HAROLD E "~ "*R<*RY

BRIGHAM YOUNG iim VERSITY

PROVQ, UTAH
!

MASTERPIECES
IN COLOUR
EDITED BY
T.

LEMAN HARE

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

(1406 1469)

"Masterpieces

in

Series

Author.
Georgb Hav.

Artist.

BELLINI.
BOTTICELLI.

Henry B. Binns.
C. Haldane MacFall.

BOUCHER.
BURNEJONES.
CARLO DOLCL
CHARDIN.
CONSTABLE.

A. Lys Baldry.

George Hav.
Paul G. Konody.
C. Lewis Hind.

Sidney Allnutt.
M. W. B ROCKWELL.
Paul G. Konody,

COROT.

DA

Colour"

VINCI.

DELACROIX.

DURER.
FRA ANGELICO.
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI.
FRAGONARD.
FRANZ HALS.
GAINSBOROUGH.
GREUZE.
HOGARTH.

H. E. A. Furst.
James Mason.
Paul G. Konody.

Haldane MacFall.
Edgcumbe Staley.

C.

Max

HOLBEIN.

Rothschild.
Alys Evrb Macklin.
C. Lewis Hind.
S. L. Bensusan.

HOLMAN HUNT.

Mary

INGRES.

LAWRENCE.
LE BRUN (VIGEE).
LEIGHTON.
LUINI.

MANTEGNA.
MEMLINC.
MILLAIS.

MILLET.

MURILLO.
PERUGINO.
RAEBURN.
RAPHAEL.

REMBRANDT.
REYNOLDS.

ROMNEY.
ROSSETTI.

RUBENS.
SARGENT.
TINTORETTO.
TITIAN.

TURNER.
VAN DYCK.
VELAZQUEZ.

WATTEAU.
WATTS.
WHISTLER.

E. Coleridge,
A. J. Finberg.
S. L. Bensusan.

C. Haldane MacFall.
A. Lys Baldry.

James Mason.
Mrs. Arthur Bell.
W. H. J. & J. C. Wealb.
A. Lys Baldry.
Percy M. Turner.
S. L.

Bensusan.

Selwyn Brinton.
James L. Caw.
Paul G. Konody.
Josef Israels.
S. L. Bensusan.
C. Lewis Hind.
Lucibn Pissarro.
S. L. Bensusan.
T.

Martin Wood.

Bensusan.
Bensusan.
C. Lewis Hind.

S. L.

S. L.

Percy M. Turner.
S. L. Bensusan.
C. Lewis Hind.
W. Loftus Hare.
T.

Martin Wood.

Others in Preparation,

PLATE I.THE VIRGIN ADORING THE INFANT SAVIOUR

(In the Accademia, Florence)

known picture by Filippo Lippi, the painter is still

under the influence of his youthful training. It is just like an
illuminated miniature on a large scale, and is lacking in unity of
design or pictorial vision. Note the way in which the figure of the
Madonna is detached from the background, without haying any real
In this earliest

entirely

plastic life ; and how awkwardly the monk is placed in the corner.
The rocky landscape, with its steep perspective, is still quite in the
spirit of

the early primitives, although certain realistic details, like

the cut-down tree-stump behind the Virgin, and the reflection of the
sky in the water, show his loving observation of Nature. The
picture was for a long time attributed to Masaccio's master,

Masolino.

Filippo Lippi
BY

P. G.

KONODY

ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT

REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR

LONDON:

T.

C.

&

NEW YORK: FREDERICK

E.

A.

C.

JACK

STOKES CO.

THE LrBRAR*

BRIGHAM YOUNG U MVERSITT

PROVO, UTAH

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate
I.

The

Adoring

Virgin

Saviour

the

Infant
Frontispiece

In the Accademia, Florence

Page

John the Baptist with six other

II. St.

Saints

....

In the National Gallery,

III.

The

London

Vision of St. Bernard

In the National Gallery,

IV.

...

The Coronation

24

London

The Annunciation

34

In the National Gallery,

V.

14

London

...

40

....

50

of the Virgin

In the Accademia, Florence

VI.

The Virgin and

Child

In the Pitti Palace, Florence

VII.

The Virgin and

Child with two Angels

60

In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence

VIII.

The Virgin and

Child with Angels and

two Abbots

70

In the Lonvre, Paris

vii

Vasari's gossipy Lives

IN and

of the Painters,

indeed in most art histories written

before the era of scientific critical research,

there

is

an

inclination,

in

the

absence of

documentary material,

to reconstruct

old masters' characters

and

lives

evidence of their extant works.

9

the

from the

Many a

FRA FILIPPO

io

charming legend, that was

LIPPI
originally sug-

gested by the expression of the painter's

personality in his art, and has been handed

down from generation

to

to generation,

had

be shelved as dusty archives yielded new

knowledge of indisputable prosaic

the diligent searcher.

facts to

Whilst the serious

student owes a debt of deep gratitude to

those

who

devote their time and labour to

the investigation of documentary evidence,

and to establishing

critical

standards for

the sifting of the great masters' works from

those of their followers and imitators, the

elimination of
art is

romance from the history of

a hindrance rather than a help to the

ordinary person

morphological

who

cares not a jot about

nevertheless to spend an hour

in

communion with the

him, paradoxical though

is

more

but

loves

now and

then

characteristics,

old masters.
it

significant truth in

For

may seem, there

many an entirely

FRA FILIPPO
fictitious

anecdote, than in

LIPPI
the

ii

dry facts

recorded by the conscientious historian.

Thus we know now that Domenico Veneziano outlived Andrea dal Castagno by several
years,
foully

and could therefore not have been

murdered by his jealous rival. But

does not the fable of this act of violence, suggested no doubt by the fierceness and rugged
strength of Andrea's
to understand

art,

help the layman

and appreciate the

qualities

which constitute the greatness of that art?

We

know now

accounting

it

that Fra Angelico, far from

a sin to paint from the nude,

was an eager student of human anatomy;

but the stories told of his piety and angelic

sweetness have become so fused with everybody's conception of the Dominican

art,

that even those to

significance of art is

whom

friar's

the spiritual

a sealed book, search

almost instinctively for signs of religious

fervour and

exaltation

in

Fra Angelico's

FRA FILIPPO

12

paintings.

of

The

and of

life

stories of

LIPPI

Sodoma's habits

his strange doings at

Oliveto belong probably

to

Mont*

realm of

the

but they serve to explain and ac-

fiction,

centuate the worldly tendencies of his artistic

achievement.
In these instances, to which

might easily be added, the

ality

and manner of

life

many

artists'

have been

others

person-

fancifully

reconstructed from the character of their

Very

work.

Lippi.

Filippo

different is

Here

upon certain authentic

friar's

life

the case of Fra

criticism

has seized

facts of the Carmelite

and amorous adventures

facts

that in their main current have been established

beyond the

possibility of dispute,

even

though they have been embroidered upon

by imaginative pens and has dealt with

his art in the light of that knowledge/
reading

into

his

artistic emotions,

paintings

not

only

his

but his personal desires

PLATE

II. ST.

JOHN THE BAPTIST WITH SIX

OTHER SAINTS
(In the National Gallery,

The companion

London)

picture to the u Annunciation " lunette

is

the

first

rendering in Italian art of a Santa Conversatione in the open air. It

is just an assembly of seven saints, without any real inner connec-

two pairs at the sides SS. Francis and Lawrence on the

Anthony and Peter Martyr on the right being absorbed
in their own doings and paying no attention to the blessing which
St. John apparently bestows upon SS. Cosmas and Damianus, the
patron saints of the Medici family. The little glimpse of a landscape
background behind the marble bench affords evidence of Pra Filippo's
close study of Nature even at that early period.

tion, the
left,

and

SS.

