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The two seem to be squaring off in generosity, each inviting the other to go before him to make obeisance.
The postures and figures in the crowd range of arrogance to humility. A figure on the left appears to be frowning haughtily at the scene before him as though he could not possibly give up his dignity to bow before such a poor family. The fact that the setting is shifted from Bethlehem to Italy, complete with realistic depiction of countryside, sky, history, and place shows how important it was for the artist to make this Scriptural story as much a part of the lives of the Florentines as could be possible. That is why Botticelli transports the setting of the Adoration from the Middle East to Italy -- to drive home both the idea that Jesus was born for all men and the idea that Florence is as great a city as that where the Christ-child was born.
The naturalistic setting combines with the religious symbolism of the manger narrative, here depicted as a kind of ruined sanctuary of classical antiquity. It is as though the Holy Family has revisited Earth and still...
Whether this is the purpose of Botticelli or merely what one might glean from examining the picture cannot be said for certain. In the final analysis, however, one might easily conclude that Botticelli's use of religious symbolism (the Adoration narrative) combined with naturalistic beauty (the noble bearing and features of the Medici) serve to create a lush, alive, vibrating painting whose lessons are as complex as the intertwining of the religious and the naturalistic.
Works Cited
Johnson, Paul. Art: A New History. NY: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Lawrence." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9. NY: Robert
Appleton Company, 1910.
McCarthy, Mary. "A City of Stone." The New Yorker, 22 Aug 1959, p. 38. Web. 14
Sep 2012.
Schlegel, Ursula. "Observations on Massaccio's Trinity Fresco in Santa Maria Novella."
Art Bulletin, vol. 45 (1963), pp. 19-34. Print.
Works Cited
Johnson, Paul. Art: A New History. NY: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Lawrence." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9. NY: Robert
Appleton Company, 1910.
McCarthy, Mary. "A City of Stone." The New Yorker, 22 Aug 1959, p. 38. Web. 14
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