The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century . n of the Magi, that favourite themeof Florentine painters, which Gentile da Fabriano hadalready surrounded with romantic charm, and whichBenozzo now set forth in one great fresco on thewalls of this little oratory. All the festive pomp andsplendour of court-pageants which the Medici hadbrought into the simple life of old Florence, all thebeauty of the May time and the glamour of faeryromance are gathered up in this triumphal processionof the Three Kings, journeying over hill and vale ontheir way to the manger of Bethlehem.
The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century . n of the Magi, that favourite themeof Florentine painters, which Gentile da Fabriano hadalready surrounded with romantic charm, and whichBenozzo now set forth in one great fresco on thewalls of this little oratory. All the festive pomp andsplendour of court-pageants which the Medici hadbrought into the simple life of old Florence, all thebeauty of the May time and the glamour of faeryromance are gathered up in this triumphal processionof the Three Kings, journeying over hill and vale ontheir way to the manger of Bethlehem. They rideout, richly attired in brocades and shining armour,mounted on chargers adorned with sumptuous trap-pings and resplendent with gold and jewels, whilefair-haired pages hold their horses bridles or leadtheir greyhounds in leash. Following in their stepsare a brilliant train of courtiers, with horses, dogs andleopards, winding their way over the rocky Apenninesand down the green slopes, where tall bell-towers andwhite villas and chapels peep out among the olive. LORENZO DE MEDICI (PALAZZO RICCARDi)—BENOZZO GOZZOLI. \To face page 164 1498] MEDICI CHAPEL 165 and cypress groves, and narrow paths lead downinto fruitful valleys watered by clear streams. The special event which Cosimo de Medici wishedto commemorate was the General Council, which hadbeen removed from Ferrara to Florence in 1439, andthe visit of the Greek Emperor, who had been magnifi-cently entertained by him within these palace , in the first two kings we have portraitsof Joseph, the venerable Patriarch of Constantinople,and of John Palasologus, a fine-looking, dark-beardedprince, wearing a coronet on his turban, and a floweredrobe of gorgeous green and gold. In the youthfulking on the white horse, with the blue cap andjewelled crown jauntily set on his curling locks, andthe green laurel boughs about his bright young face,we recognise the boy Lorenzo, Piero de Mediciseldest son, and the hope
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectpainter, bookyear1901