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

and passions.

Only thus can

it

15

be ex-

plained that generation after generation of

writers on art have misconstrued the

ex-

and touching innocence and virgin

quisite

purity of his

Madonna type

sion of sensuality.

into

an expres-

Again and again we read

about the pronounced worldlines? of Fra

Filippo's religious paintings, about their lack

of spiritual significance and devout feeling.

Vasari, of course, is the fountain-head

of this misconception of the Carmelite's art.

According to the Aretine biographer, "it

was

said that

Fra Filippo was much ad-

dicted to the pleasures of sense, insomuch

that he

would give

all

he possessed to

secure the gratification of whatever inclination

might at the moment be predominant,

but

if

he could by no means accomplish

his wishes,

he would then depict the object

which had attracted his attention

paintings,

and

endeavour

in

his

by discoursing

i6

FRA FILIPPO

and

reasoning

the

violence

known
of

with

himself to

his

inclination.

of

that, while

diminish
It

was

occupied in the pursuit

pleasures,

his

LIPPI

the

by him received

works undertaken
none of his

or

little

attention."

so

It

happens that many of the

dis-

of the

re-

creditable incidents

friar's

life,

corded by Vasari, have been confirmed by

documentary evidence.

There

shadow

Fra Filippo

of

doubt

that

is

not

did

abduct the nun Lucrezia Buti from her convent

was

that Filippino Lippi

of this

illicit

union

the offspring

and that the Frate sub-

sequently did not avail himself of the special

papal dispensation to
is

wed

also abundant proof to

Filippo, in spite of the high

he was held as an

the nun.

show
esteem

There

that Fra
in

which

artist,

and which caused

him

to be entrusted with

many a remunera-

tive

commission, was for ever in financial

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

was

straits,

involved

law cases, attempted

assistants,
faith

to

art.

To

own

his

the

does

this

read sensuality into

of

light

only be the

approaching

of

prejudice,
in

all

womanhood can

his types of

pictures

cheat

But

with his patrons.

of

vexatious

and had no hesitation to break

not affect his

result

many

in

17

the

his

knowledge

gathered from the pages of the chroniclers.

Worldly he

is

compared with the

pure,

exalted spirituality of the Dominican Fra

Angelico, but only in so far as he belonged

already to

the

new

covered, and revelled

era which
in,

had

dis-

the visible beauty

of this world of ours, whilst Fra Angelico,

his contemporary,

still

belongs to the earlier

age that looked to the empyrean

true happiness.
is

planted

in

different fruit,
still

The

Gothic

for all

art of both masters

soil,

though

it

bore

that of Fra Angelico being

essentially Gothic,

though often tinged

B

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

18

with a Renaissance flavour, whilst that of

Fra Filippo has

all

the richness and

full-

ness of the Renaissance, of which he was

one of the great

initiators.

That such conceptions as the Virgin

in National Gallery

lovely
Pitti,

the

"Annunciation," or the

Madonna in the tondo at the Palazzo

and many other authentic works by
lacking in

master, are

spirituality of

expression, cannot be seriously maintained

by anybody who approaches these pictures

with an open mind and judges the artist

by

manner of
EyenJR^r^JBerenson^the most authori-

his achievement, not

life.

tative

modern

critic

by

his

of Italian art, denies

Fra Filippo a "profound sense of either

material or spiritual significance

the essen-

tial qualifications

of the real artist," although

he admits

same essay

in the

The Florentine Painters

(G. P. Putnam's Sons).

~jt*

of the Renaissance,

that " his real

by Bernhard Berenson

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

place

was

others

was

with the genre painters, only his

is

genre

of

that of the soul, as that of

Benozzo Gozzoli,

intuition,

more

Filippo

for

example

Browning, with the true

of the body.'l

poet's

19

states

the

case of

Fra

clearly than the vast majority

of professional critics from Vasari to the pre-

when he makes the

"... Now is this sense,

sent day,

fine

So

ill,

And

exclaim

ask?
way to paint soul, by painting body
the eye can't stop there, must go further

can't fare

Why

friar

worse!

a painter lift each foot in turn,

Left foot and right foot, go a double step,
Make his flesh liker and his soul more like,
Both in their order?
.
can't

I've made her eyes all right and blue,

take breath and try to add life's flash,
then add soul and heighten them threefold?"

Suppose
Can't

And

II

Whereas

all

questions concerning Fra

Filippo's artistic education

remain largely

FRA FILIPPO

20

LIPPI

a matter of conjecture and deduction, there

is

no lack of documentary material

accurate

fairly

reconstruction

Vasari remains, of course,

any such attempt;

Florence and

but

strength

of his

life.

the basis

the

for

archives

of

Prato have yielded a rich

of contemporary

harvest

for

of which

is

it

on the

records,

possible to clear

up the contradictions and to correct the

numerous errors that have crept into
Vasari's

of

life

The Florentine Painter,

Fra Filippo Lippi.

Filippo was the son
a butcher

Lippo,

Florence, and of
Sernigi.
in his

the

None

in

Mona

Tommaso

di

poor quarter

of

of

Antonia

Bindo

di

of the various dates given

wonted loose fashion by Vasari

birth

of

ascertainable

the
facts,

artist,

accords

which

point

to

for

with
the

years 1406 to 1409, with probability favouring the earlier date.

According to a docu-

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

ment

21

Stato in Florence,

in the Archivio di

confirmed by an entry in the account books

of the convent of the Carmine, in which

"Philippus Tomasi"

stated to have re-

is

ceived his garments at the expense of that

establishment, Filippo took the habit in the

year 1421.

There are no reasons to doubt

Milanesi's

well-reasoned

suggestion

that

was fifteen years of age when

he took the vow which would place the
the

artist

year of his birth about 1406.

"By

the death of his father," continues

" he

Vasari,
at the

was

left

a friendless orphan

age of two years,

his

mother having

The

child

some time under the care

of a

also died shortly after his birth.

was

for

certain

Mona

Lapaccia, his aunt, the sister

of his father,

great

difficulty

who brought him up

till

he

had

eighth year, when, being

attained

with
his

no longer able

to support the burden of his maintenance.

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

22
she

him

placed

Carmelites."

convent

the

in

however, an

Since,

the

of

income-

tax return, discovered by Milanesi, proves

Mona
been

mother, to

Antonia, Filippo's
alive in

still

tolerably

1427,

and apparently

circumstances,

comfortable

account of Filippo's sad

be

relegated

Destined

for

the

childhood

sphere

the

to

have

Church,

of

this

must

fiction.

was

he

in

pre-

sumably at the age of eight placed with

the

Carmelites

to

be

prepared

for

his

That he showed no inclination

book-learning and "manifested the

vocation.
for

utmost dullness and incapacity

in letters,"

and that he preferred to daub his and the

other boys' books with caricatures, need
not be doubted, for his extant letters prove

him
for

to
his

artist

have been strikingly

days.

who

Nor

is

illiterate

even

the

only

Filippo

evinced an early inclination for

the artistic profession in this manner.

III.THE VISION

PLATE

OF

ST.

