King Melchior Sailing to the Holy Land

1445 · The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

religious

A small fleet accompanies one of the three kings who, according to Christian tradition, brought gifts to the infant Jesus. King Melchior sits enthroned in the stern of a sailing ship, his robes and crown decorated with gold leaf. A fifteenth-century hunting party and two monks appear in the foreground, perhaps to make this scriptural scene more relevant to a fifteenth-century audience.

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About the Artist

Pesellino

1422 – 1457

Pesellino (Francesco di Stefano), Florentine painter who studied under his father Stefano di Francesco and inherited his studio workshop. His style combined elements from Fra Filippo Lippi, Masaccio and Fra Angelico. He appears to have worked with Lippi, who completed the altarpiece The Holy Trinity after Pesellino's death. Pesellino worked with Uccello on battle scenes for the Medici Palace, Florence, and also painted panels for cassone ('bridal chests'). 1453 Pesellino went into partnership with Piero di Lorenzo di Pratese (d 1487) and Zanobi di Migliore, and numerous replicas of popular Virgin and Child compositions by Pesellino were probably produced in this joint workshop for sale on the open market.

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