Magi Chapel

The Magi Chapel is the chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence, Italy. Its walls are almost entirely covered by a famous cycle of frescoes by the Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli, painted in 1459-1461 for the Medici family, the effective rulers of Florence.

The chapel is on the piano nobile of the palace, and was one of the first decorations executed after the completion of the building, designed by Michelozzo. Gozzoli painted his cycle over three of the walls. The Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem is covered in three large frescos, each showing the procession of one of the Three Magi on their way to Bethlehem to see the Nativity of Jesus. The religious theme was combined with a depiction of several members of the Medici family and their allies, and also some of the important people who arrived in Florence for the Council of Florence (1438-1439) several decades earlier. On that occasion the Medici could boast to have facilitated the (abortive, as it turned out) reconciliation between the Catholic and the Byzantine churches. The luxury of the Byzantine dignitaries is manifest, and shows the impression they would have at the time on the Florentine population.

In the apse the sides walls are painted with saints and angels in adoration, where Gozzoli followed the style of his master, Fra Angelico. The altarpiece was Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Christ Child, which was painted for this position. This is now in Berlin, with a copy by a follower of Lippi in the chapel. There are also three thin vertical fresco sections showing the shepherds of the nativity. In the 17th century, parts of the frescoes were destroyed to create access for a new staircase, where the entrance now is.

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