(In the National Gallery,

BERNARD

London)

The Vision

of St Bernard, although at present the mere ghost of

from which almost every vestige of the original colour has
faded away, is an important landmark in Fra Filippo's life, as it is
one of the few works about which we have definite dates. It is
mentioned by Vasari as being one of two pictures intended to be

picture

placed over doors in the Palazzo della Signoria, Florence.

temporary record

on

May

con-

1447, Fra Filippo received 40 lire for having painted "the figure of the Virgin and of
states, that

The companion
St Bernard."
" Annunciation," has disappeared.

z6,

picture,

which represented the

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

And now Vasari
tangle

of incorrect

in

and contradictory as-

First, that the

sertions.

himself

loses

25

Brancacci Chapel

of the Carmine had " then " just been finished

by Masaccio, and so delighted the young

Carmelite that he "frequented it daily for
his recreation,"

and so completely absorbed

Masaccio's style "that

Masaccio

of

spirit

body of Fra

to

Filippo."

many

affirmed the

have entered the

At

this period

he

painted several frescoes in the Carmine, and

one

terra verde in the cloister of that

in

church.

As a

result

bestowed upon him

"he formed

his

of the

high

praise

for these early efforts,

resolution

at the

age of

seventeen, and boldly threw off the clerical

habit."

To

begin with, the account books of the

Carmine show that Fra Filippo remained

at

that

until

monastic

1431,

establishment

when he was about

at

least

twenty-five

"

FRA FILIPPO

26

years of age.

throw

LIPPI

That even then he did not

off his clerical habit is clearly

by the

fact that

proved

he subsequently held the

posts of abbot of S. Quirico a Legnaja, and

of chaplain to the nuns of Sta. Margherita

Of the

at Prato.

early frescoes recorded

by Vasari and other

writers, every vestige

has disappeared, so that

trace through

it is

impossible to

them the supposed

indirect teaching of Masaccio.

But there

something wrong about the dates.

wrought
and

his

1427,

direct or
is

Masaccio

Carmine frescoes between 1425

so

have been the

that his could not possibly

earliest influence

upon the

Nor
is there even a hint of Masaccio's monumental style in the earliest known works
young monk's impressionable mind.

by Filippo: the two "Nativities" in the

Florence Academy, and the " Annunciation
in

the Pinakothek in Munich.

That Fra

Filippo, like all the masters of the Floren-

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

tine

Renaissance

powerfully

was,

influenced

Masaccio,

his

in

by

the

27

later

life,

genius

of

only natural, and cannot be

is

doubted by anybody

For

coes at Prato.

who has

seen his

fres-

his earliest inspiration,

however, one has to look for other sources

and modern
upon

criticism is pretty well agreed

that the pictures painted

this point,

by the

friar in his

on the

trecento

youthful years are based

tradition,

only late Giottesque

master

his

is

the

who

and

the

that

could have been

Camaldolese,

Lorenzo

Monaco.
Lorenzo
rate,

is

Monaco's

at

any

suggested by Fra Fllippo's

first

teaching,

" Nativity " at the Florence Academy, which

suggests

the

miniaturists

in

methods
which

of

the

school

of

Lorenzo had been

trained, although these tendencies are clearly

tempered

by the

influence

Masaccio's precursor in

the

of

Masolino,

decoration of

28
the

FRA FILIPPO
Brancacci

of

Fra

was

actu-

also

Indeed, this " Nativity "

Angelico.
ally for

and

Chapel,

LIPPI

a long time attributed to Masolino.

Throughout

his

life,

advance

steady

Fra

from

Filippo,

Giottism

his

in

such

to

triumphantly vital achievement as his Prato

frescoes, evinced the greatest eagerness to

No

absorb what was newest and best.

doubt he watched Masolino at work at the

Carmine, and later on Masaccio, whose

appears

clearly

fluence

wrought

of
in

Fra

Filippo's

But he also learnt from the

mature work.

example

in

in-

all

the

other

masters

and near Florence

part of the fifteenth century.

in

who

the early

Sir Frederick

Cook's tondo clearly shows the influence of

Gentile da Fabriano.

are

Of Fra Angelico we

reminded by the profound devotional

feeling

works.
quired

and mystic intentness of

From

his early

Pier dei Franceschi he ac-

afterwards

the

feeling

for

atmos-

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

pheric effects which

was unknown

29

to the

Giottesques, to Fra Angelico, and even to

Masaccio.

Nor

did

he

we

of Donatello, of which

reliefs

to study the

fail

are forcibly

reminded by the "Madonna and Child with

the laughing
since

Angel" at the

And

Uffizi.

Miss Mendelssohn has shown that

the dancing Salome in the Prato fresco

practically copied from the figure of "

descending from her Chariot "

is

Luna

in the relief

on

Endymion sarcophagus, we have proof

that Lippi was also a student of the
the

antique.

The patronage which

family,

the powerful Medici

and especially Cosimo

bestowed upon Fra Filippo

dates back to the time
still

de'

Medici,

Lippi, probably

when the

friar

was

working within the walls of the Carmine.

The "Nativity" (No. 79)

Academy was painted in

at

the Florence

the early thirties

of the fifteenth century for Cosimo's wife,

FRA FILIPPO

30

who commissioned
hermitage.

two

the

Gallery

Camaldoli

the

for

it

For Cosimo himself he painted

now

lunettes

"

LIPPI

National

the

in

The Annunciation " and

" St.

John
the Baptist with six other Saints," which
were originally placed over two doors in
:

Riccardi

the

prot6g6 were

their

Other

Palace.

to

gifts

the

of Naples and other Italian princes.

there

is

King
And

no lack of documentary evidence

that the friar frequently petitioned

of that

by

by members of

sent

Medici family as

the

pictures

powerful

family

members

pecuniary or

for

other assistance, for his disorderly habits

of

life

brought him into many a scrape, and

resulted in constant financial stress.

in

letter of

August

13,

Thus

1439, to Piero de*

Medici, he describes himself as " one of the

poorest friars in Florence,"

to

look after

useless

nieces.

six

whom God

unmarried,

The

object

infirm,

of the

left

and
letter

FRA FILIPPO
was

to

beg

his patron to

wine and corn on

LIPPI

31

be supplied with

credit.

When Cosimo was banished from Florence

in 1433,

and took up his residence at Padua,

he was accompanied by a small army of

courtiers

that

and

Fra

artists.

Filippo

It

was

is

of

Vasari's brief reference to

very probable

number.

their

paintings exe-

cuted by the master in Padua

is

supported

by Filarete and the Anonimo Morelliano,

and may therefore be

relied upon, although

every trace of these works has vanished.

There

is

nothing in the extant records of

the artist's
at

Padua

movements
in 1433-4

to

make

his presence

appear impossible.

