De aanbidding van het Christuskind

Alunno di Benozzo — the Pupil of Benozzo Gozzoli — is a conventional label for an anonymous Florentine painter who worked in close proximity to Gozzoli's workshop in the early 1470s, absorbing the master's clear narrative style and warm palette. This Adoration of the Christ Child from 1472 reflects Gozzoli's approach to the Nativity: an ordered, affectionate gathering of adoring figures around the Infant rather than the raw penitential confrontation with vulnerability that characterises Hugo van der Goes or his followers. The Dutch title under which the panel is catalogued — De aanbidding van het Christuskind — indicates the picture's subsequent collection history in the northern European art market rather than its Florentine origin.

The anonymous follower of Gozzoli manages the complex arrangement of adoring angels, shepherds, and the kneeling Virgin with the clear compositional logic of workshop training: figures are placed in a circle around the Infant, each given space to express devotion through posture. The warm, golden tonality of Gozzoli's style is maintained. The Infant's light-radiating body is rendered in pure pale pink against the darker surrounding tones.