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diff --git a/41887-0.txt b/41887-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4892391 --- /dev/null +++ b/41887-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1100 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41887 *** + + MASTERPIECES + IN COLOUR + EDITED BY + T. LEMAN HARE + + FRA FILIPPO LIPPI + + (1406-1469) + + + + +"MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR" SERIES + + + ARTIST. AUTHOR. + + BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. + BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. + BOUCHER. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. + CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. + CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. + CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. + COROT. SIDNEY ALLNUTT. + DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. + DELACROIX. PAUL G. KONODY. + DÜRER. H. E. A. FURST. + FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. + FRA FILIPPO LIPPI. PAUL G. KONODY. + FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. + GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. + GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. + HOGARTH. C. LEWIS HIND. + HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. + INGRES. A. J. FINBERG. + LAWRENCE. S. L. BENSUSAN. + LE BRUN (VIGÉE). C. HALDANE MACFALL. + LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. + LUINI. JAMES MASON. + MANTEGNA. MRS. ARTHUR BELL. + MEMLINC. W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE. + MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. + MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. + MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + PERUGINO. SELWYN BRINTON. + RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. + RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. + REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. + REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. + ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. + RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + SARGENT. T. MARTIN WOOD. + TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. + VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. + VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. + WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. + WATTS. W. LOFTUS HARE. + WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. + + _Others in Preparation._ + + +[Illustration: PLATE I.--THE VIRGIN ADORING THE INFANT SAVIOUR + +(In the Accademia, Florence) + +In this earliest known picture by Filippo Lippi, the painter is still +entirely 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 having any real 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 + + [Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.] + + LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK + + NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + I. 9 + + II. 19 + + III. 41 + + IV. 66 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Plate + I. The Virgin Adoring the Infant Saviour Frontispiece + In the Accademia, Florence + + Page + II. St. John the Baptist with six other Saints 14 + In the National Gallery, London + + III. The Vision of St. Bernard 24 + In the National Gallery, London + + IV. The Annunciation 34 + In the National Gallery, London + + V. The Coronation of the Virgin 40 + In the Accademia, Florence + + VI. The Virgin and Child 50 + 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 Louvre, Paris + + +[Illustration] + + + + +I + + +In Vasari's gossipy _Lives of the Painters_, and 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 the old masters' characters and lives from the evidence of +their extant works. Many a charming legend, that was originally +suggested by the expression of the painter's personality in his art, and +has been handed down from generation to generation, had to be shelved as +dusty archives yielded new knowledge of indisputable prosaic facts to +the diligent searcher. 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 romance from the history of art is a +hindrance rather than a help to the ordinary person who cares not a jot +about morphological characteristics, but loves nevertheless to spend an +hour now and then in communion with the old masters. For him, +paradoxical though it may seem, there is more significant truth in many +an entirely fictitious anecdote, than in the dry facts recorded by the +conscientious historian. + +Thus we know now that Domenico Veneziano outlived Andrea dal Castagno by +several years, and could therefore not have been foully 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 art, help the +layman to understand and appreciate the qualities which constitute the +greatness of that art? We know now that Fra Angelico, far from +accounting it 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 +friar's art, that even those to whom the spiritual significance of art +is a sealed book, search almost instinctively for signs of religious +fervour and exaltation in Fra Angelico's paintings. The stories of +Sodoma's habits of life and of his strange doings at Mont' Oliveto +belong probably to the realm of fiction, but they serve to explain and +accentuate the worldly tendencies of his artistic achievement. + +In these instances, to which many others might easily be added, +the artists' personality and manner of life have been fancifully +reconstructed from the character of their work. Very different +is the case of Fra Filippo Lippi. Here criticism has seized upon +certain authentic facts of the Carmelite friar's life 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 paintings not only his +artistic emotions, but his personal desires and passions. Only thus +can it be explained that generation after generation of writers on art +have misconstrued the exquisite and touching innocence and virgin purity +of his Madonna type into an expression of sensuality. Again and again we +read about the pronounced worldliness of Fra Filippo's religious +paintings, about their lack of spiritual significance and devout +feeling. + +[Illustration: PLATE II.--ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST WITH SIX OTHER SAINTS + +(In the National Gallery, London) + +The companion picture to the "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 connection, the +two pairs at the sides--SS. Francis and Lawrence on the left, and SS. +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 Fra Filippo's close study of Nature even at +that early period.] + +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 addicted 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 in his paintings, and endeavour by discoursing +and reasoning with himself to diminish the violence of his inclination. +It was known that, while occupied in the pursuit of his pleasures, the +works undertaken by him received little or none of his attention." + +It so happens that many of the discreditable incidents of the friar's +life, recorded by Vasari, have been confirmed by documentary evidence. +There is not a shadow of doubt that Fra Filippo did abduct the nun +Lucrezia Buti from her convent; that Filippino Lippi was the offspring +of this illicit union; and that the Frate subsequently did not avail +himself of the special papal dispensation to wed the nun. There is also +abundant proof to show that Fra Filippo, in spite of the high esteem in +which he was held as an artist, and which caused him to be entrusted +with many a remunerative commission, was for ever in financial straits, +was involved in many vexatious law cases, attempted to cheat his own +assistants, and had no hesitation to break faith with his patrons. But +all this does not affect his art. To read sensuality into his types of +womanhood can only be the result of prejudice, of approaching his +pictures in the light of the 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 era which had discovered, and revelled in, the visible beauty +of this world of ours, whilst Fra Angelico, his contemporary, still +belongs to the earlier age that looked to the empyrean for all true +happiness. The art of both masters is planted in Gothic soil, though it +bore different fruit, that of Fra Angelico being still essentially +Gothic, though often tinged with a Renaissance flavour, whilst that of +Fra Filippo has all the richness and fullness of the Renaissance, of +which he was one of the great initiators. + +That such conceptions as the Virgin in National Gallery "Annunciation," +or the lovely Madonna in the _tondo_ at the Palazzo Pitti, and many +other authentic works by the master, are lacking in spirituality of +expression, cannot be seriously maintained by anybody who approaches +these pictures with an open mind and judges the artist by his +achievement, not by his manner of life. Even Mr. Berenson, the most +authoritative modern critic of Italian art, denies Fra Filippo a +"profound sense of either material or spiritual significance--the +essential qualifications of the real artist," although he admits in the +same essay[1] that "his real place is with the genre painters, only his +genre _was that of the soul_, as that of others--of Benozzo Gozzoli, for +example--was of the body." Browning, with the true poet's intuition, +states the case of Fra Filippo more clearly than the vast majority of +professional critics from Vasari to the present day, when he makes the +friar exclaim: + + "... Now is this sense, I ask? + A fine way to paint soul, by painting body + So ill, the eye can't stop there, must go further + And can't fare worse!... + + * * * * * + + Why can't 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?... + + * * * * * + + Suppose I've made her eyes all right and blue, + Can't I take breath and try to add life's flash, + And then add soul and heighten them threefold?" + + + + +II + + +Whereas all questions concerning Fra Filippo's artistic education remain +largely a matter of conjecture and deduction, there is no lack of +documentary material for a fairly accurate reconstruction of his life. +Vasari remains, of course, the basis for any such attempt; but the +archives of Florence and Prato have yielded a rich harvest of +contemporary records, on the strength of which it is possible to clear +up the contradictions and to correct the numerous errors that have crept +into Vasari's life of _The Florentine Painter, Fra Filippo Lippi_. + +Filippo was the son of Tommaso di Lippo, a butcher in a poor quarter of +Florence, and of Mona Antonia di Bindo Sernigi. None of the various +dates given in his wonted loose fashion by Vasari for the birth of the +artist, accords with ascertainable facts, which point to the years 1406 +to 1409, with probability favouring the earlier date. According to a +document in the Archivio di Stato in Florence, confirmed by an entry in +the account books of the convent of the Carmine, in which "Philippus +Tomasi" is stated to