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{{Short description|Italian painter (1457–1504)}}
{{Short description|Italian painter (1457–1504)}}
{{Distinguish|Filippo Lippi}}
{{Distinguish|Filippo Lippi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
| name = Filippino Lippi
| name = Filippino Lippi
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| caption = Self-portrait – detail from the [[Brancacci Chapel]] fresco ''The Dispute with Simon Magus'' (1481–1482), Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy
| caption = Self-portrait – detail from the [[Brancacci Chapel]] fresco ''The Dispute with Simon Magus'' (1481–1482), Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy
| birth_name = Filippo Lippi
| birth_name = Filippo Lippi
| birth_date = {{c.}} {{birth date|1457|4|15|df=y}}
| birth_date = probably 1457
| birth_place = [[Prato]], [[Republic of Florence]]
| birth_place = [[Prato]], [[Republic of Florence]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1504|4|18|1457|4|15|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1504|4|18|1457|4|15|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Florence]], Republic of Florence
| death_place = [[Florence]], Republic of Florence
| nationality = [[Italians|Italian]]
| nationality = [[Italians|Italian]]
| known_for = [[Painting]], [[fresco]]
| known_for = Painting, [[fresco]]
| training = [[Filippo Lippi]]
| training = [[Filippo Lippi]]
| movement = [[Italian Renaissance]]
| movement = [[Italian Renaissance]]
Line 20: Line 20:
| awards =
| awards =
}}
}}

[[Image:Bernardo claraval filippino lippi.jpg|right|thumb|280px|''[[Apparition of The Virgin to St Bernard (Filippino Lippi)|Apparition of The Virgin to St. Bernard]]'' (1485–1487)]]
[[Image:Bernardo claraval filippino lippi.jpg|right|thumb|280px|''[[Apparition of The Virgin to St Bernard (Filippino Lippi)|Apparition of The Virgin to St. Bernard]]'' (1485–1487)]]
[[Image:Filippino Lippi 001.jpg|thumb|280px|right|''Allegory of Music'' (c. 1500), tempera on panel, 61 × 51 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany]]
[[Image:Filippino Lippi 001.jpg|thumb|280px|right|''Allegory of Music'' (c. 1500), tempera on panel, 61 × 51 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany]]
⚫
[[Image:Filippino Lippi (ca. 1457–1504) - Mystiek huwelijk van de heilige Catharina (1501) - Bologna San Domenico - 25-04-2012 15-19-08.JPG|thumb|280px|''Mystic Wedding of St Catherine'' (1501) [[Basilica of San Domenico]], Bologna, Italy]]


'''Filippino Lippi''' (April 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian painter working in [[Florence]], Italy during the later years of the [[Early Renaissance]] and first few years of the [[High Renaissance]].
'''Filippino Lippi''' (probably 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an [[Italian Renaissance painter]] mostly working in [[Florence]], Italy during the later years of the [[Early Renaissance]] and first few years of the [[High Renaissance]]. He also worked in Rome for a period from 1488, and later in the [[Milan]] area and [[Bologna]].

He worked in oils, [[tempera]] and fresco, mostly painting religious subjects, with a few portraits and secular allegories or scenes from classical mythology.


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Filippino Lippi was born in 1457 at [[Prato]], [[Tuscany]], the illegitimate son to [[Lucrezia Buti]] and the painter [[Fra Filippo Lippi]]. His sister, Alessandra, was born in 1465. Filippino first trained under his father in his workshop.
Filippino Lippi was born, probably in 1457, at [[Prato]], [[Tuscany]],<ref>RKD, Treccani</ref> the illegitimate son to [[Lucrezia Buti]] and the painter [[Fra Filippo Lippi]]; both had broken clerical vows, and though after Filippino's birth they received a papal dispensation to marry (arranged by [[Lorenzo di Medici]]), [[Vasari]] says that they never did. His sister Alessandra was born in 1465. Filippino first trained under his father in his workshop.


They moved to [[Spoleto]], where Filippino served as workshop [[Adjuvant#Other uses|adjuvant]] during the construction of the [[Cathedral (Spoleto)|Cathedral]]. When his father died in 1469, Filippino was aged twelve and he was among the assistants to his father who completed the [[frescoes]] with ''Storie della Vergine'' ("Histories of the Virgin") in the cathedral.
They moved to [[Spoleto]], where Filippino served as workshop assistant during the construction of [[Spoleto Cathedral]]. When his father died in 1469, Filippino was aged twelve and among the assistants to his father who completed the [[frescoes]] with ''Storie della Vergine'' ("[[Life of the Virgin]]") in the cathedral.


