The five paintings of the Adoration of the Magi by Sandro Botticelli /

The thematic unit formed by the five versions of The Adoration of the Magi painted by Sandro Botticelli provide a special opportunity for studying his artistic development. An investigation of these five paintings shows that Botticelli aimed toward a goal of perfecting compositional techniques. He systematically made alterations to these works in order to create special point of view effects.This thesis outlines the general trends in art with respect to the Adoration theme and then concentrates on a demonstration of Botticelli's attempts at correlating compositional devices and the unique features developed with respect to spectator involvement. This selected study allows for a careful examination which spans the artistic career of Sandro Botticelli. As a result, it can be shown that it was perhaps Botticelli, rather than Leonardo da Vinci, who was primarily responsible for the development of a compositional format which became a foundation stone of High Renaissance compositions