On

the other hand, Vasari's story of Filippo's

capture by pirates

Marches

of

captivity

and

on the

Ancona,

his

final liberation

coast

of the

long-extended

by

his

master

whose favour he had gained by the excellence of art, and his visit to Naples on

FRA FILIPPO

32

home

the

journey, belongs

LIPPI
to

the realm

of fable.
In

before

or

back

certainly

Fra

Filippo

was

in Florence, since the Deli-

Company

berazioni of the

show

1437,

of Orsanmichele

that in that year he

was commis-

sioned to paint the great altarpiece of the

"

Madonna and

Abbots"
Spirito,

Child, with

Barbadori Chapel in Santo

for the

which

of the Louvre.

is

now one

It is this

Domenico Veneziano
Piero
1438,

Angels and two

of the treasures
picture to which

refers in

letter to

Medici, dated Perugia, April

de'

1,

asking to be entrusted with the com-

mission
Filippo

"Fra
and Fra Giovanni have much work
for

an

altarpiece,

since

and especially Fra Filippo has a

panel for Santo Spirito which, should he
work day and night, will not be done in
to do,

five years,

the

so great

following year

is

we

the work."
find

Yet

in

him writing

PLATE IV.THE ANNUNCIATION

(In the National Gallery,

London)

This charming lunette and its companion, "St. John the Baptist
and Six Saints," were painted for the decoration of an apartment in
the Riccardi Palace, by order of Cosimo de' Medici, whose crest three
feathers in a ring is introduced in the stucco ornamentation of the
They were painted about 1438, towards the end of Fra
balustrade.
Filippo's first Florentine period, and show far greater richness of
colour and better management of light than his earlier known works
at the Florence Academy. The perspective is still faulty, and the

vase in the centre of the picture is terribly out of drawing. It has

been suggested that this picture and the "Seven Saints" were the
very panels on which Filippo Lippi was at work when he effected

from Cosimo's palace, which

Browning's well-known poem.

his romantic escape

of

is

the subject

FRA FILIPPO
a begging

letter

to

the

LIPPI

35

same Piero

de*

Medici.

There can be no doubt that the gay

friar

led the

life

of a true

"Bohemian"

was fond of women and wine, and

wasted his substance in the company of
his boon companions.
He spent his money
as rapidly as he earned it, and was therethat he

fore in constant financial difficulties,

which

involved him in no end of litigation.

His

most prosperous years apparently began

in

1442,

when, probably through Cosimo's

intervention,

Pope Eugene

IV.

made him

rector of the parish church of S. Quirico a

Legnaja, of which post

by papal decree as a

he was deprived

result of

an action

brought against him by his assistant, Giovanni da Rovezzano.

Giovanni sued him for

amount of forty florins due to him for

work done, and Fra Filippo did not shrink
the

from producing a forged receipt.

To

this

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

36

at least he confessed on

the rack

"when

he saw his intestines protruding from his

Whether much weight can be

wounds."

attached to a confession obtained by such

means

another question, but there

is

nothing in the career of Fra

make such

Filippo

is

to

disgraceful conduct appear im-

possible.

An

appeal to the Pope led to another

in-

The judgment

of

vestigation of the case.

the Curia

on

was

confirmed, the

this occasion to

qui plurima

Pope

referring

Fra Filippo as a painter

nefanda scelera perpetravit. Nevertheless, some years later, our

artist is still mentioned as rettore e commendatario di San Quirico a Legnaja.
From which it may be assumed that the
judgment deprived him merely of his spiritual office,

and

et

left

him

in

enjoyment of the

revenue connected with the post.

The ups and downs

of Filippo

Lippi's

FRA FILIPPO
career in the

fifties

more than a

are

LIPPI

37

of the fourteen-hundreds
confusing.

little

Of com-

was no lack. And certain

emoluments must have come to him from his
missions there

ecclesiastic appointments.

His disgraceful

conduct towards Giovanni da Rovezzano,

and the notorious looseness of

one need only

well-known anecdote

recall the

of his escape through a

his morals

window

of the Medici

Palace in search of amorous adventure

not stand in the

way

of his

did

being made

chaplain to the nuns of S. Niccolo de* Fieri,

in 1450,

in 1456.
in

1452,

and of Santa Margherita

He bought a
and another

house at Prato

little

in

in Prato,

1454.

During

this

whole period he had so much work on hand

that he

was unable

to

fulfil

his contracts,

which led to further unpleasant

Yet

in

Lorenzo

1454,

as

we

learn

di Bicci's diaries,
1

He retained this post

litigations.

from

Neri

he found

until July 1452.

it

di

ad-

FRA FILIPPO

38

some

visable to deposit

gold-leaf with the

said Neri, in order to save

by

his creditors.

On

for

work

in

from seizure

it

July 20, 1457, he writes

to Giovanni de* Medici to

payment

LIPPI

ask

hand

for

the

an advance

same work,

presumably, over the execution of which he

was so tardy that Francesco Cantamanti had

to visit his studio daily to urge its completion

on behalf of his patron.

to Giovanni de'
1457,

In his report

Medici, dated August 31,

Cantamanti states that on the preced-

ing day Fra Filippo's studio

was seized by

his landlord for arrears of rent.

Meanwhile the Carmelite's

prodigious progress.

art

had made

Filippo Lippi, the pupil

of the last Giottesque,

was now swimming

abreast of the mighty current of the Renaissance.

If his early

Madonnas

recall

some-

thing of the spirituality and naive faith of

Fra Angelico, the altarpieces of

Florentine period, and, above

all,

his

later

the superb

PLATE V. THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN

(In the Accademia, Florence)

The crowning achievement

of Filippo Lippi's second Florentine

"Coronation of the Virgin," was commissioned by
Francesco de Maringhi, chap'ain to the nuns of Sanf Ambrogio, who
died long before the completion of the picture, having provided in
his will of July 28, 144 1, for the manner in which settlement should
be effected. Thus, in 144 1, Filippo was already engaged upon this
altarpiece, which he did not complete before 1447.
On June 9 of
that year he was paid the stipulated fee of 1200 lire.
Although the
picture has suffered considerably, it is even in its present condition
one of the most entrancing creations of Florentine art. That the
painter himself was proud of the result of his labours, may be
gathered from the fact that he introduced his own portrait in a
prominent position. In Borghini's Riposo, published in 1797, it is
stated that the painter's name, "Frater Filippus," was then to be
seen somewhere near the centre of the picture.

period, the great

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

"Coronation of the Virgin," painted

Ambrogio, and

now in the

41

for Sant'

Florence Academy,

are inspired by the beauty of this visible

The atmosphere

world.

is

of this earth, and

not of the celestial regions.

no longer ethereal, but

His types are

realistically robust.

In the "Coronation of the Virgin" he has

us a portrait of himself at the

left

age

of about forty, in the figure of the kneel-

ing

monk on

angel

IS

raises

the

left,

scroll

PERFECIT OPUS.

towards
with

the

The

whom

an

lettering

features are

rather coarse and heavy, but scarcely express

that low sensuality which his biographers

have tried to read into them.

The

expres-

sion of his eyes in particular is intelligent,

frank,

and good-natured.
Ill

The

Sant' Ambrogio altarpiece must have

added enormously to the reputation which

42
the

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI
among

Carmelite painter enjoyed

contemporaries.

It

was only

his

natural that he

should have been chosen by the proposto

Gemignano Inghirami and by the magistrates

of Prato to undertake the fresco decoration
in the choir of the cathedral of that city,

when Fra
urging,

of repeated

Angelico, in spite

refused

to

accept this

commission, his time being

fully

important

occupied by

the completion of the series of frescoes at the

Vatican.

In the spring of 1452, Fra Filippo,

accompanied by

his assistant,

Fra Diamante,

took up his abode at Prato, and entered

upon the most eventful and

most

artistically the

As we
workshop in

significant period of his career.

have seen, he

still

kept up his

Florence, where his temporary presence

is

repeatedly testified by documentary evidence

during the next few years.

he began to work

Thus, although

in the choir

chapel imme-

diately after his arrival at Prato, as

may be

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

43

seen from the entry in the Libra delle spese

in the

Archivio del Patrimonio ecclesiastico

in Prato, recording
1452,

di

payment of

the

Diamante

under date of
fifty

lire

May
to

29,

"Fra

Feo da Terranuova, gharzone

Fra Filippo di Tommaso," his frequent
di

absence and general dilatoriness were the

cause of so much delay that the decoration
of the chapel

was not completed

before 1468,

a year before the master's death.