He then completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]], who also had been a pupil of Filippino's father. In the 1472 records of the painters guild it is noted that that Botticelli had only Filippino Lippi as an assistant. The two collaborated routinely, such as the panels from a dismantled pair of ''[[Cassone|cassoni]]'', now divided among the [[Louvre]], the [[National Gallery of Canada]], the [[Musée Condé|Musée Condé in Chantilly]], and the Galleria Pallavicini in Rome.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Jonathan Katz|date=2009|title="Botticelli" or "Filippino"? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop|journal=Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research|pages=137–167}}</ref> The works by Botticelli and Filippino from these years include many ''Madonna and Child'' paintings that often, are difficult to distinguish from one another.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Jonathan Katz|date=2009|title="Botticelli" or "Filippino"? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop|journal=Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research|pages=137–167}}</ref>
He later completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]], who also had been a pupil of Filippino's father. In the 1472 records of the Painters' [[guild]] it is noted that Botticelli had only Filippino Lippi as an assistant, who was living in his master's house. The two artists often worked together on the same project. The shared works include the panels from a dismantled pair of ''[[Cassone|cassoni]]'', now divided among the [[Louvre]], the [[National Gallery of Canada]], the [[Musée Condé|Musée Condé in Chantilly]], and the Galleria Pallavicini in Rome.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Jonathan Katz|date=2009|title="Botticelli" or "Filippino"? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop|journal=Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research|pages=137–167}}</ref> Works by Botticelli and Filippino from these years include many paintings of the ''Madonna and Child'' which are often difficult to distinguish from one another.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Jonathan Katz|date=2009|title="Botticelli" or "Filippino"? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop|journal=Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research|pages=137–167}}</ref>
⚫
[[Image:Filippino Lippi (ca. 1457–1504) - Mystiek huwelijk van de heilige Catharina (1501) - Bologna San Domenico - 25-04-2012 15-19-08.JPG|thumb|280px|''Mystic Wedding of St Catherine'' (1501) [[Basilica of San Domenico]], Bologna, Italy]]


His first solo works greatly resemble those of Botticelli, but perhaps with less sensitivity and subtlety. The very first ones (dating from 1475 onward) were initially attributed to an anonymous "Amico di Sandro" ("Friend of Botticelli"). Eventually Lippi's style evolved into a more personal and effective one over the years 1480–1485. Works of the early period include: the ''Madonnas'' of Berlin, London, and Washington, D.C., the ''Journeys of Tobia'' of the [[Galleria Sabauda]], Turin, the ''Madonna of the Sea'' of [[Galleria dell'Accademia]], Florence, and the ''Histories of Ester''.
His early solo works greatly resemble those of Botticelli, but perhaps with less sensitivity and subtlety. The first ones (dating from 1475 onward) were attributed to an anonymous "'''Amico di Sandro'''" ("Friend of Botticelli"), a term introduced by [[Bernard Berenson]] in 1899, though by 30 years later his "lists" gave most of them to Lippi.<ref>Davies, 287</ref> Eventually Lippi's style evolved becoming more personal and effective during the period 1480–1485. Works of this early period include: the ''Madonnas'' of Berlin, London, and Washington, D.C., the ''Journeys of Tobia'' of the [[Galleria Sabauda]], Turin, the ''Madonna of the Sea'' of [[Galleria dell'Accademia]], Florence, and the ''Histories of Ester''.


Together with [[Pietro Perugino|Perugino]] (another pupil of his father), [[Domenico Ghirlandaio|Ghirlandaio]], and Botticelli, Lippi worked on the decoration of [[Lorenzo de' Medici]]'s villa at Spedaletto. On 31 December, 1482, he was commissioned to decorate a wall of the Sala dell'Udienza of [[Palazzo Vecchio]] in [[Florence]], a work never begun.
Together with [[Pietro Perugino|Perugino]] (another pupil of his father), [[Domenico Ghirlandaio|Ghirlandaio]], and Botticelli, Lippi worked on the decoration of [[Lorenzo de' Medici]]'s villa at Spedaletto. On 31 December 1482, he was commissioned to decorate a wall of the Sala dell'Udienza of [[Palazzo Vecchio]] in [[Florence]], a work never begun.


