Prophecies and Ruins: Architectural Sources for Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi

Abstract

AS IS WELL KNOWN , Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) began his career working in the bottega of Andrea del Verrocchio. Initially, Leonardo collaborated on some of Verrocchio’s paintings, but he gradually realized that he was no longer satisfied by working on artworks that were not his own. Three paintings and one commission by the Repubblica (never made) attest to his autonomy in this first Florentine period: the Annunciation (1472–75), the Portrait of Ginevra dei Benci (1474–78), the Adoration of the Magi (1481–82), and the altarpiece commissioned for the Cappella dei Priori in Palazzo Vecchio (1478). The patrons of Leonardo’s early paintings may have belonged to different social classes, but they were often linked via bonds of kinship and friendship, partly still to be detailed. For the Priori’s commission and for the Adoration of the Magi, numerous elements indicate a “high-level” network that helped to shape the painter’s career. Such a network provided him with elements of humanistic and antiquarian culture that were available in the environment fostered by Lorenzo de’ Medici. This article analyzes theAdoration of the Magi from the specific point of view of the history of architecture, adding to the new evidence brought to light from the restoration of the painting at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, under the direction of Marco Ciatti and Cecilia Frosinini. I will argue that this focus on architecture