
Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1370–1427) created the most opulent painting of the early Italian Renaissance. Born in Fabriano in the Marche region, he emerged from obscurity to become the foremost painter in central Italy. His early career took him to Venice, where he painted a now-lost fresco in the Doge's Palace depicting a naval battle. There he likely trained Jacopo Bellini, father of the famous Bellini brothers. By 1414, he was working for Pandolfo III Malatesta in Brescia, painting another lost chapel that contemporaries considered a marvel.
Then came Florence. In 1420, the wealthy banker Palla Strozzi commissioned an altarpiece for his family chapel in Santa Trinita. The result, completed in 1423, was the Adoration of the Magi, now the masterpiece of International Gothic painting in Italy. The panel glitters with gold leaf, depicting the Three Kings in lavish brocades attended by exotic retainers, horses, monkeys, leopards, and camels. Strozzi spent a fortune: the gold alone cost more than most complete altarpieces. Gentile's delicate line, vibrant colors, and love of decorative detail influenced Florentine painters for the rest of the century, including Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli.
Gentile moved to Rome in 1427 at Pope Martin V's invitation to decorate the Basilica of St. John Lateran. He died that same year, before finishing the commission. Pisanello completed the work. Despite losing most of his frescoes to time, Gentile's influence lived on through his students and the painters who studied the Adoration. The painting has hung at the Uffizi Gallery since 1919.
11 paintings catalogued with museum locations

Gentile da Fabriano
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Gentile da Fabriano
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Gentile da Fabriano
Private Collection, Unknown

Gentile da Fabriano
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Gentile da Fabriano
Frick Collection, New York

Gentile da Fabriano
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Berlin

Gentile da Fabriano
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

Gentile da Fabriano
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gentile da Fabriano
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Gentile da Fabriano, 1423
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence
Gentile da Fabriano
National Museum of San Matteo, Pisa, Pisa
8 museums display Fabriano's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.

Unknown, Unknown
1 work on display

New York, USA
1 work on display



Florence, Italy
4 works on display

Berlin, Germany
1 work on display

Milan, Italy
1 work on display

New York, United States
1 work on display

New Haven, United States
1 work on display
Pisa, Italy
1 work on display
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