Soon after, probably in 1483–84, he was called to complete [[Tommaso Masaccio|Masaccio]]'s decoration of the [[Brancacci Chapel]] in the [[Santa Maria del Carmine di Firenze]], that had been left unfinished at the artist's untimely death in 1428. There Filippino painted ''Stories of Saint Peter'', in the following frescoes: ''Quarrel with Simon Magus in face of Nero'', ''Resurrection of the Son of Teophilus'', ''Saint Peter Jailed'', ''Liberation'', and ''Crucifixion of Saint Peter''. His self-portrait at age twenty-five is at the right hand portion of the central panel, Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St. Peter (''see'' detail at info box).
Soon after, probably in 1483–84, he was called to complete [[Tommaso Masaccio|Masaccio]]'s decoration of the [[Brancacci Chapel]] in the [[Santa Maria del Carmine di Firenze]], that had been left unfinished when the artist died in 1428. There Filippino painted ''Stories of Saint Peter'', in the following frescoes: ''Quarrel with Simon Magus in face of Nero'', ''Resurrection of the Son of Teophilus'', ''Saint Peter Jailed'', ''Liberation'', and ''Crucifixion of Saint Peter''. His self-portrait at age twenty-five is at the right hand portion of the central panel, Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St. Peter (''see'' detail at info box).


Lippi's work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the [[Palazzo Vecchio]], was completed on 20 February, 1486.<ref name="Rowlands, Eliot W. 2003">Rowlands, Eliot W., and Marilyn Bradshaw. "Lippi family." Grove Art Online. 1 January 2003. Oxford University Press.</ref> It is now in the [[Uffizi|Uffizi Gallery]]. At about this time, Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with the ''[[Apparition of the Virgin to St Bernard (Filippino Lippi)|Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard]]'', which is now in the [[Badia Fiorentina]], Florence. This is Lippi's most popular painting: a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a phantasmagorical scenario of rocks and almost anthropomorphic trunks. The work is dated to 1485–1487.<ref name="Rowlands, Eliot W. 2003"/>
Lippi's work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the [[Palazzo Vecchio]], was completed on 20 February 1486.<ref name="Rowlands, Eliot W. 2003">Rowlands, Eliot W., and Marilyn Bradshaw. "Lippi family." Grove Art Online. 1 January 2003. Oxford University Press.</ref> It is now in the [[Uffizi|Uffizi Gallery]]. At about this time, Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with the ''[[Apparition of the Virgin to St Bernard (Filippino Lippi)|Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard]]'', which is now in the [[Badia Fiorentina]], Florence. This is Lippi's most popular painting: a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a phantasmagorical scenario of rocks and almost anthropomorphic trunks. The work is dated to 1485–1487.<ref name="Rowlands, Eliot W. 2003"/>


Later, he worked for Tanai de' Nerli in Florence's [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]] church.
Later, he worked for Tanai de' Nerli in Florence's [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]] church.


On 21 April, 1487, Filippo Strozzi asked him to decorate the Strozzi family chapel in [[Santa Maria Novella]] with ''Stories of St. John Evangelist and St. Philip''. He worked on this commission intermittently, over a long time. He only completed it in 1503, after Strozzi's death. The windows with musical themes, in the same chapel, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. These paintings can be seen as a mirror of the political and religious crisis in Florence at the time: the theme of the fresco, the clash between [[Christianity]] and [[Paganism]], was hotly debated in the Florence of [[Girolamo Savonarola]].
On 21 April 1487, [[Filippo Strozzi the Elder|Filippo Strozzi]] asked him to decorate the Strozzi family chapel in [[Santa Maria Novella]] with ''Stories of St. John Evangelist and St. Philip''. He worked on this commission on and off over a long time. He only completed it in 1503, after Strozzi's death. The windows with musical themes, in the same chapel, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. These paintings have been considered as influenced by the political and religious crisis in Florence at the time: the theme of the fresco, the clash between [[Christianity]] and [[Paganism]], was hotly debated during those years and in connection with [[Girolamo Savonarola]].

⚫
Filippino depicted his characters in a landscape that recreated the [[ancient world]] in its finest details, showing the influence of the [[Grotesque#Etymology in Renaissance|Grottesco]] style he had seen during his time in [[Rome]]. In this way, he created an "animated", mysterious, fantastic, but disquieting style, showing the unreality of nightmare. Thus, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners with the grimmest of faces, who raged against the [[Saint]]s. In the scene of ''St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple'', the statue of the [[paganism|pagan]] deity is represented as a living figure who seems to dare the Christian saint.