have received 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 the artist was +fifteen years of age when he took the vow--which would place the year of +his birth about 1406. + +"By the death of his father," continues Vasari, "he was left a +friendless orphan at the age of two years, his mother having also died +shortly after his birth. The child was for some time under the care of a +certain Mona Lapaccia, his aunt, the sister of his father, who brought +him up with great difficulty till he had attained his eighth year, when, +being no longer able to support the burden of his maintenance, she +placed him in the convent of the Carmelites." Since, however, an +income-tax return, discovered by Milanesi, proves Mona Antonia, +Filippo's mother, to have been still alive in 1427, and apparently in +tolerably comfortable circumstances, this account of Filippo's sad +childhood must be relegated to the sphere of fiction. Destined for the +Church, he was presumably at the age of eight placed with the Carmelites +to be prepared for his vocation. That he showed no inclination for +book-learning and "manifested the 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 +to have been strikingly illiterate even for his days. Nor is Filippo the +only artist who evinced an early inclination for the artistic profession +in this manner. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.--THE VISION OF ST. BERNARD + +(In the National Gallery, London) + +The Vision of St. Bernard, although at present the mere ghost of a +picture 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 placed over doors in +the Palazzo della Signoria, Florence. A contemporary record states, that +on May 16, 1447, Fra Filippo received 40 lire for having painted "the +figure of the Virgin and of St. Bernard." The companion picture, which +represented the "Annunciation," has disappeared.] + +And now Vasari loses himself in a tangle of incorrect and contradictory +assertions. First, that the 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 many affirmed the spirit of Masaccio to +have entered the body of Fra Filippo." At this period he painted several +frescoes in the Carmine, and one in _terra verde_ in the cloister of +that church. As a result of the high praise bestowed upon him for these +early efforts, "he formed his 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 monastic establishment at least until 1431, when he was +about twenty-five years of age. That even then he did not throw off his +clerical habit is clearly proved by the fact that he subsequently held +the posts of abbot of S. Quirico a Legnaja, and of chaplain to the nuns +of Sta. Margherita at Prato. Of the early frescoes recorded by Vasari +and other writers, every vestige has disappeared, so that it is +impossible to trace through them the supposed direct or indirect +teaching of Masaccio. But there is something wrong about the dates. +Masaccio wrought his Carmine frescoes between 1425 and 1427, so that his +could not possibly have been the earliest influence upon the young +monk's impressionable mind. Nor is there even a hint of Masaccio's +monumental style in the earliest known works 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 +Florentine Renaissance, was, in his later life, powerfully influenced +by the genius of Masaccio, is only natural, and cannot be doubted by +anybody who has seen his frescoes at Prato. For his earliest +inspiration, however, one has to look for other sources; and modern +criticism is pretty well agreed upon this point, that the pictures +painted by the friar in his youthful years are based on the trecento +tradition, and that the only late Giottesque who could have been his +master is the Camaldolese, Lorenzo Monaco. + +Lorenzo Monaco's teaching, at any rate, is suggested by Fra Filippo's +first "Nativity" at the Florence Academy, which suggests the methods of +the school of miniaturists in which Lorenzo had been trained, although +these tendencies are clearly tempered by the influence of Masolino, +Masaccio's precursor in the decoration of the Brancacci Chapel, and +also of Fra Angelico. Indeed, this "Nativity" was actually for a long +time attributed to Masolino. Throughout his life, Fra Filippo, in his +steady advance from Giottism to such triumphantly vital achievement as +his Prato frescoes, evinced the greatest eagerness to absorb what was +newest and best. No doubt he watched Masolino at work at the Carmine, +and later on Masaccio, whose influence clearly appears in Fra Filippo's +mature work. But he also learnt from the example of all the other +masters who wrought in and near Florence in the early part of the +fifteenth century. Sir Frederick Cook's _tondo_ clearly shows the +influence of Gentile da Fabriano. Of Fra Angelico we are reminded by the +profound devotional feeling and mystic intentness of his early works. +From Pier dei Franceschi he acquired afterwards the feeling for +atmospheric effects which was unknown to the Giottesques, to Fra +Angelico, and even to Masaccio. Nor did he fail to study the reliefs of +Donatello, of which we are forcibly reminded by the "Madonna and Child +with the laughing Angel" at the Uffizi. And since Miss Mendelssohn has +shown that the dancing Salome in the Prato fresco is practically copied +from the figure of "Luna descending from her Chariot" in the relief on +the Endymion sarcophagus, we have proof that Lippi was also a student of +the antique. + +The patronage which the powerful Medici family, and especially