saint cosmas was the patron saint of the medici family, and in fra angelico's fresco, he kneels at theoot of the cross. this painting was at the entrance to the personal cell of cosimo de medici, who would retreat from the pressures of business into this setting of intense spiritual devotion. the moment in christ's story that these patrician bankers identified with was the adoration of the magi, the wise and wealthy paying homage to jesus. and this is the image that fra angelico painted inside cosimo's cell. 30 years later, botticelli painted the same scene for the same patrons, but now the powerful patrician families have taken over the religious stage. cosimo the elder is portrayed kneeling before the madonna, while his grandson, lorenzo the magnificent, swaggers on one side. every face in this painting is a portrait from the medici court circle, including botticelli himself. in another botticelli portrait, a medallion of cosimo the elder is held by a fashionable young man. botticelli's painting epitomizes the shift in patronage during the second part of the 15th century, away from t