⚫
Filippino depicted his characters in a landscape that recreated the [[ancient world]] in its finest details, showing the influence of the [[Grotesque#Etymology in Renaissance|Grottesco]] style he had seen during his time in [[Rome]]. He created an "animated", mysterious, fantastic, but disquieting style, showing the unreality of nightmares. Thus, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners with grim faces, who raged against the [[Saint]]s. In the scene of ''St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple'', the statue of the [[paganism|pagan]] deity is represented as a living figure challenging the Christian saint.
⚫
In 1488, Lippi went to [[Rome]], where [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] had advised Cardinal [[Oliviero Carafa]] to entrust him with the decoration of the [[Carafa Chapel|family chapel]] in [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]]. These frescoes show a new kind of inspiration, quite different from his earlier works, but confirm Lippi's continued research on the themes of the Ancient era. He finished the series by 1493.


⚫
In 1488, Lippi went to [[Rome]], where [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] had advised Cardinal [[Oliviero Carafa]] to entrust him with the decoration of the [[Carafa Chapel|family chapel]] in [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]]. The frescoes he produced there show a new inspiration, different from his earlier works, but confirm Lippi's continued research on the themes of the classical era. He completed the series by 1493.
⚫
Lippi's return to Florence took place—the date is disputed—at some time between 1491 and 1494. Works of this period include: ''[[Apparition of Christ to Madonna|Apparition of Christ to the Virgin]]'' (c. 1493, now in [[Munich]]), ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Filippino Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' (1496, for the church of San Donato in Scopeto, now in the [[Uffizi]]), ''Sacrifice of Laocoön'' (end of the century, for the villa of [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] at Poggio a Caiano), ''St. John Baptist and Maddalena'' (Valori Chapel in San Procolo, Florence, inspired to some way extent by [[Luca Signorelli]]'s art).
[[File:Filippino Lippi, Adorazione dei Magi, 1496, 01.jpg|thumb|309x309px|[[Adoration of the Magi (Filippino Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]] (1496) tempera grassa on wood, [[Uffizi]], Italy]]
⚫
Lippi's returned to Florence some time between 1491 and 1494. Works of this period include: ''[[Apparition of Christ to Madonna|Apparition of Christ to the Virgin]]'' ({{Circa|1493}}, now in [[Munich]]), ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Filippino Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' (1496, for the church of San Donato in Scopeto, now in the [[Uffizi]]), ''Sacrifice of Laocoön'' (end of the century, for the villa of [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] at Poggio a Caiano), ''St. John Baptist and Maddalena'' (Valori Chapel in San Procolo, Florence, inspired by [[Luca Signorelli]]'s works).


He also worked outside the area of his home city, on the Certosa, or Chapterhouse, in [[Pavia]] and in [[Prato]], where, in 1503, he completed the ''Tabernacle of the Christmas Song'', now in the City Museum; in 1501 Lippi painted the ''Mystic Wedding of St. Catherine'' for the [[Basilica of San Domenico]] in [[Bologna]].
He also worked away from his home town, at the [[Certosa di Pavia]], or Charterhouse, outside [[Pavia]] and in [[Prato]], where, in 1503, he completed the ''Tabernacle of the Christmas Song'', now in the City Museum. In 1501 Lippi painted the ''Mystic Wedding of St. Catherine'' for the [[Basilica of San Domenico]] in [[Bologna]].


Lippi's final work was the ''[[Deposition (Annunziata)|Deposition]]'' for the Santissima Annunziata church in Florence, which at his death in 1504 was unfinished.
Lippi's final work was the ''[[Deposition (Annunziata)|Deposition]]'' for the Santissima Annunziata church in Florence, which he left unifinished when he died in 1504.


He died on April 18, 1504, at age forty-seven. Because of Lippi's fame and reputation, on the day of his burial all the workshops of the city closed to honor him.
He died on 18 April 1504, at age forty-seven. Because of Lippi's fame and reputation, on the day of his burial all the workshops of the city closed in his honor.


