Lippi, Fra Filippo

(Filippo di Tommaso di Lippo; 1406-1469)

   An unwanted child placed in the Carmelite Monastery of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, where he took the monastic vows in 1421, Fra Filippo Lippi may have witnessed Masaccio and Masolino working on the Brancacci Chapel frescoes in the adjacent church. The lyricism and sweetness of Lippi's figures do not reflect his colorful personality. Forced by circumstance to take his monastic vows, Lippi did not follow them seriously. He had a relationship with a nun with whom he fathered two children, one of them the artist Filippino Lippi. Accusations of embezzlement and forgery also punctuate his life. On more than one occasion, Cosimo de' Medici intervened on his behalf, including the negotiations to have the artist and his mistress released from their vows so they could marry.

   The Tarquinia Madonna (1437; Rome, Galleria Nazionale) is Lippi's earliest known work. Commissioned by the authorities of the city of Tarquinia, near Florence, it shows the influence of Masaccio in its use of one-point linear perspective and the solidity of the figures. Typical of Lippi is the humanization of the scene. The figures do not wear halos, nor do they occupy a heavenly realm. Instead, the scene takes place in an intimate domestic interior with Gothic vaulting, a bed, and window. The pudgy Christ Child frets as would any infant seeking the security of his mother's embrace. In the same year, Lippi began work on the Barbadori Altarpiece for the Barbadori Chapel in the Church of Santo Spirito, Florence, an unconventional depiction of the Virgin and Child who stand in front of a throne, instead of sitting in it. The Coronation of the Virgin for the main altar of Sant' Ambrogio, Florence (1441-1447; Florence, Uffizi) is also unconventional in that the Virgin kneels in prayer while God the Father, not Christ, crowns her. The solemn occasion is witnessed by saints and angels holding white lilies, the symbol of the Virgin's purity. In the 1440s, Lippi's figures became increasingly more appealing and he developed a marked interest in rendering draperies of various thicknesses in undulating patterns. His Madonna and Child tondo (round pictorial field) in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, of c. 1452 and the version of c. 1455 in the Uffizi exemplify this stage in his career. In 1452-1466, the artist created frescos for the Datini family in the choir of Prato Cathedral that depict the lives of Sts. Stephen and John the Baptist. His last work was the fresco cycle in the apse of the Cathedral of Spoleto (1466-1469) of the life of the Virgin. These were completed by his son Filippino after his death in 1469.