Filippino Lippi (Prato c. 1457-1504 Florence)

According to Jonathan Nelson (op. cit, pp. 186-187), the present lot is the central panel from the predella of the Adoration of the Magi in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (inv. no. 1890.1566). The entire altarpiece, commissioned by the Augustinians of San Donato a Scopeta, was completed in 1496. The whereabouts of other sections are known from the dismantled altarpiece; however, when Alessandro Cecchi reconstructed the original altarpiece, he was unaware of the present painting and used, instead, a workshop copy once in the Galleria Bellini, Florence (see 'Una predella e altri contributi per l'Adorazione dei Magi di Filippino', Gli Uffizi. Studi e ricerche 5: I pittori della Brancacci agli Uffizi, Florence, 1988, pp. 59-72).