Adoration of the Magi

The scene begins on the left with the figure of Saint Joseph, positioned against a perspective backdrop of columns and ancient ruins. He is observing the Virgin and Child, who are receiving a gift from one of the Magi kneeling before them. Behind Melchior, the eldest king in the foreground, the other two kings can be seen, distinguished by their opulent attire and crowns: Balthazar, the Moor, holding a vase containing a precious gift for Jesus, and Gaspar, to whom a page is handing an ampoule of incense intended as a gift for the Child. The procession that accompanied the exotic kings on their journey, evidenced by the horses and camels, winds behind them. The upper half of the painting features a rocky landscape that gradually slopes downward and a cloudy sky illuminated by the central comet that guided the Magi, aligned with the centralfigure of the Child.
The small panel in question appears to have been intended for private devotion. It originates from the collection of Don Vincenzo Ruffo di Motta Bagnara, where it was initially attributed to an unidentified sixteenth-century Roman painter. Upon its acquisition by the Museo di Palazzo Venezia in 1947, Antonino Santangelo recorded it under the name of Lorenzo Sabatini, based on the recommendation of Roberto Longhi. This attribution was subsequently accepted and reiterated by Federico Zeri (1955). However, since that time, the Adoration of the Magi has not been referenced in any specialized studies on the Bolognese painter. The work exhibits characteristics very similar to those of Lorenzo Sabatini (circa 1530-1576), a prominent figure during the late Mannerist period in Bologna, Florence, and Rome, and a key representative of the generation of artists preceding the Carracci family. Despite Longhi’s remarkably forward-thinking attribution for his time, it remains challenging to find precise comparisons between this panel and the established corpus of Lorenzo Sabatini's works (Balzarotti 2023).
The small panel, likely painted by someone in Sabatini’s circle, exemplifies a trend that emerged in the third quarter of the sixteenth century. This trend sought to balance the artificiality of Mannerism with orderly compositions. Even in works intended for private use, sacred subjects were depicted with clarity and intimacy to engage the faithful more closely.

Valentina Balzarotti

Entry published on 12 June 2025

Good.

Before November 29, 1989.

On the back of the panel, at the top right, there is a large inscription: “Rn138.” On the upper crossbar there is a label with the inscription “892.” Below it is a pencil inscription: “Ruffo.” At the bottom left, under the lower crossbar of the panel, there is another label with the inscription “Museo di Palazzo Venezia / Tavola / Lorenzo Sabbatini / Adorazione dei Magi / cm. 80x70 / Inv. 892” (Museo di Palazzo Venezia / Panel / Lorenzo Sabbatini / Adoration of the Magi / cm. 80x70 / Inv. 892). On the frame at the top, there is an undefined mark in the center and a label on the right that reads: “Cornice Comit. 956” (Frame Comit. 956). On the right side is a label with “PV 892 Com. 956”; at the bottom on the right side are two labels, the first bearing the inscription “Da Pisani / Giovanni de’ Vecchi / Comitato P.V. / Sabatini 956 Adoration of the Magi,” the second “Com. 956,” and on the left side in pencil “Bastiano Filippi.” The left side bears an unidentified mark.

The painting arrived at Palazzo Venezia through the bequest of Prince Don Fabrizio Ruffo di Motta Bagnara. According to an inventory drawn up by Erulo Eroli and Roberto Bompiani on June 22, 1909, regarding the works in Naples at the Palazzo Bagnara in Piazza Dante, which previously came from the Gran Salonel of the Palazzo Ruffo in Via Chiaia 217, there is a single Adoration of the Magi that can possibly be identified with the current one due to matching measurements: “No. 34 ‘The Three Kings at the Nativity Scene’ Oil on panel, Tuscan school, 1600. Dimensions: 80 cm x 70 cm. The painting is in good condition, the frame is in poor condition, price: 1,500 lire.” The painting was listed in the inventory of Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo’s picture gallery in 1753, where it is described as “[a]nother half-length portrait representing the Adoration of the Magi on panel by Ghirlandaio of Florence, sc. 40” (De Angelis 2010). Since the painting is not mentioned in the gallery description published by Jacopo Agnelli in 1734, it is inferred that it entered the Ruffo collection between that date and 1753, when it appears in the inventory.

Santangelo Antonino (a cura di), Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo. 1. Dipinti, Roma 1947, p. 18;
Zeri Federico (a cura di), Catalogo del Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale. 3. I dipinti del museo di Palazzo Venezia in Roma, Roma 1955, p. 8, n. 96;
Battista Stefania, La collezione Ruffo di Bagnara: alcuni documenti inediti, in Giannone, Antonio Lucio (a cura di), Percorsi d'arte. Dal collezionismo dei Ruffo all'evoluzione pittorica di Mino Delle Site, catalogo della mostra (Cavallino, Convento di San Domenico, 30 gennaio-13 marzo 2005; Salerno, Pinacoteca Provinciale, 23 marzo-1 maggio 2005), Salerno 2005, p. 75;
Pittiglio, in Barberini Maria Giulia, Sconci Maria Selene (a cura di), Guida del Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, Roma 2009, pp. 26-27, n. 9;
De Angelis Maria Antonietta, I dipinti del cardinale Tommaso Ruffo (1663-1753): la quadreria di un alto prelato nella Roma del Settecento, in Debenedetti Elisa (a cura di), Collezionisti, disegnatori e pittori dall’Arcadia al Purismo, II, Roma 2010, pp. 73, 92, nota 197, fig. 19;
Balzarotti Valentina, Lorenzo Sabatini. La grazia nella pittura della Controriforma, Bologna 2021 [2023], p. 41, nota 134.