The Adoration of the Kings

This is one of the earliest surviving paintings by Filippino Lippi, made around 1480 when he was in his early twenties and still working in the Florentine workshop of Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli's influence runs right through it, in the crowded courtly procession and the slender, elegant figures, even as the young painter begins to find his own touch. The subject is the three kings arriving to honour the newborn Christ, a theme Florentine families loved because it let them picture themselves among the richly dressed retinue that trails across the scene. This small panel was probably commissioned by the wealthy Florentine merchant Francesco del Pugliese for a family chapel in the hill village of Sommaia, north-west of the city.