National Geographic : 1952 Jan
A Color Masterpiece for the Christmas Season N OW when Jesus was born in Bethle hem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. . . They saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treas ures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2.) That holy scene in all its glory and bril liance lives for all time in one of the greatest masterpieces of color in the history of paint ing, "The Adoration of the Magi," by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi. As a special Christmas-season supplement, a full-color re production of their glowing 500-year-old tondo, or circular painting, is sent to the 2,000,000 members of the National Geo graphic Society with this New Year number.* The scene portrayed is familiar to Chris tians everywhere as part of the Christmas story, although in most Western churches the coming of the Magi is not observed until January 6 (Epiphany). Colors from Crushed Jewels Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi were mendicant friars in Florence, Italy, when the Renaissance and the Medici were coming into full flower. As painters, both are classed among the greatest colorists who ever lived. In this work they combined their talents with almost dazzling results. The retinue of the Magi and the stream of spectators flow toward the Holy Family like a cascade of jewels. The brilliance of color was attained in part by the use of pigment made from minerals or semiprecious stones. All the blues in the painting, for example, were made of crushed lapis lazuli. Blue, the most expensive of Renaissance colors, was used lavishly and indicates that the picture was commissioned by an excep tionally rich patron. An entry in the inven tory of the Medici, rulers of Florence in the 15th century, prosaically lists the following: "A large tondo in a gilded frame, with a painting of Our Lady and Our Lord, and the Magi, who are bringing gifts, by the hand of Fra Angelico, worth 100 Florins." The entry seems to fit this painting better than any other existing picture by Fra An gelico. The 100-florin appraisal, high for that time, indicates a large and important work. Today the painting is one of the most prized of recent additions to the Kress Collection in the National Gallery of Art (page 75). Only one of the artists is mentioned in the Medici inventory, which was compiled in 1492, the year America was discovered. The like liest explanation is that the commission may originally have been given only to the elder artist, Fra Angelico. The work then appar ently was completed by his pupil, Fra Filippo Lippi, either after Fra Angelico's death in 1455 or after his departure for Rome in 1445. The radiance of color is due not only to the materials used but also to an arbitrary convention, a technical device characteristic of late Medieval and early Renaissance paint ing. In the draperies of foreground figures the most intense color-the deepest blue, or rose, or lavender-does not come where the light is strongest but instead at the bottom of the folds where the shadow is darkest. Thus drapery is modeled from shadows of saturated color to lights of brighter but more neutral tones. This system died out with the rise of nat uralism in the late 15th century. Shadows became neutral or even brown, and painting lost some of its brilliance. Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, as if to show that they were familiar with the new science of anatomy and with realism, drew nude spectators standing on a wall, and a stable with horses being unsaddled and shod. Having thus proved themselves as progres sive as any painters of their time, they treated the main scene with traditional symbolism. Rulers in Lavender, Blue, Orange-red The three Magi are shown kneeling before the Christ Child, Our Lady, and St. Joseph. The eldest, in lavender, is Gaspar, King of Tarsus. The middle-aged king, in blue, with his hair in a pigtail to suggest the East, is Melchior, ruler of Arabia and Nubia. The youngest, in orange-red, is Balthasar, Prince of Saba, who offers Christ a golden amphora of myrrh because Our Lord was man and doomed to die. In His hand the Child holds a pomegranate, a symbol of the Fall of Man. On the stable roof is a peacock, an ancient sign of immortality because the flesh of the peacock was thought to be incorruptible. Fly ing downward are two pheasants, symbols of the rainbow covenant after the Flood. Thus this glorious tondo is both a poem of devotion expressed in the beautiful symbolism of the Church and at the same time a master piece of pure painting, rich in pattern, flowing in line, and flowerlike in color. * Members may obtain additional prints, unfolded, of the full-color 18-by-18-inch reproduction of "The Adoration of the Magi" by writing to the National Geographic Society, Washington 6, D. C. Price 50 each in United States and Possessions. Elsewhere 75'. All remittances payable in U. S. funds. Postpaid.