Adoration of the Magi By Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi (1395 - 1455) – Public Domain Catholic Painting

Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico is a tondo, or circular painting, dating from the mid-15th century^[3]. It is believed to have been a collaboration between Fra Angelico and his colleague Filippo Lippi^[1], with contributions from a number of hands^[3]. It has sometimes been called the Washington Tondo due to its location in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.^[1][2].

The painting is believed to have been commissioned by a member of the Medici family in Florence^[2], and was inherited by Lorenzo de' Medici in 1492^[2]. It features a star that guided the Three Kings, suggested by a man's amazed upward gaze^[4], and the many seeds of the pomegranate held by the infant refer to the Church’s sheltering of believers^[4]. The painting also includes a large procession of retinues arriving through an arch that is part of a large ruined structure^[3].

Fra Angelico was known for his great monastic devotion and saintly deportment, which is mirrored in this artwork^[1][2]. Filippo Lippi was among the first Italian painters to be influenced by Netherlandish artists, whose paintings were brought south by Italian bankers and merchants with business in the north^[4].