Cosimo +de' Medici, bestowed upon Fra Filippo Lippi, probably dates back to the +time when the friar was still working within the walls of the Carmine. +The "Nativity" (No. 79) at the Florence Academy was painted in the early +thirties of the fifteenth century for Cosimo's wife, who commissioned +it for the Camaldoli hermitage. For Cosimo himself he painted the two +lunettes now in the National Gallery: "The Annunciation" and "St. John +the Baptist with six other Saints," which were originally placed over +two doors in the Riccardi Palace. Other pictures by their protégé were +sent by members of the Medici family as gifts to the King of Naples and +other Italian princes. And there is no lack of documentary evidence that +the friar frequently petitioned members of that powerful family for +pecuniary or other assistance, for his disorderly habits of life brought +him into many a scrape, and resulted in constant financial stress. Thus +in a letter of August 13, 1439, to Piero de' Medici, he describes +himself as "one of the poorest friars in Florence," whom God left to +look after six unmarried, infirm, and useless nieces. The object of the +letter was to beg his patron to be supplied with wine and corn on +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 and +artists. It is very probable that Fra Filippo was of their number. +Vasari's brief reference to paintings executed 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 movements to make his +presence at Padua in 1433-4 appear impossible. On the other hand, +Vasari's story of Filippo's capture by pirates on the coast of the +Marches of Ancona, his long-extended captivity and final liberation by +his master whose favour he had gained by the excellence of art, and his +visit to Naples on the home journey, belongs to the realm of fable. + +In or before 1437, Fra Filippo was certainly back in Florence, since the +_Deliberazioni_ of the Company of Orsanmichele show that in that year he +was commissioned to paint the great altarpiece of the "Madonna and +Child, with Angels and two Abbots" for the Barbadori Chapel in Santo +Spirito, which is now one of the treasures of the Louvre. It is this +picture to which Domenico Veneziano refers in a letter to Piero de' +Medici, dated Perugia, April 1, 1438, asking to be entrusted with the +commission for an altarpiece, since "Fra Filippo and Fra Giovanni have +much work to do, and especially Fra Filippo has a panel for Santo +Spirito which, should he work day and night, will not be done in five +years, so great is the work." Yet in the following year we find him +writing a begging letter to the same Piero de' Medici. + +[Illustration: 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 balustrade. They +were painted about 1438, towards the end of Fra 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 his romantic escape from Cosimo's +palace, which is the subject of Browning's well-known poem.] + +There can be no doubt that the gay friar led the life of a true +"Bohemian"--that he 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 therefore 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 he was deprived by papal decree as a result of an +action brought against him by his assistant, Giovanni da Rovezzano. +Giovanni sued him for the amount of forty florins due to him for work +done, and Fra Filippo did not shrink from producing a forged receipt. To +this at least he confessed on the rack "when he saw his intestines +protruding from his wounds." Whether much weight can be attached to a +confession obtained by such means is another question, but there is +nothing in the career of Fra Filippo to make such disgraceful conduct +appear impossible. + +An appeal to the Pope led to another investigation of the case. The +judgment of the Curia was confirmed, the Pope referring on this +occasion to Fra Filippo as a painter _qui plurima et 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 left him in enjoyment of the revenue connected +with the post. + +The ups and downs of Filippo Lippi's career in the fifties of the +fourteen-hundreds are more than a little confusing. Of commissions there +was no lack. And certain emoluments must have come to him from his +ecclesiastic appointments. His disgraceful conduct towards Giovanni da +Rovezzano, and the notorious looseness of his morals--one need only +recall the well-known anecdote of his escape through a window of the +Medici Palace in search of amorous adventure--did not stand in the way +of his being made chaplain to the nuns of S. Niccolò de' Fieri, in +1450,[2] and of Santa Margherita in Prato, in 1456. He bought a little +house at Prato in 1452, and another in 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 litigations. Yet in 1454, as we learn +from Neri di Lorenzo di Bicci's diaries, he found it advisable to +deposit some gold-leaf with the said Neri, in order to save it from +seizure by his creditors. On July 20, 1457, he writes to Giovanni de' +Medici to ask for an advance payment for work in hand--the 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. In his report to Giovanni de' Medici, dated August +31, 1457, Cantamanti states that on the preceding day Fra Filippo's +studio was seized by his landlord for arrears of rent. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN + +(In the Accademia, Florence) + +The crowning achievement of Filippo Lippi's second Florentine period, +the great "Coronation of the Virgin," was commissioned by Francesco de +Maringhi, chaplain to the nuns of Sant' Ambrogio, who died long before +the completion of the picture, having provided in his will of July 28, +1441, for the manner in which settlement should be effected. Thus, in +1441, 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.] + +Meanwhile the Carmelite's art had made prodigious progress. Filippo +Lippi, the pupil of the last Giottesque, was now swimming abreast of the +mighty current of the Renaissance. If his early Madonnas recall +something of the spirituality and naïve faith of Fra Angelico, the +altarpieces of his later Florentine period, and, above all, the +superb "Coronation of the Virgin," painted for Sant' Ambrogio, and +now in the Florence Academy, are inspired by the beauty of this visible +world. The atmosphere is of this earth, and not of the celestial +regions. His types are no longer ethereal, but realistically robust. In +the "Coronation of the Virgin" he has left us a portrait of himself at +the age of about forty, in the figure of the kneeling monk on the left, +towards whom an angel raises a scroll with the lettering IS PERFECIT +OPUS. The features are rather coarse and heavy, but scarcely express +that low sensuality which his biographers have tried to read into them. +The expression of his eyes in particular is intelligent, frank, and +good-natured. + + + + +III + + +The Sant' Ambrogio altarpiece must have added enormously to the +reputation which the Carmelite painter enjoyed among his +contemporaries. It was only 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 Angelico, in spite of repeated urging, refused to accept +this important commission, his time being fully 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 artistically +the most significant period of his career. As we have seen, he still +kept up his workshop in Florence, where his temporary presence is +repeatedly testified by documentary evidence during the next few years. +Thus, although he began to work in the choir chapel immediately after +his arrival at Prato, as may be seen from the entry in the _Libra delle +spese_ in the _Archivio del Patrimonio ecclesiastico_ in Prato, +recording under date of May 29, 1452, the payment of fifty lire to "Fra +Diamante di Feo da Terranuova, gharzone di Fra Filippo di Tommaso," his +frequent 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 addition +to his frequent absence in Florence, he no doubt undertook several other +journeys, of one of which at least we have certain knowledge: his +sojourn in 1461 at Perugia, whither he was called to value Bonfigli's +frescoes in the Palazzo del Comune--an honourable task which devolved +upon him as the sole survivor of the three artists chosen for it by the +Signory of Perugia, the other two being Fra Angelico, who died in 1455, +and Domenico Veneziano, whose 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 at Prato, depicting scenes from the lives of St. John +the Baptist and St. Stephen, as were due to professional causes, there +was enough excitement and disturbance in the artist's private life to +account at least in part for his tardiness in 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, by which his name has become +familiar even to those who know little of, and care less about, his +artistic achievement. The abduction of the nun, Lucrezia Buti, by the +amorous monk, who was then entering upon the sixth decade of his life, +is on the whole correctly recorded by Vasari, and has formed the subject +of many a literary romance and pictorial rendering. Subsequent doubts +thrown upon it by such eminent critics as, among others, Messrs. Crowe +and Cavalcaselle, who maintain that the story rests upon the 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 +Milanesi's researches established the substantial truth of the romantic +story. The facts, briefly stated, are as follows: + +On the death of the Florentine silk merchant, Francesco Buti, in 1450, +his son, Antonio, found himself charged with the responsibility of a +not too profitable business, and a large family of twelve brothers and +sisters. The eldest of these sisters, Margherita, was married off to +Antonio Doffi in 1451, and in the same year two other sisters, Spinetta, +born 1434, and Lucrezia, born 1435, were placed with the nuns of Sta. +Margherita at Prato, Antonio paying the required fee of fifty florins +for each of them. Needless to say, the two girls thus committed to a +living tomb at the very time when life beckoned to them with all its +joys and seductions, were not consulted in this matter any more than was +Fra Filippo when, as a mere child, he had to enter the establishment of +the Carmelites in Florence. Presumably the two lively, handsome girls +had no more vocation for the cloistral life than the pleasure-loving +friar--which circumstance may be pleaded in mitigation of the +scandalous offence of which they subsequently became guilty. + +Whether Fra Filippo had become acquainted with the Buti maidens before +they entered the nunnery of Sta. Margherita, which was then in charge of +the Abbess Bartolommea de' Bovacchiesi, it is impossible to say. Certain +it is, on the other hand, that the Madonna of the Pitti _tondo_, painted +in 1452, already bears the features of the model who, in other pictures, +has been identified as Lucrezia Buti. From this it may be assumed that +Fra Filippo, who came to Prato only a year after the two sisters, and +who lived there in a house opposite the convent of Sta. Margherita, must +have known Lucrezia at