Fra Angelico and Fra Lippi, Adoration of the Magi. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

There are rules around present-opening, and that’s only right. No one likes the spoil-sport who tip-toes down the day before a major celebration to ravenously rent open their gifts with gluttony and glee. Mostly on Art 2010, I’ve exercised a great deal of restraint in waiting patiently until the decreed and agreed day when I could unveil a painted or sculpted thing to you: saints stuck fast to their official feasts days, festivals were fused to the correct calendar mark. It wasn’t always easy, I’ll grant you that (patience is not one of my most easy virtues), but there’s no point pinpointing a year with higgledy-piggledy highlights.

Having said that, today I’m breaking my own code of honor to bring you the kings way ahead of time. Because, even with a fair wind and a clear passage on the Orient Express, there’s no way Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar (the Wise Men) were officially entering Bethlehem until early January.

But be that as it may, you’ll thank me for bringing this ringing beauty to you before our project’s end in a few days’ time, because this Adoration of the Magi (c. 1440/1460) is a belter. It’s actually (likely) authored by two luminaries of the Florentine Renaissance: Fra Angelico (c. 1395 – 1455) and Fra Filippo Lippi (1406 – 1469).