painting
Location: National Gallery, London
Technique: Oil on the table
Dimensions: 58.4x45.1 cm

This portrait by Agnolo Bronzino depicts Piero di Cosimo de 'Medici. The subject's face is placed in three quarters and looks at the viewer, the bust is always in three quarters and is facing right while the head is turned towards the viewer. Piero wears a damask robe. The subject is in a room in fact the background is a solid color of a dark green.

The portrait was made during the late Renaissance Mannerist era and derives from the marble bust of Mino da Fiesole preserved in the Bargello. The painting also shows similarities with Bronzino's portrait of the same subject in the National Gallery of London. In 1864 it was transported on a canvas support by Giovanni Secco Suardo. As emerges from the 2003 catalog, the portrayed character was confused with Folco Portinari and Piero di Cosimo. The similarity with the bust of Mino da Fiesole and with Piero il Gottoso by Bronzino has suggested that it is one of the painter's copies, according to the documents executed by Luigi Fiammingo, but it is preferred to attribute the responsibility for the work generically to Bronzino's workshop. .

Author: Sandro Botticelli

Date: 1481

Collection: Painting

Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Technique: Tempera on wood

Dimensions: 118 × 118 cm

Madonna of the Magnificat is a painting by Botticelli dating back to 1481 and preserved today in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It depicts the family of Piero de' Medici: his wife Lucrezia as Maria, the two sons Lorenzo and Giuliano kneeling in front of her, the three daughters Nannina, Bianca and Maria in the guise of angels and finally the Child representing Loreno's daughter, Lucrezia. The background is composed of a serene stone arched window, beyond which you can see a serene river landscape. The foreground figures follow the circular movement of the table in order to bring out the figures from the surface of the painting, as if it were a reflection in a convex mirror. The slight deformation gives the Virgin and the Child slightly larger dimensions than the other characters, tying themselves to the devotional customs of the Middle Ages.

Author: Agnolo Bronzino
Date: 1555/1565
Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 15x12 cm

The painting is part of a series of portraits representing the members of the de 'Medici family, made by Agnolo di Cosimo known as Bronzino. The painting is probably not autographed.

The subject depicted is Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici, known as the Magnificent. It is represented by ¾ and does not look towards the observer but seems to be looking outside the painting. The eyebrows are furrowed, the nose is hooked and protruding and the lips are pursed. The hair is brown and above the head is a red hat that extends between the chest and shoulders. She wears a red dress with a gray bodice over it. The dark background highlights the predominant color of the painting, red and has a golden writing: Laurentius medices petri filius.

Author: Sandro Botticelli

Date: 1478-1480

Location: National Gallery of Art, Washington

Collection: Painting

Technique: Tempera on wood

Dimensions: 75.6 x 52.6 cm

Botticelli was called immediately after the conspiracy to paint the effigies of the condemned conspirators, to hang on the walls of Palazzo Vecchio, on the door side of the Dogana. This version is the largest and the richest in details, in fact there are two others: one preserved in Berlin and one in Bergamo. Giuliano is painted with his eyelids lowered, which is unusual for a portrait, which has led experts to believe that it is a painting made after his death and therefore commemorating the deceased. The character is in a room and in the background is a window through which light enters. It has an open door, where beyond there is a blue sky and a closed one: a typical symbol of passage from life to death. At the bottom left, on the frame that isolates it, resting on a dry branch, an allusion to death, is a dove, a symbol of fidelity: fidelity that Giuliano had promised to Simonetta or fidelity that the client of the portrait swore to him. It is three-quarter length, with the head turned very far to the right which makes it almost in profile. The forehead is furrowed in the center, the nose pointed, the curly hair, dark and thick, the chin not very pronounced, the upper lip thin and the lower one fleshy. The gaze is turned downwards and is melancholy. The dress is that of the rich bourgeoisie of the time, with a red cape trimmed with fur, and a brown shirt whose sleeves are visible. The state of the pictorial surface is not optimal and this does not allow a sure evaluation of the painting.