least four years before she sat to him for the +"Madonna della Cintola" in 1456, the year of her abduction. It is quite +possible that the love-struck monk used the influence of his powerful +protectors to secure his appointment as chaplain of Sta. Margherita, so +as to facilitate intercourse with the object of his affection and +desire. Nor did his by no means untainted reputation and the papal +stigma (_qui plurima et nefanda scelera perpetravit_) stand in the way +of the coveted post being actually conferred upon him in the year 1456. + +In the same year, as soon as he had entered upon his new duties, the +Abbess of Sta. Margherita commissioned the new chaplain to paint an +altarpiece for the high altar of the convent church. This afforded Fra +Filippo a welcome opportunity for carrying out what must have been a +carefully and cunningly devised scheme. He begged the Abbess to allow +Lucrezia Buti, "who was exceedingly beautiful and graceful," to sit for +the head of the Madonna; and, having obtained this favour, presumably +did not fail to advance his cause. His clerical habit and the great +difference of age between the monk and the nun--he was then about fifty, +and Lucrezia twenty-one--may have helped to disarm suspicion: they did +not prevent the young nun from taking the fatal step which was bound to +bring disgrace and dishonour upon her; which, indeed, was accounted a +crime, for Lucrezia was not, as Vasari has it, "either a novice or a +boarder," but one of the eight "choral and professed nuns" who formed +the establishment of Santa Margherita. + +[Illustration: 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_ may 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 of the +basket-carrying woman in his "Incendio del Borgo," depict the birth of +Mary, and the meeting of St. Anne and Joachim. The motif of the Birth of +the Virgin is in reality a convenient excuse for the painting of a +charmingly rendered scene of Florentine domestic life. The distribution +of light and the harmonising of the strong colour-notes are managed with +consummate skill.] + +The plot came to a successful issue on the 1st of May 1456, during the +celebration of the feast of the Madonna della Cintola--Our Lady of the +Girdle. On that day it was the custom to exhibit at the Cathedral a +sacred relic, purporting to be the miraculous girdle given to St. Thomas +by the Virgin, who appeared to him after her death. That day was one of +the rare occasions when the nuns of Sta. Margherita left the precincts +of their convent to join the worshippers in the Duomo. On May 1, 1456, +there were eight nuns who set out to pray before the sacred girdle--but +seven only returned to the convent. Lucrezia Buti had been carried off +by her monkish lover to his house; and if any attempts were made to +induce her to return, either to Sta. 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 afflicted thereat, that he never +more recovered his cheerfulness, and made every possible effort to +regain his child." This, of course, is pure invention, since Francesco +Buti had been mouldering in his grave for six years when the abduction +took place. + +And now we come to the most amazing chapter of this fifteenth-century +romance. Fra Filippo Lippi, the monk who had broken his vow and was +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! That his misdeed was +allowed to pass unpunished and uncensured, may have encouraged others to +follow his and Lucrezia's example. Whether or not the Carmelite was +instrumental in helping the other nuns to escape, the fact remains that +before long Spinetta Buti had joined her sister in Filippo's house, +whilst three other nuns deserted the convent to live in illicit union +with their lovers. The unfortunate Abbess, Bartolommea de' Bovacchiesi, +whose portrait is to be seen as kneeling donor in the so-called "Madonna +della Cintola," now in the Municipal Palace at Prato, died of shame and +grief before the year came to a close. + +The remote resemblance of the figure of St. Margaret, on the extreme +left of that picture, to Lucrezia Buti as she appears in authentic works +by the master, in addition to the fact that the "Madonna della Cintola" +was originally in the church of Sta. Margherita, has given colour to the +theory that this is the very altarpiece which figures so prominently in +the chief romance of Filippo Lippi's life. The same claim has been +advanced for the "Nativity" (No. 1343) at the Louvre. Much as one would +like to identify either the one or the other with the picture referred +to by the chroniclers, if only for the sentimental interest that would +be attached to it, neither of the two can be accepted as authentic works +by our artist. The best recent expert opinion has ascribed the Paris +panel in turn to Fra Diamante, Pesellino, Stefano da Zevio, and +Baldovinetti, agreeing only on the one point, that it cannot be by Fra +Filippo. As regards the "Madonna della Cintola," critical analysis of +the picture can only lead to the conviction that from beginning to end +it is inferior bottega work, with never a trace of the master's own +brush, although it may well be based on a design by Fra Filippo. It is +true, the time that elapsed between the placing of the commission for +the Sta. Margherita altarpiece and the abduction of Lucrezia was so +short, that the picture may have been only just begun and left to be +finished by some other inferior painter. On the other hand, there is no +reason for this assumption, since