Palazzo Medici-Riccardi is one of the largest and most important Renaissance palaces in Florence. As the Medici wealth grew so did the need for a better family house.
Home of the Medici for 100 years, the palazzo was later acquired by the Riccardi family and nowadays houses government offices. The palace, which once belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent is now the seat of the Prefecture.
It was Cosimo's eldest son, Piero, who ordered the construction of the private chapel for which this building is most famous, the Cappella dei Magi . The cappella hosts the famous frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli, the Arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem.
His magnificent and large Journey of the Magi (1460) could be considered one of the first celebrity works of art so far as it portrays numerous members of the Medici household, including an 11-year-old Lorenzo the Magnificent as pilgrims on their way to Bethlehem.
Gozzoli has even included himself in the entourage, (a practice not uncommon amongst renaissance artists).The chapel is on the piano nobile of the palace, Gozzoli painted his cycle over three of the walls.
Over a rich landscape probably influenced by Flemish artists, Gozzoli portrayed the members of the Medici family, riding in the foreground of the fresco on the wall at the right of the altar.
A young Lorenzo il Magnifico leads the procession on a white horse, followed by his father Piero and the family founder, Cosimo. Then come Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta and Galeazzo Maria Sforza, respectively lord of Rimini and Milan. After them is a procession of illustrious Florentines.
The lively colors and details of the frescoes are backed by the precious mosaics of the pavement, the gilted ceiling and the wooden stalls designed by Giuliano da Sangallo.
You may have to wait a few minutes for entry to this chapel as space restrictions only permit seven people inside at any one time.
Enter one or more emails (separate w/ commas) and your information. Then press Send.
