Adoration of the Magi

Leonardo da Vinci began the Adoration of the Magi in 1481 for the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto near Florence, but abandoned it unfinished when he left for Milan the following year. The large panel, nearly 2.5 meters square, shows the Three Kings presenting gifts to the infant Jesus while a crowd of figures swirls around them.

Though incomplete, the painting reveals Leonardo's radical approach. He organized dozens of figures into a pyramidal composition centered on Mary and Jesus. Background figures engage in violent combat on horseback, contrasting with the peaceful adoration in the foreground. The unfinished state exposes Leonardo's working method: brown underpainting establishes forms before color would be applied.

The monastery eventually hired Filippino Lippi to paint a replacement. Leonardo's abandoned panel remained with the Benci family before entering the Medici collections. A controversial restoration completed in 2017 removed centuries of overpainting, revealing Leonardo's original browns and greens. It now hangs at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.