During

this period of sixteen years

Fra

Filippo continued to be employed by the

members of the Medici family, by the proposto Gemignano Inghirami, and by many
other patrons in Prato and Pistoja.

In addi-

tion to his frequent absence in Florence,

he

no doubt undertook several other journeys,

of one of which at least

knowledge: his sojourn

we have

certain

in 1461 at Perugia,

whither he was called to value Bonfigli's

frescoes

in

the

Palazzo del

Comune an

FRA FILIPPO

44

LIPPI

honourable task which devolved upon him

as

the

survivor

sole

of the three artists

by the Signory of Perugia,

the other two being Fra Angelico, who died
in 1455, and Domenico Veneziano, whose
chosen for

it

death occurred in the spring of the very

year

that

witnessed

the

completion

of

Bonfigli's frescoes.

But quite apart from such interruptions

in

the execution of that superb series of

frescoes

the
St.

lives

at

depicting

Prato,

of

St.

John the

from

Baptist

and

Stephen, as were due to professional

causes, there

was enough excitement and

disturbance in the artist's

account at least
in

scenes

in

private

life

to

part for his tardiness

completing the work which constitutes

his greatest claim to immortal fame.

For

Prato was the scene of the great romance

of Fra Filippo's

life,

has become familiar

by which
even to

name
those who
his

FRA FILIPPO
know

little

artistic

of,

and care

LIPPI
about,

less

The abduction

achievement.

45
his

of the

nun, Lucrezia Buti, by the amorous monk,

who was then

decade of his
recorded

many a

among

Cavalcaselle,
rests

on the whole correctly

literary

rendering.

thrown upon
as,

life, is

upon the sixth

by Vasari, and has formed the

subject of
pictorial

entering

who

doubts

eminent

Messrs.

others,

upon the

Subsequent

by such

it

romance and

critics

Crowe

and

maintain that the story

sole

testimony of Vasari,

and that " contingent circumstances tend to

create considerable doubts of Vasari's truth,"

almost succeeded in relegating the amorous

friar's

daring exploit into the realm of fiction,

until

Milanesfs researches established the

substantial truth of the romantic story.

facts, briefly stated,

On

the

death

The

are as follows
of

the

Florentine

silk

merchant, Francesco Buti, in 1450, his son,

FRA FILIPPO

46

Antonio,

LIPPI

found himself charged with

responsibility of

the

a not too profitable busi-

and a large family of twelve brothers

ness,

The eldest of these sisters,

Margherita, was married off to Antonio Doffi
in 1451, and in the same year two other
and

sisters.

sisters,

born

Spinetta, born 1434,

and Lucrezia,

were placed with the nuns of

1435,

Margherita at Prato, Antonio paying

Sta.

the required fee of

florins for

Needless to say, the two

them.

committed to a
time

fifty

when

living

tomb

at

each of

girls

thus

the

very

beckoned to them with

life

all

its

joys and seductions, were not consulted

in

this

matter any more than was

Filippo when, as a

mere

child,

Fra

he had to

enter the establishment of the Carmelites

in

Florence.

handsome
the

girls

cloistral

which

friar

Presumably the two

life

lively,

had no more vocation

for

than the pleasure-loving

circumstance

may be

pleaded

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

in mitigation of the

scandalous offence of

which they subsequently became

Whether Fra

47

Filippo had

guilty.

become

ac-

quainted with the Buti maidens before they

nunnery of Sta.

entered the

which was then

Bartolommea

in

de'

Margherita,

charge of the Abbess

Bovacchiesi,

sible to say.

Certain

hand, that the

Madonna

it

is,

is

it

impos-

on the other

of the Pitti tondo,

painted in 1452, already bears the features

of the model who, in other pictures, has

been
this

identified
it

Lucrezia

may be assumed

who came
two

as

From

Buti.

that Fra Filippo,

to Prato only a year after the

sisters,

and who

lived there in

a house

opposite the convent of Sta. Margherita,

must have known Lucrezia at

least

years before she sat to him for the "

four

Madonna

della Cintola" in 1456, the year of her abduction.

It is quite

monk used

possible that the love-struck

the influence of his powerful pro-

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

48

tectors to secure his appointment as chaplain

of Sta. Margherita, so as to facilitate inter-

course with the object of his affection and

Nor did his by no means untainted re-

desire.

putation and the papal stigma (qui

et

plurima

nefanda scelera perpetravit) stand

way

in the

of the coveted post being actually con-

ferred

upon him

in the

year 1456.

same year, as soon as he had

entered upon his new duties, the Abbess
In

the

of Sta. Margherita commissioned the

new

chaplain to paint an altarpiece for the high

altar of the convent church.

This afforded

welcome opportunity for

carrying out what must have been a careFra

Filippo

fully

and cunningly devised scheme.

He

begged the Abbess to allow Lucrezia

Buti,

"who was
ful,"

exceedingly beautiful and grace-

to sit for the

head of the Madonna;

and, having obtained this favour, presumably

did

not

fail

to

advance his cause.

His

PLATE VI.THE VIRGIN AND CHILD

(In the Pitti Palace, Florence)

Painted at Prato, soon after the abduction of Lucrezia Buti by the

amorous monk, the central group of this tondo ma/ be reasonably
assumed to portray Lucrezia and Filippo Lippi. The incidents in
the background, which have been a source of inspiration for many
succeeding

artists,

including Raphael himself, who echoes the figure

woman in his M Incendio del Borgo," depict the

of the basket-carrying

birth of Mary,

and the meeting

of St.

Anne and Joachim.

of the Birth of the Virgin is in reality

The motif

a convenient excuse for the

painting of a charmingly rendered scene of Florentine domestic

The

life.

and the harmonising of the strong colournotes are managed with consummate skill.
distribution of light

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

clerical

of age

he

and

habit

the

great

51

difference

between the monk and the

was then about

may

twenty-one

nun

and Lucrezia

fifty,

have helped to

disarm

suspicion: they did not prevent the

young

nun

which

from

taking

was bound

the

fatal

to bring disgrace

step

and dishonour

upon her; which, indeed, was accounted a

was

crime, for Lucrezia

it,

not, as Vasari

has

"either a novice or a boarder," but one

of the eight "choral and professed nuns"

who formed

establishment

the

of Santa

Margherita.

The

plot

the 1st of

came

May

to a successful issue

1456,

of the feast of the

Our
was

Lady of the

during the celebration

Madonna della Cintola

Girdle.
On that day it

the custom to exhibit at the Cathedral

a sacred
lous

on

relic,

girdle

Virgin,

purporting to be the miracu-

given

to

who appeared

St.

to

Thomas by
him

after

the

her

ERA FILIPPO

52

That day was one of the rare occa-

death.

sions

LIPPI

when

the nuns

Margherita

of Sta.

the precincts of their convent to join

left

On May I,
nuns who set out

the worshippers in the Duomo.

1456,

there were

eight

to pray before the sacred girdle

only

returned

to

the

but

convent.

seven

Lucrezia

Buti had been carried off by her monkish

if

any attempts

were made to induce her to

return, either

lover to

to Sta.

his

house; and

Margherita, or to her relatives in

Florence, she lent a deaf ear to these appeals.

Vasari relates that "the father of

Lucrezia was so grievously

that he never
ness,

more recovered

and made

regain his child."

invention,

afflicted thereat,

his cheerful-

every possible

This, of course,

since Francesco Buti

mouldering

in his

effort

grave

is

to

pure

had been

for six years

when

the abduction took place.