== Modern reception ==
== Modern reception ==
Noted art critic [[Paul George Konody]] wrote of Lippi that "some of his qualities show him to be the most subtle psychologist of his time, the most modern in spirit of all the artists of the Renaissance".<ref>Jennie Irene Mix, "Great Pictures and Their Painters", ''The Pittsburgh Sunday Post'' (11 September 1910), p. 32.</ref>
The art critic [[Paul George Konody]] wrote of Lippi that "some of his qualities show him to be the most subtle psychologist of his time, the most modern in spirit of all the artists of the Renaissance".<ref>Jennie Irene Mix, "Great Pictures and Their Painters", ''The Pittsburgh Sunday Post'' (11 September 1910), p. 32.</ref>


== Major works ==
== Major works ==
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* ''[[Madonna with Child and Saints (Filippino Lippi)|Madonna with Child and Saints]]'' (c. 1488)<small>—Oil on panel, [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]], Florence</small>
* ''[[Madonna with Child and Saints (Filippino Lippi)|Madonna with Child and Saints]]'' (c. 1488)<small>—Oil on panel, [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]], Florence</small>
* ''St. Jerome'' (1490s)<small>—Oil on panel, 136 × 71&nbsp;cm, Uffizi, Florence</small>
* ''St. Jerome'' (1490s)<small>—Oil on panel, 136 × 71&nbsp;cm, Uffizi, Florence</small>
* ''[[Apparition of Christ to the Virgin]]'' (c. 1493)<small>—Oil on panel, 156.1 × 146.7&nbsp;cm, [[Alte Pinakothek]], [[Munich]]</small>
* ''[[Apparition of Christ to the Virgin]]'' ({{Circa|1493}})<small>—Oil on panel, 156.1 × 146.7&nbsp;cm, [[Alte Pinakothek]], [[Munich]]</small>
* ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Filippino Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' (1496)<small>—Oil on panel, Uffizi, Florence</small>
* ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Filippino Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' (1496)<small>—Oil on panel, Uffizi, Florence</small>
* ''Madonna and Child with Saints'' (1498)<small>—Fresco, 239 × 141 × 71&nbsp;cm, Museo Civico, [[Prato]]</small>
* ''Madonna and Child with Saints'' (1498)<small>—Fresco, 239 × 141 × 71&nbsp;cm, Museo Civico, [[Prato]]</small>
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File:Filippino lippi, apparizione, 01.jpg | ''Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard'' (detail)
File:Filippino lippi, apparizione, 01.jpg | ''Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard'' (detail)
File:Filippino lippi, apparizione, 03.jpg | ''Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard'' (detail)
File:Filippino lippi, apparizione, 03.jpg | ''Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard'' (detail)
File:Filippino lippi, Apparizione di Cristo alla Madonna 02.JPG | ''[[Apparition of Christ to the Virgin]]'' (c. 1493)<br>—Oil on panel, 156.1 × 146.7&nbsp;cm, [[Alte Pinakothek]], Munich
File:Filippino lippi, Apparizione di Cristo alla Madonna 02.JPG | ''[[Apparition of Christ to the Virgin]]'' ({{Circa|1493}})<br>—Oil on panel, 156.1 × 146.7&nbsp;cm, [[Alte Pinakothek]], Munich
File:Filippino Lippi - anjos sala degli Otto 2-1.jpg |Angel (detail), Retábulo da Sala Degli Otto, Florence
File:Filippino Lippi - anjos sala degli Otto 2-1.jpg |Angel (detail), Retábulo da Sala Degli Otto, Florence
File:Filippino Lippi Santo Spirito.jpg | ''[[Madonna with Child and Saints (Filippino Lippi)|Madonna with Child and Saints]]'' (c. 1488)<br>Oil on wood, Santo Spirito, Florence
File:Filippino Lippi Santo Spirito.jpg | ''[[Madonna with Child and Saints (Filippino Lippi)|Madonna with Child and Saints]]'' (c. 1488)<br>Oil on wood, Santo Spirito, Florence
Line 112: Line 115:


== References ==
== References ==
*[[Martin Davies (museum director)|Davies, Martin]], ''The Earlier Italian Schools'', National Gallery Catalogues, 1961, reprinted 1986, {{ISBN|0901791296}}
* ''The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting'', Volume 12, p.&nbsp;371ff., Raimond van Marle, Hacker Art Books, New York 1970.
* ''The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting'', Volume 12, p.&nbsp;371ff., Raimond van Marle, Hacker Art Books, New York 1970.


