Adoration of the Magi predella, Spedale degli Innocenti

The Adoration of the Magi predella for the Spedale degli Innocenti — Florence's famous foundling hospital — was produced by Bartolomeo di Giovanni in 1488, alongside the main altarpiece by Ghirlandaio for the same institution. The Innocenti had a special claim on the Adoration subject: the hospital's foundlings were identified with the Innocents massacred by Herod, and the Magi's recognition of the infant Christ resonated with the institution's care for abandoned children. Di Giovanni's predella narrative would have been viewed below Ghirlandaio's main panel, providing contextual narrative enrichment for the altar at the institution's chapel.

Tempera or oil on panel. The predella format — long and horizontal — requires the Adoration scene to be compressed laterally, with the procession of Magi abbreviated or implied rather than fully deployed. Di Giovanni's workshop adapted the standard Florentine Adoration composition to the predella's spatial constraints.