Filippo Lippo continued to be +connected with the convent in his capacity of chaplain. + +In the year following that memorable feast of the Sacred Girdle, +Lucrezia presented the friar with a son, who was to become known to fame +as Filippino Lippi. The house in which he was born bears a commemorative +inscription put up by the citizens of Prato in 1869: + + FILIPPO LIPPI + COMPRÒ E ABITÒ QUESTA CASA + QUANDO COLORIVA GLI STUPENDI + AFFRESCHI DEL DUOMO + E QUÌ 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 was born in 1459 (it +should read 1457) Filippino, the precursor of Raphael." + +If proof were needed that the escape of the other nuns was closely +connected with the abduction of Lucrezia, it may be found in the fact +that, when Lucrezia, for some unknown reason, found it advisable to +feign repentance and to return to the convent of Sta. Margherita at the +end of 1458, all the other fugitives followed her example. They had to +submit to the formality of twelve months' probation before they took the +veil again, in a solemn ceremony, in December 1459. Perhaps the reason +for Lucrezia's return is not altogether dissociated from the financial +troubles that beset her lover, as we have seen, about the time of +Filippino's birth. The sincerity of her renewed vow of chastity is to be +gathered not only from the fact that in 1465 she presented Fra Filippo +with another child--a daughter, who was given the name Alessandra--but +in the clear indictment set forth by an anonymous accuser in a +_tamburazione_ under date of May 8, 1461. In this _tamburazione_, or +secret accusation, addressed to the "officers of the night and +monasteries of the city of Florence," a pretty state of affairs is +revealed at the convent of Sta. Margherita, which "has been frequented +and continues to be frequented by Ser Piero d'Antonio di Ser Vannozzo," +who has "begot a male child in the said convent.... And if you wish to +find him, you will find him every day in the convent, together with +another man called frate Filippo. The latter excuses himself by saying +that he is the chaplain, whilst the former says he is the procurator. +And the said frate Filippo has had a male child by one called Spinetta. +And he has in his house the said child, who is grown up and is called +Filippino." + +The anonymous accuser, of course, was mistaken in mentioning Spinetta, +instead of her sister, as the mother of Filippino, who in his will +expressly refers to "domine Lucretie ejus delicte matris et filie olim +Francisci de Butis de Florentia," and thus removes every possible doubt +as to his parentage. The mistake finds an easy explanation in the +fact that both the sisters were for some time under Fra Filippo's +roof. + +[Illustration: 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 was +transferred to the Uffizi Gallery from the Royal store-rooms in 1776. +More, perhaps, than in any other work by the master, the whole +arrangement of the picture and the management of the planes reveal the +influence of the relief sculpture by Donatello and his followers. It is +particularly akin in spirit to the art of Rossellino. 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.] + +What was the end of Lippi's romance? There are no contemporary records +to throw clear light upon it. In Milanesi's edition of Vasari it is +stated that Pope Eugene granted the monk a special dispensation to marry +Lucrezia. If any such dispensation ever was granted, it must have been +by Pius II., and not by Eugene. Under any circumstances, it seems very +improbable that Fra Filippo, as 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 life that pleased +him." He was then a man of considerable age, near the end of his life, +and past the times for "sowing his wild oats." The papal dispensation, +if actually given, must have been sought for, in which case Filippo +would presumably have availed himself of it; or, if granted on the +Pope's own initiative, could not have been lightly set aside by a humble +member of the Church, who was largely dependent on the emoluments +accruing from his clerical appointments. The mere fact 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 affection +was not 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 certain relatives of a woman with whom he had become +entangled, may be dismissed as a fable. + +Vasari is at fault again in ascribing the commission for the decoration +of the chapel in the Church of Our Lady at Spoleto, Fra Filippo's last +important work, to the influence of Cosimo de' Medici. Fra Filippo went +to Spoleto in 1467, and Cosimo had been buried in 1464. If any member of +the Medici family had acted as mediator, it must have been Piero, 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" are, so far as one can judge in +their much restored condition, from the master's own hand. "The Death of +the Virgin" and the "Nativity," though undoubtedly designed by him, are +vastly inferior in execution, and are almost entirely the work of his +assistant, Fra Diamante, who accompanied him to Spoleto, and stayed +there several months after his master's death to complete the unfinished +work. + +Fra Filippo died on the 9th of October 1469, and left his son Filippino +under the guardianship of Fra Diamante. He was buried in the church +which had witnessed his last labours. The esteem in which he was held +by those who knew how to appreciate his art--and among them, surely, the +Medici must be placed at the top--found expression in the