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[[Category:16th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance painters]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance painters]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Painters from Tuscany]]
[[Category:Painters from Tuscany]]
[[Category:People from Prato]]
[[Category:People from Prato]]

Latest revision as of 04:59, 12 December 2024

Not to be confused with Filippo Lippi.

Filippino Lippi
Self-portrait – detail from the Brancacci Chapel fresco The Dispute with Simon Magus (1481–1482), Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy
Born
Filippo Lippi

probably 1457
Prato, Republic of Florence
Died18 April 1504(1504-04-18) (aged 47)
Florence, Republic of Florence
NationalityItalian
EducationFilippo Lippi
Known forPainting, fresco
Notable workApparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard
Adoration of the Magi
MovementItalian Renaissance
Apparition of The Virgin to St. Bernard (1485–1487)
Allegory of Music (c. 1500), tempera on panel, 61 × 51 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany

Filippino Lippi (probably 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian Renaissance painter mostly working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. He also worked in Rome for a period from 1488, and later in the Milan area and Bologna.

He worked in oils, tempera and fresco, mostly painting religious subjects, with a few portraits and secular allegories or scenes from classical mythology.

Biography

[edit]

Filippino Lippi was born, probably in 1457, at Prato, Tuscany,[1] the illegitimate son to Lucrezia Buti and the painter Fra Filippo Lippi; both had broken clerical vows, and though after Filippino's birth they received a papal dispensation to marry (arranged by Lorenzo di Medici), Vasari says that they never did. His sister Alessandra was born in 1465. Filippino first trained under his father in his workshop.

They moved to Spoleto, where Filippino served as workshop assistant during the construction of Spoleto Cathedral. When his father died in 1469, Filippino was aged twelve and among the assistants to his father who completed the frescoes with Storie della Vergine ("Life of the Virgin") in the cathedral.

He later completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Botticelli, who also had been a pupil of Filippino's father. In the 1472 records of the Painters' guild it is noted that Botticelli had only Filippino Lippi as an assistant, who was living in his master's house. The two artists often worked together on the same project. The shared works include the panels from a dismantled pair of cassoni, now divided among the Louvre, the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée Condé in Chantilly, and the Galleria Pallavicini in Rome.[2] Works by Botticelli and Filippino from these years include many paintings of the Madonna and Child which are often difficult to distinguish from one another.[3]

Mystic Wedding of St Catherine (1501) Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna, Italy

His early solo works greatly resemble those of Botticelli, but perhaps with less sensitivity and subtlety. The first ones (dating from 1475 onward) were attributed to an anonymous "Amico di Sandro" ("Friend of Botticelli"), a term introduced by Bernard Berenson in 1899, though by 30 years later his "lists" gave most of them to Lippi.[4] Eventually Lippi's style evolved becoming more personal and effective during the period 1480–1485. Works of this early period include: the Madonnas of Berlin, London, and Washington, D.C., the Journeys of Tobia of the Galleria Sabauda, Turin, the Madonna of the Sea of Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, and the Histories of Ester.

Together with Perugino (another pupil of his father), Ghirlandaio, and Botticelli, Lippi worked on the decoration of Lorenzo de' Medici's villa at Spedaletto. On 31 December 1482, he was commissioned to decorate a wall of the Sala dell'Udienza of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, a work never begun.

Soon after, probably in 1483–84, he was called to complete Masaccio's decoration of the Brancacci Chapel in the Santa Maria del Carmine di Firenze, that had been left unfinished when the artist died in 1428. There Filippino painted Stories of Saint Peter, in the following frescoes: Quarrel with Simon Magus in face of Nero, Resurrection of the Son of Teophilus, Saint Peter Jailed, Liberation, and Crucifixion of Saint Peter. His self-portrait at age twenty-five is at the right hand portion of the central panel, Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St. Peter (see detail at info box).

Lippi's work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the Palazzo Vecchio, was completed on 20 February 1486.[5] It is now in the Uffizi Gallery. At about this time, Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with the Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard, which is now in the Badia Fiorentina, Florence. This is Lippi's most popular painting: a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a phantasmagorical scenario of rocks and almost anthropomorphic trunks. The work is dated to 1485–1487.[5]

Later, he worked for Tanai de' Nerli in Florence's Santo Spirito church.

