Benozzo Gozzoli, was a Florentine early Renaissance painter. The Procession of the Magus Melchoio is a masterpiece of Gozzoli.
Upon Gozzoli''s return to Florence in 1459, he began his famous Journey of the Magi painting for the chapel in the Medici Palace. There he painted a magnificent cavalcade of pilgrims to Bethlehem, including animated portraits of contemporary Florentines. To represent the Magi he painted Lorenzo de'' Medici and two leaders of the East, Patriarch Joseph and Emperor John Paleologus. Gozzoli depicted them in exotic Middle Eastern dress against a background of fantastic landscape and strange animals. Procession of the Magus Melchoio is a typical painting of this style and also the first task that he accepted in Florence.