And now we come

to the

most amazing

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

53

chapter of this fifteenth-century romance.

Fra

Filippo

broken

Lippi,

monk who had

the

vow and was

his

openly

living

at Prato with the equally guilty nun, actually

continued to administer to the spiritual

welfare of the nuns of the convent that had

been so irretrievably disgraced by his conduct!

pass

That

his

misdeed was allowed to

unpunished

and

uncensured,

may

have encouraged others to follow his and

Lucrezia's example.

Whether

was instrumental

Carmelite

or not the

in helping the

other nuns to escape, the fact remains that

before long Spinetta Buti
sister

Filippo's

in

had joined her

house,

whilst

three

other nuns deserted the convent to live in

illicit

union with their lovers.

The

unfor-

tunate Abbess, Bartolommea de' Bovacchiesi,

whose

portrait is to

donor

in

Cintola,"

the

now

be seen as kneeling

so-called
in the

"

Madonna

della

Municipal Palace at

FRA FILIPPO

54

shame and

Prato, died of

LIPPI
grief before the

year came to a close.

The remote resemblance

of the figure of

Margaret, on the extreme

St.

picture,

to Lucrezia Buti as

in authentic

Sta.

of that

she

appears

works by the master,

in addi-

tion to the fact that the

Cintola"

left

was

"Madonna

originally in

Margherita, has

theory that this

the

church

given colour to the

figures so prominently in the chief

been advanced

of

the very altarpiece which

is

of Filippo Lippi's

della

life.

The same

romance

claim has

for the " Nativity " (No. 1343)

at the Louvre.

Much

identify either the

as one would like to

one or the other with

the picture referred to by the chroniclers,

if

only

for

the

sentimental

would be attached to

it,

interest

neither of the two

can be accepted as authentic

our

artist.

The

that

works by

best recent expert opinion

has ascribed the Paris panel

in turn to

Fra

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

55

Diamante, Pesellino, Stefano da Zevio, and

agreeing

Baldovinetti,

that

point,

it

the

cannot be by Fra

As regards the "Madonna

analysis

critical

on

only

of the

della

one

Filippo.

Cintola,"

can

picture

only

lead to the conviction that from beginning

to

end

bottega work, with

inferior

is

it

own

never a trace of the master's

although

by Fra

it

may

Filippo.

brush,

well be based on a design

It

elapsed between the

is

time that

true, the

placing

of the com-

mission for the Sta. Margherita altarpiece

and
short,

the

abduction

that

the

hand, there
tion,

left

may have been

to

inferior painter.
is

was so

Lucrezia

picture

only just begun and

some other

of

no reason

since Filippo Lippo

be finished by

On

the other

for this

assump-

continued to be

connected with the convent

in his capacity

of chaplain.

In

the year

following

that

memorable

56

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

feast

of the Sacred Girdle,

Lucrezia pre-

sented the

friar

become known

The house

who was

with a son,

to

to

fame as Filippino Lippi.

which he was born bears a

in

commemorative

inscription

citizens of Prato in 1869

put up by the

FILIPPO LIPPI
COMPRO E ABITO QUESTA CASA
QUANDO COLORIVA GLI STUPENDI

AFFRESCHI DEL DUOMO

E QUI NACQUE NEL MCCCCLIX FILIPPINO
PRECURSORE DI RAFFAELLO
" Filippo Lippi bought and inhabited this

house when

he

painted

the

stupendous

frescoes of the Cathedral, and here

in 1459

(it

was born

should read 1457) Filippino, the

precursor of Raphael."
If

proof were needed that the escape of

the other nuns

was

closely connected with

may be

found

Lucrezia, for

some

the abduction of Lucrezia,

in the fact that,

unknown

when

reason, found

it

it

advisable to feign

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

57

repentance and to return to the convent of

Sta. Margherita at the end of 1458,

all

the

They

other fugitives followed her example.

had to submit to the formality of twelve

months' probation before they took the
again, in a solemn ceremony, in
1459.

Perhaps

return

is

the

reason

for

December
Lucrezia's

not altogether dissociated from the

financial troubles that beset her lover, as

have seen, about the time of Filippino's

The
is

veil

sincerity of her

we

birth.

renewed vow of chastity

to be gathered not only from the fact that in

1465 she presented

child

daughter,

Alessandra but
forth

Fra Filippo with another

who was

given the

in the clear indictment set

by an anonymous accuser

burazione under date of May 8,

tamburazione

name

or

secret

in

a tarn-

1461.

In this

accusation,

ad-

dressed to the "officers of the night and

monasteries of the city of Florence," a pretty

state of affairs

is

revealed at the convent

FRA FILIPPO

58

of Sta.

LIPPI

Margherita, which "has been

fre-

quented and continues to be frequented by

Ser Piero

d* Antonio di

Ser Vannozzo," who

has " begot a male child

.

find

And

if

you wish to

him every day

with another
latter

in the said convent.

man

find him,

in the convent,

you

together

The

called frate Filippo.

excuses himself by saying that he

the chaplain, whilst the former says he

procurator.

had a male

And he has
is

will

And

the

the said frate Filippo has

child
in his

is

is

by one called Spinetta.

house the said

child,

who

grown up and is called Filippino."

The anonymous accuser, of course, was

mistaken
her

sister,

in

mentioning Spinetta, instead of

as the mother of Filippino,

his will expressly refers to "

ejus delicte matris et

filie

who

in

domine Lucretie

olim Francisci de

Butis de Florentia," and thus removes every

possible doubt as to

his

parentage.

mistake finds an easy explanation

The

in the fact

PLATE VII.THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH TWO ANGELS

(In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Painted for the chapel in Cosimo de' Medici's palace, this picture
transferred to the Uffizi Gallery from the Royal store-rooms in
More, perhaps, than in any other work by the master, the
1776.

was

whole arrangement of the picture and the management of the planes

reveal the influence of the relief sculpture by Donatello and his
It is particularly akin in spirit to the art of Rossellino.
followers.
The landscape seen through a window opening behind the heads of
the Madonna and the Infant Saviour, as well as the laughing angel
in the foreground, are entirely

new conceptions in

Florentine painting.

That the picture must have been much admired by Filippo Lippi's
contemporaries is proved by the innumerable slightly modified
versions of it which were produced by the next generation of
Florentine painters.

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

that both the sisters were for

under Fra Filippo's

What was

61

some time

roof.

the end of Lippi's romance?

There are no contemporary records to throw

clear light

upon

Vasari

stated that

the

it is

monk a

Lucrezia.

was

it

In Milanesi's edition of

Pope Eugene granted

special dispensation to

marry

any such dispensation ever

If

must have been by Pius II.,

and not by Eugene. Under any circumstances, it seems very improbable that Fra
granted,

Filippo, as

it

we

learn from the

same

source,

should have refused to avail himself of this

permission to legalise his union, because " he

preferred to continue living the sort of

that pleased him."

He was

then a

considerable age, near the end of his

life

man
life,

of

and

past the times for "sowing his wild oats."

The papal

dispensation,

must have been sought

if

for,

actually given,
in

which case

Filippo would presumably have availed him-

62

FRA FILIPPO

self of

it

or, if

granted on the Pope's

own

could not have been lightly set

initiative,

member

aside by a humble

who was

of the Church,

largely dependent on the emolu-

ments accruing from

his

The

fact

ments.

