The Adoration of the Magi

In one of his finest and most complex works, Sellaio has depicted the Adoration of the Magi as an elaborate pageant. Such a parade was regularly organized in Florence on Epiphany by The Company of the Magi, a wealthy confraternity associated with the ruling Medici family. The pageant was suspended in 1478, just before this work was painted, for fear of an insurrection against the Medici. The size and format of this panel suggests it served as a spalliera, or decorated backboard, most likely of a wedding chest (casonne), and was perhaps commissioned for the home of a Medici ally.