Fede Galizia at Capodimonte: the 'Adoration of the Magi' returns to the

Fede Galizia at Capodimonte: the Adoration of the Magi in Room 79

Capodimonte welcomes an important addition to its permanent displays: the Adoration of the Magi (1610) by Fede Galizia, exhibited for the first time in its definitive location in the second-floor gallery, Room 79, reopened for the occasion.

The altarpiece, part of the Bourbon Collection for over two centuries, was long neglected and misattributed. The signed work was properly identified only recently: attribution research published in 2021 traced its journey from the Chapel of the Magi into Naples’ major collection.

Fede Galizia, active in Milan from the late 1500s into the early 1600s, is known for portraits and still lifes; this altarpiece shows her engagement with High Renaissance models, displaying compositional echoes of Leonardo and references to Raphael and Correggio. The painting’s return to Capodimonte enhances the museum’s narrative on women artists and enriches the story of painting in Naples.

Key points in the painting’s history:

• Commissioned by the Flemish merchant Baldassare Noirot for the Chapel of the Magi in Sant'Anna dei Lombardi (1581).
• Moved several times; recorded in the Real Museo Borbonico in the early 19th century.
• Misattributed as an "unknown Florentine" in 1937 and lost track of after wartime disruptions.
• Identified and publicly reassessed in 2021; now on display in Room 79 at Capodimonte.

Visitor information

• Location: Gallery, second floor, Room 79 (Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte).
• Access: the room is included in the Pinacoteca route; check current opening hours and temporary closures.
• Admission: the museum participates in the free admission initiative on the first Sunday of each month; Easter coincides with the first Sunday of the month and the second floor will also be open on Easter Monday (the Royal Park remains closed on the Monday after Easter).
• Collaboration: the painting’s return was made possible through cooperation with the religious community that preserved it and the work of art historians.

This presentation offers visitors a chance to rediscover a major female artist of the late Renaissance and observe an artwork that documents the complex movements and re-evaluations within Naples’ art collections.