LIPPI

mere

clerical appoint-

that

Lucrezia's

features are to be recognised in the friar's

latest works, the frescoes in the Cathedral of

Spoleto, tends to prove that the old man's

was not

affection

transferred

to

different

quarters; and Vasari's suggestion that his

death was due

to

the

libertinism of his

conduct, which led to his being poisoned by

woman with whom

had become entangled, may be dismissed
certain relatives of a

he
as

fable.

Vasari

is

commission
in the

at fault again in ascribing the

for the decoration of the chapel

Church of Our Lady at Spoleto, Fra

Filippo's last

fluence of

important work, to the

Cosimo

de' Medici.

in-

Fra Filippo

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

went

to Spoleto in 1467,

been buried

in 1464.

and Cosimo had

any member of the

If

Medici family had acted as

must have been

63

Piero,

mediator,

it

who had always

been a patron and protector of our artist

Of the

four frescoes at Spoleto illustrating

the Life of the Virgin, only the "Coronation"

and the "Annunciation"

can judge

in their

from the master's

are, so far as

one

much restored condition,

own hand. "The Death

of the Virgin" and the "Nativity," though

undoubtedly designed by him, are vastly

inferior in execution,

work

the

and are almost

of his assistant,

who accompanied him

there

several

Fra Diamante,

to Spoleto,

months

entirely

after

and stayed

his

master's

death to complete the unfinished work.

Fra Filippo died on the 9th of October

1469,

and

left his

guardianship

son Filippino under the

of Fra

Diamante.

He was

buried in the church which had witnessed

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

64

The esteem in which he

was held by those who knew how to appreciate his artand among them, surely,
his last labours.

the

Medici must be placed at the top

found

expression

and

Florence

When
after

in

the

over

Spoleto

remains.

his

Lorenzo the Magnificent, some years

great Carmelite's

the

through

Spoleto

as

Filippo's

Spoletans'

reply

Duomo
is

of

for re-

of Florence.

characteristic

they were

so

The

of the

the age: they begged to be

in possession of the

the

demanded Fra

body from the Spoletans,

interment in the

spirit of

death, passed

ambassador

Florentine Commonwealth, he

since

between

rivalry

left

remains of the master,

poorly provided with

men, whereas Florence had

enough and to spare. Lorenzo must have

distinguished

been touched by a request presented in such

flattering terms, for he not only allowed
Filippo Lippi's body to remain in

its

original

FRA FILIPPO
resting-place,

but

he

LIPPI

65

commissioned from

Filippino Lippi, the inheritor of the monk's

artistic

genius, a marble tomb, on which

can be seen to

this

day the

jovial features

of the master thus honoured, the arms of

Lorenzo and of the Lippi, and the commemorative inscription composed

by the

great humanist, Angelo Poliziano.

CONDITVS HIC EGO SVM PICTVRE FAMA

PHILIPPVS
NVLLI IGNOTA UEJE EST GRATIA MIRA

MANVS
ARTIFICIS

POTVI

DIGITIS

ANIMARE

CO-

LORES
SPERATAQVE ANIMOS FALLERE VOCE DIV:
IPSA MEIS STVPVIT NATVRA EXPRESSA
FIGVRIS

MEQVE

SVIS FASSA EST ARTIBVS

ESSE

PAREM.

MARMOREO TVMVLO MEDICES LAVRENTIVS HIC ME

CONDIDIT,

ERAM.

ANTE HVMILI PVLVERE TECTVS

FRA FILIPPO

66

LIPPI

IV
It is

not within the scope of this brief

sketch of the

life

and

Fra Filippo

art of

Lippi to enter into a detailed critical dis-

extant works.

cussion of his

am

not

here concerned with questions of debatable

with

or

attributions,

the

Fra

share that

Diamante and other assistants or pupils

may have had

in the

execution of works

that pass generally under his name.

that can here be attempted

is,

All

to gather

from the cumulative evidence of the pictures

that are unquestionably by the masters

hand,

the

real

significance

of his

own

great

achievement and the place he occupies

the evolution of Italian

art.

in

In the progress

of his style from the early " Nativities " to the

Prato frescoes
of Early

is

reflected the

whole course

Renaissance art from Gothic awk-

wardness to

full

freedom.

Of

course,

Fra

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

67

Filippo lived in a period of transition and

of passionate striving for expression; and

to a certain extent every artist

duct of the

in

the

the pro-

The tendencies

spirit of his time.

which resulted

is

blossoming of

full

Renaissance art were at work, and would,

no doubt, have conquered

if

in the end,

Filippo Lippi had never existed.

theless,

he was one of the greatest

Neverinitiators

of the Renaissance in painting; and

his peculiar merit that, at

pupilage,

when every

directed towards the

his

particular

it

is

a period of artistic

painter's training

was

close assimilation of

master's

when progress
grafting of some

even

peculiarities,

consisted

largely

in

and
the

personal note or other on

to the inherited tradition,

Fra Filippo not

only liberated himself from the narrow confines of his early training

by

his readiness

to benefit from the

example of any native

or "foreign" master

who had added some

FRA FILIPPO

68

LIPPI

new word to the language of

was also ever ready to learn

art,

but he

direct from

the greatest source of artistic inspiration

from Nature.

From his earliest beginnings, which rather

suggest illuminated miniatures on a large
scale,

we

see him grow step by step, acquire

knowledge of perspective, of design, of colour

harmonies, of the effect of light and atmosphere, of movement.

advance

in

composition,

We find him initiating

The circular
which was scarcely known be-

many

directions.

fore his days, is carried

fection, that

it

by him to such per-

becomes the

favourite device

of most later Florentine painters.

He

is

the

who shows a real appreciation of the beauty of Nature, who allows real
daylight to enter into his pictures, and who
studies reflections. The Florentine School

first

Florentine

was never a school

of painters in the strict

sense of the word, like the Venetian School.

PLATE

VIII.THE VIRGIN

AND CHILD, WITH ANGELS

AND TWO ABBOTS

(In the Louvre, Paris)

This altarpiece was commissioned in 1437 by the Company of

Orsanmichele for the Barbadori Chapel in Santo Spirito. It is the
picture referred to by Domenico Veneziano in a letter to Piero
de' Medici, dated April 1, 1438, in which he says that by working day
and night Fra Filippo could not finish it within five years, which was
probably a correct estimate of the time actually taken. Even in its
present state of deterioration this stately altarpiece, which shows how
much Filippo had learnt from the study of Masaccio's Carmine
frescoes, justifies the high praise bestowed upon it by Vasari.
The
two figures kneeling before the steps of the throne are St. Augustine
on the right, and St. Fredianus on the left

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

71

work was always based on linear design,

upon which colour was superadded
an
afterthought, as it were. The Florentine
Its

did not think in terms of colour.

Filippo, without

But Fra

abandoning the essentially

Florentine insistence on linear design,

nearer the true

any of

his

In his

first

pictorial

came

conception than

contemporaries or successors.

"Nativity" at the Florentine

Academy he

gives not

the

slightest

hint

was

of the astounding development his art

to undergo before he left Florence for Prato.

The

colour

is

purely localised, like the

flat

tones of the Gothic miniaturists in whose

school he had been trained.

looks as

if

The Madonna

she were cut out and pasted on to

the landscape.

What a

delineation to the

step from

its

hard

morbidezza and the cool

y

shimmering tones and all-pervading sense

of atmosphere in his "Coronation

of the

Virgin," which, in this respect, remains

72

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

unique achievement in Florentine

his Florentine " Nativities " are as

and clumsy

design as could be.

in

extreme corners

background
almost as

awkward
Lopped-

praying monks are squeezed

off figures of

into the

Both

art.

seen

is

in

in

the

steep

landscape

perspective,

a bird's-eye view, and has no

relation to the figures in the foreground

the

perspective and the whole arrangement of

the ruined building in the one are childish.

