Anbetung der Könige

Altichiero's Adoration of the Magi (c. 1380) at St. George's Oratory in Padua forms part of his celebrated fresco cycle depicting the life of Christ and the legend of Saint George. This cycle, commissioned by the nobleman Raimondino Lupi di Soragna, represents one of the supreme achievements of late fourteenth-century Italian painting. Altichiero's treatment of the Adoration transforms the traditional Gothic composition into a vivid, almost documentary scene populated with individualized courtly figures and richly observed details of costume and setting.

Originally executed as a fresco with secco finishing touches, displaying Altichiero's exceptional command of spatial illusionism and crowd composition. The painting features a remarkably naturalistic treatment of faces, fabrics, and architectural settings that anticipates Renaissance developments by several decades.