Gentile da Fabriano

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.