And a few years

later

he had arrived at the

noble architectonic design of the "Virgin

Enthroned," at the Louvre, in which, notwithstanding here and there a reminiscence

of Gothic awkwardness, the figure of the

angel on the

left

foreshadows the easy grace

of similarly poised figures

in

Andrea

del

Sarto's art.

Again and again Fra Filippo acts as

initiator

and

generations of

sets

the

artists.

fashion

He

is

for

whole

one of the

FRA FILIPPO
first

LIPPI

73

to experiment with devices for producing

the illusion of depth, either by the interpolation,

between the foreground and the back-

ground
in

figures, of architectural elements, as

the Louvre

"Madonna" the

idea had

already served Donatello in the sister-art

of sculpture or by the skilful disposition

and lighting of the subsidiary figures

background, as

in the episodes

in the

from the

life

St Anne, which form the setting to the

adorable "Madonna and Child" of the Pitti
of

tondo.

If

Michelangelo's nude athletes in

the background of his " Holy Family " tondo

are based upon the similar figures in

Signorelli's circular "

Luca

Madonna and Child " at

the Uffizi, Signorelli himself clearly derived

from Filippo Lippi the use of the background

whom

turns his back to the

spectator just like the

women on the extreme

figures,

one of

right of Lippi's tondo, for the purpose of

enhancing the sense of depth and space.

74

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

This

woman

with the boy clinging to the

folds of her dress,

whom

she

as well as the one by

moving
figure, with clinging diaphanous garments
and with a basket poised on her head will
is

preceded

rapidly

be found again and again during the next

half-century of Florentine art, just as the
Uffizi "

who

is

Madonna adoring

the Divine Child,"

supported by two boy-angels, became

the prototype of a long succession of similar

In the dancing "Salome" of the

pictures.

Prato frescoes, again,

we have

movement

of the type of figure and

received

its

the forerunner
that

highest development in the art

of Botticelli, Filippo Lippi's greatest pupil.

Every phase of the triumphant progress

of Renaissance art finds
lippo Lippi's painting.

to shake off Gothic

achieve
dignity.

certain

From

an echo

in

Fi-

Masaccio helped him

awkwardness and
degree

Gentile

da

of

to

statuesque

Fabriano

he

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

75

took the delight in gay, festive attire and

sumptuous pageantry, which

pressed

and

in

a modified form

clearly ex-

Cook's

Frederick

Sir

in

is

in

the

tondo

Academy

Pier dei Franceschi's great

"Coronation."

conquest of the realm of light and air did

no more

to leave

fail

Carmelite's

art,

discoveries

in

The

than did

the

Uccello's

of perspective.

Madonnas and
backgrounds of some of

classic thrones of his

his

pictures

the

forms

proclaim

were then

his

and decorative
churches

Renaissance

Nor

Paolo

the science

the architectural

new

mark upon

its

and

enthusiasm for
details

of the

palaces

that

rising,

under the influence of the

learning, in

every part of Florence.

is it

digious

possible to over-estimate the proeffect

produced

upon

the

artist-

monk's receptive mind by his study of the

works of Donatello.
is

in reality

relief

The

Uffizi "

Madonna "

by Donatello or one

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

76
of

followers

his

translated

Take any photographic

picture,

and

Infant Saviour

the

way

group

The

were not

seen through the

the

arms of the
set against

is

illusion

is

extra-

for the landscape

opening

the

in

ground and the transparent

folds

over the Virgin's head,

veil

of

and of the Madonna, and

the whole

If it

head

the

angel, the

the window-frame.
ordinary.

paint.

reproduction of that

examine

roguishly smiling

into

it

backof the

would be

pardonable to mistake the picture thus re-

duced to black and white

for

bas-relief of

the Donatello School.

Thus, with the shrewd intelligence of

which

his features in the auto-portrait in-

the

"Coronation"

are

so

troduced

into

eloquent,

Fra Filippo knew how to take

hints

and suggestions from the

his great contemporaries.

the

same keen

art of all

But he applied

intelligence to the study of

FRA FILIPPO

LIPPI

The know-

the living world around him.

imparted

ledge

to

was thus allowed

him by other masters

to

through

filter

personal observation of Nature.

it is

possible to trace in his

varied

artistic

sonality

influences,

was never

77

And

his

whilst

work the most

own

his

eclipsed

per-

or obscured.

Always ready to learn and to assimilate

new

principles,

imitation of

he never stooped to the

mere mannerisms.

From any

such inclination he was saved by his temperament, his

curiosity.

cling

Only to his

reminiscences

and formulas.
full

human sympathy,

maturity,

Even
the

earliest

his artistic

Madonnas

Giottesque

of

types

before he had reached

typical

ousted by the individual.

had

And

become

in this re-

was again an initiator in Florentine art.

He was one of the first painters
of his school who makes us feel that
spect he

almost every character

in

his

pictures

is

FRA FILIPPO

78

LIPPI

the result of personal observation is practically

He

portrait.

went

raconteur
life;

far

of

true genre

beyond him as a

Florentine

but the

first

Benozzo Gozzoli,

painter of his school.

is true,

the

is

origin

pictorial
-

century

of Benozzo's

genre-

fifteenth

like treatment of scriptural incidents,

makes

it

his frescoes at Pisa

which

and San Gimi-

gnano such precious documents,

is

to

be

found in Fra Filippo Lippi.

The Prato

frescoes

introduce

several

delicious incidents of this nature, like the

leave-taking of St. John from his parents,

or the child-birth scene in the episode in

the

life

of St. Stephen.

But they are not

absent either from his altarpieces.

quisitely recorded

happenings

The

in the

ex-

house

of St. Anne, which form the background of

the Pitti

"Madonna and

Child," are pure

genre-painting, and are, moreover, a daring

departure from

all

the earlier conventions

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

which ruled the rendering of
subject.

The

Virgin"

shows

79

this favourite

"Coronation of the

earlier

something

of

same

the

tendency in the charming group of a female

two children in front of the

kneeling monk. The saint, like the Virgin
saint

and

Mary

herself,

an elegantly attired

just

is

Florentine lady of the

surrounding

angels

Heavenly

Father

period.

the

are

throne

by being divested of

Even

in

Enthroned,"

stately

at

the

as

it

wings.

their

and formal
Louvre,

the

of

humanised,

were,

the

The very

"Virgin

Fra

Filippo

could not resist the temptation to introduce

a roguish urchin on each side peeping over

the balustrade,

and thus transferring the

scene from the heavenly region to this earth.

Fra

Filippo

loved

the world in which

he found so much beauty.

For

all

that,

his art reveals neither sensuality nor worldliness.

He was

indeed, as Mr.

Berenson

FRA FILIPPO

8o

so happily describes

LIPPI

him, a genre-painter,

whose genre was that of the

of others was of the body.

soul,

But he ex-

pressed the soul through the body.

Andr6 Maurel

has

it:

as that

"Before

As M.
painting

faces,

he looked at them, which was a new

thing.

He was a

great painter, because

he was a man."

The

plates are printed

The
9/1

by Bemrose

text at the

5h

Sons, Ltd., Derby and London

Ballantynb Press, Edinburgh

5

Illl

3 1197 00102 9815

Date Due
All library items are subject to recall 3 weeks from
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