Lippi, Filippino

(c. 1457-1504)

   Filippino was the son of Fra Filippo Lippi and the nun Lucrezia Buti. He first trained as painter with his father, but when his father died in 1469, Sandro Botticelli cared for him and completed his training. Filippino's first important commission was the completion of the decoration of the Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, where Masaccio and Masolino had worked. To add to the scenes already in the chapel, in 1481-1482 Filippino frescoed further episodes from St. Peter's life. In 1489, Filippino began work in the Carafa Chapel at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, belonging to Cardinal Oliviero Carafa who in 1472 had commanded the papal fleet against the Turks. The scenes depict the life of St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as the Assumption and Annunciation where the saint presents Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin. By 1502, Filippino was back in Florence working for Filippo Strozzi on his chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, frescoing scenes from the lives of Sts. Philip and John the Evangelist. These include St. Philip Driving the Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis, the Crucifixion of St Philip, St. John the Evangelist Resuscitating Druisana, and the Torture of St. John the Evangelist. Filippino's Vision of St. Bernard (c. 1485-1490), now in the Church of the Badia in Florence but originally intended for the Monastic Church of Le Campora at Marignolle, demonstrates his close affinity to the style of Botticelli. His figures, like Botticelli's, are elongated, with emphasis on linearity, and rendered in intense blues, reds, and oranges.