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Titolo: Adorazione dei Magi |
| Anno: 1656 – 1657 | |
| Tecnica: Olio su tela | |
| Dimensioni: 50 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches | |
| Città: | |
| Collocazione: Collezione privata – Francesco e Oletta Lauro |
[…]
Preti portrays the moment when the wise men see the Christ Child for the first time, and fall down to worship him, offering gifts. The scene takes place in a setting suggesting both a stable and classical ruins. The wise men’s exotic turbans and rich fabrics, indicating their arrival from a land far away, provides a theatrical splendor borrowed from the Venetian masters, Paolo Veronese in particular. Though the account in Matthew makes no mention of the number of wise men, Preti folIows the Western Latin tradition of three eastern visitors, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, each bearing the gift named in the biblical passage: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
[…]
The radiant shaft of divine light that descends through the darkness to envelop the Holy Family in an aura is inherited from Caravaggio. Preti uses striking contrasts of light to instill a visual excitement to the composition as a whole. The greyish tint of the flesh and the streaming light which seems to collect in pools of color are innovations observed from Giovanni Lanfranco. In the final reckoning no one but Preti would have portrayed the joyful Epiphany with such solemnity and gravitas as in rhe present work, executed during the last years of the 1650s.
Preti portrays the moment when the wise men see the Christ Child for the first time, and fall down to worship him, offering gifts. The scene takes place in a setting suggesting both a stable and classical ruins. The wise men’s exotic turbans and rich fabrics, indicating their arrival from a land far away, provides a theatrical splendor borrowed from the Venetian masters, Paolo Veronese in particular. Though the account in Matthew makes no mention of the number of wise men, Preti folIows the Western Latin tradition of three eastern visitors, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, each bearing the gift named in the biblical passage: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
[…]
The radiant shaft of divine light that descends through the darkness to envelop the Holy Family in an aura is inherited from Caravaggio. Preti uses striking contrasts of light to instill a visual excitement to the composition as a whole. The greyish tint of the flesh and the streaming light which seems to collect in pools of color are innovations observed from Giovanni Lanfranco. In the final reckoning no one but Preti would have portrayed the joyful Epiphany with such solemnity and gravitas as in rhe present work, executed during the last years of the 1650s.
A Brush with Passion MATTIA PRETI (1613-1699) – Firenze, 2013
by John T. Spike
by John T. Spike
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