On 21 April 1487, Filippo Strozzi asked him to decorate the Strozzi family chapel in Santa Maria Novella with Stories of St. John Evangelist and St. Philip. He worked on this commission on and off over a long time. He only completed it in 1503, after Strozzi's death. The windows with musical themes, in the same chapel, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. These paintings have been considered as influenced by the political and religious crisis in Florence at the time: the theme of the fresco, the clash between Christianity and Paganism, was hotly debated during those years and in connection with Girolamo Savonarola.

Filippino depicted his characters in a landscape that recreated the ancient world in its finest details, showing the influence of the Grottesco style he had seen during his time in Rome. He created an "animated", mysterious, fantastic, but disquieting style, showing the unreality of nightmares. Thus, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners with grim faces, who raged against the Saints. In the scene of St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple, the statue of the pagan deity is represented as a living figure challenging the Christian saint.

In 1488, Lippi went to Rome, where Lorenzo de' Medici had advised Cardinal Oliviero Carafa to entrust him with the decoration of the family chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The frescoes he produced there show a new inspiration, different from his earlier works, but confirm Lippi's continued research on the themes of the classical era. He completed the series by 1493.

Adoration of the Magi (1496) tempera grassa on wood, Uffizi, Italy

Lippi's returned to Florence some time between 1491 and 1494. Works of this period include: Apparition of Christ to the Virgin (c. 1493, now in Munich), Adoration of the Magi (1496, for the church of San Donato in Scopeto, now in the Uffizi), Sacrifice of Laocoön (end of the century, for the villa of Lorenzo de' Medici at Poggio a Caiano), St. John Baptist and Maddalena (Valori Chapel in San Procolo, Florence, inspired by Luca Signorelli's works).

He also worked away from his home town, at the Certosa di Pavia, or Charterhouse, outside Pavia and in Prato, where, in 1503, he completed the Tabernacle of the Christmas Song, now in the City Museum. In 1501 Lippi painted the Mystic Wedding of St. Catherine for the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna.

Lippi's final work was the Deposition for the Santissima Annunziata church in Florence, which he left unifinished when he died in 1504.

He died on 18 April 1504, at age forty-seven. Because of Lippi's fame and reputation, on the day of his burial all the workshops of the city closed in his honor.

Modern reception

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The art critic Paul George Konody wrote of Lippi that "some of his qualities show him to be the most subtle psychologist of his time, the most modern in spirit of all the artists of the Renaissance".[6]

Major works

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School works

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Following works are permitted to be cited as Filippino's school works.

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ RKD, Treccani
  2. ^ Nelson, Jonathan Katz (2009). ""Botticelli" or "Filippino"? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop". Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research: 137–167.
  3. ^ Nelson, Jonathan Katz (2009). ""Botticelli" or "Filippino"? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop". Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research: 137–167.
  4. ^ Davies, 287
  5. ^ a b Rowlands, Eliot W., and Marilyn Bradshaw. "Lippi family." Grove Art Online. 1 January 2003. Oxford University Press.
  6. ^ Jennie Irene Mix, "Great Pictures and Their Painters", The Pittsburgh Sunday Post (11 September 1910), p. 32.
  7. ^ Gábor Térey, The Burlington Magazine, page 183, L., 1927.
  8. ^ a b c G. Bernardini, Bollettino d'Arte del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Ministry of Public Education (Italy)), year 1912, page 291.

References

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  • Davies, Martin, The Earlier Italian Schools, National Gallery Catalogues, 1961, reprinted 1986, ISBN 0901791296
  • The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, Volume 12, p. 371ff., Raimond van Marle, Hacker Art Books, New York 1970.

Further reading

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Historical novels

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  • Linda Proud, A Tabernacle for the Sun (Godstow Press, 2005), a literary novel set in Florence during the Pazzi Conspiracy, adheres closely to known facts. Filippino features as the closest friend of the narrator, Tommaso dei Maffei, here and in the following two novels of The Botticelli Trilogy.
  • Linda Proud, Pallas and the Centaur (Godstow Press, 2004), deals with the aftermath of the Pazzi Conspiracy and Lorenzo de' Medici's strained relations with his wife and with Poliziano.
  • Linda Proud, The Rebirth of Venus (Godstow Press, 2008), the final volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, covers the 1490s and the death of Lorenzo.
  • Linda Proud, A Gift for the Magus (Godstow Press, 2012), a novel about Fra Filippo Lippi and Cosimo de' Medici. Features Filippino's birth and childhood.
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Media related to Paintings by Filippino Lippi at Wikimedia Commons

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