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Guide To Art History
Famous ArtistsArt Styles and PeriodsArt MediumsAncient Art
Introduction to the Artist Filippino Lippi (c. 1457/58-1504)By
ArtHistory.net
Although many of the Italian Renaissance artists worked in
Florence, artists likeFilippino Lippi flourished in Venice, a
powerful city-state populated by rich bankers andmerchants. Born in
Prato, Tuscany, about 1457, Lippi arrived into the world in
anunusual manner. He was born of the illegitimate union of Fra
Filippo Lippi, a Catholicmonk, and Lucretia Buti, a nun.
Fra Lippi was an early Renaissance painter who trained his son
until his death in 1469.Filippino learned much from his father and
also studied under another Renaissancegreat, Sandro Botticelli. Art
historians classify Filippino Lippis early pieces as reflectiveof
Botticellis style. In the beginning, Lippi completed a fresco cycle
at the BrancacciChapel in Florences Santa Maria del Carmine. His
efforts were a continuation of anunfinished project by Masolino and
Masaccio. Lippi was also hired by Filippo Strozzi topaint works in
the Strozzi Chapel, but he did not complete these works until after
hispatrons death.
Lippi completed other works with Catholic themes besides
frescoes, including theApparition of the Virgin to St Bernard
(1480), an altar piece, and Madonna and Child (c.1485). The former
was created as a commission for a Florence merchant, Piero
delPugliese, to adorn the altar in his family chapel at Santa Maria
alle Campora. A beautifulwork of landscape and human figures, Lippi
creates a realistic rendering of the Virgin
and Saint Bernard. Mary is surrounded by angels at the
foreground of the painting withSt. Bernard. In the background, a
rocky mount rises up behind them with the hint of atown in the
upper right corner.
Permanently housed at New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Madonna and Child is avivid depiction of the Virgin Mary. She wears
a brilliant scarlet dress and a black cape.Her dark blonde hair is
held back by a delicate blue scarf. The baby she holds is creamyand
plump with an old mans face. Baby Jesus studies the Bible. In the
upper left cornerof the canvas, there is a view of a loggia which
shows the impact of Flemish painting onLippi. Madonna and Child
contrasts nicely with his fathers similar painting, Madonna
andChild Enthroned With Two Angels. Mary has a lighter, rounder
face, wears a red blouseand flowing blue skirt, and looks sadly
away from the observer. Jesus and the twoangels are also
fair-haired and somber. While both works are serious in tone
andkeeping with the Catholic art of the Renaissance, they reflect
how a father and a soncould interpret the classic Madonna and Baby
Jesus work differently.
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