February 22, 2025
"Truly marvelous and celestial was Leonardo, son of Ser Piero da Vinci; and in his learning and principles of letters, he would have made great profit, if he had not been so varied and unstable. For he set out to learn many things; and having begun them, he would then abandon them." (…)With these words, Giorgio Vasari describes Leonardo in his work “Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori,” published 30 years after Da Vinci's death.
Leonardo was born in Vinci, in the province of Florence, on April 15, 1452, from an illegitimate relationship between his father Ser Piero da Vinci and a certain Caterina, a woman who served in the da Vinci household. An artist of mutable character and impatient due to a profound dissatisfaction with what he did, as he believed that even with the great mastery of his own hands, he could never achieve the perfection of art in the things he imagined.After completing his training in the workshop of Verrocchio, often collaborating with him on various works, such as the Baptism of Christ, Leonardo gradually began to execute works entirely of his own making. It is indeed with The Adoration of the Magi that the artist, almost thirty years old, fully demonstrates his new and personal artistic vision.This work was created in 1481-82 on commission from the Augustinian monks of San Donato a Scopèto, a monastery located just outside the Porta Romana of Florence, commissioning him to paint a work with the theme of the Adoration. The contract stipulated that Leonardo would complete the work within approximately 24 months.