rivalry +between Florence and Spoleto over his remains. When Lorenzo the +Magnificent, some years after the great Carmelite's death, passed +through Spoleto as ambassador of the Florentine Commonwealth, he +demanded Fra Filippo's body from the Spoletans, for re-interment in the +Duomo of Florence. The Spoletans' reply is characteristic of the spirit +of the age: they begged to be left in possession of the remains of the +master, since they were so poorly provided with distinguished men, +whereas Florence had enough and to spare. Lorenzo must have been touched +by a request presented in such flattering terms, for he not only allowed +Filippo Lippi's body to remain in its original resting-place, but he +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 MEÆ EST GRATIA MIRA MANVS; + ARTIFICIS POTVI DIGITIS ANIMARE COLORES + 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, ANTE HVMILI PVLVERE TECTVS ERAM. + + + + +IV + + +It is not within the scope of this brief sketch of the life and art of +Fra Filippo Lippi to enter into a detailed critical discussion of his +extant works. I am not here concerned with questions of debatable +attributions, or with the share that Fra Diamante and other assistants +or pupils may have had in the execution of works that pass generally +under his name. All that can here be attempted is, to gather from the +cumulative evidence of the pictures that are unquestionably by the +master's own hand, the real significance of his great achievement and +the place he occupies in the evolution of Italian art. In the progress +of his style from the early "Nativities" to the Prato frescoes is +reflected the whole course of Early Renaissance art from Gothic +awkwardness to full freedom. Of course, Fra Filippo lived in a period +of transition and of passionate striving for expression; and to a +certain extent every artist is the product of the spirit of his time. +The tendencies which resulted in the full blossoming of Renaissance art +were at work, and would, no doubt, have conquered in the end, even if +Filippo Lippi had never existed. Nevertheless, he was one of the +greatest initiators of the Renaissance in painting; and it is his +peculiar merit that, at a period of artistic pupilage, when every +painter's training was directed towards the close assimilation of his +particular master's peculiarities, and when progress consisted largely +in the grafting of some 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 new word +to the language of art, but he was also ever ready to learn direct from +the greatest source of artistic inspiration--from Nature. + +[Illustration: 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.] + +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. We find him initiating advance in +many directions. The circular composition, which was scarcely known +before his days, is carried by him to such perfection, that it becomes +the favourite device of most later Florentine painters. He is the first +Florentine 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 was never a school of _painters_ in +the strict sense of the word, like the Venetian School. Its work was +always based on linear design, upon which colour was superadded--an +afterthought, as it were. The Florentine did not think in terms of +colour. But Fra Filippo, without abandoning the essentially Florentine +insistence on linear design, came nearer the true pictorial conception +than any of his contemporaries or successors. In his first "Nativity" at +the Florentine Academy he gives not the slightest hint of the astounding +development his art was 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. The Madonna looks as +if she were cut out and pasted on to the landscape. What a step from its +hard delineation to the _morbidezza_, and the cool shimmering tones and +all-pervading sense of atmosphere in his "Coronation of the Virgin," +which, in this respect, remains a unique achievement in Florentine art. +Both his Florentine "Nativities" are as awkward and clumsy in design as +could be. Lopped-off figures of praying monks are squeezed into the +extreme corners; the landscape background is seen in steep perspective, +almost as in 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 sets the fashion for +whole generations of artists. He is one of the first to experiment +with devices for producing the illusion of depth, either by the +interpolation, between the foreground and the background figures, of +architectural elements, as in 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 in the background, as +in the episodes from the life of St. Anne, which form the setting to the +adorable "Madonna and Child" of the Pitti _tondo_. If Michelangelo's +nude athletes in the background of his "Holy Family" _tondo_ are based +upon the similar figures in Luca Signorelli's circular "Madonna and +Child" at the Uffizi, Signorelli himself clearly derived from Filippo +Lippi the use of the background figures, one of whom turns his back to +the spectator just like the women on the extreme right of Lippi's +_tondo_, for the purpose of enhancing the sense of depth and space. +This woman with the boy clinging to the folds of her dress, as well as +the one by whom she is preceded--a rapidly moving figure, with clinging +diaphanous garments and with a basket poised on her head--will be found +again and again during the next half-century of Florentine art, just as +the Uffizi "Madonna adoring the Divine Child," who is supported by two +boy-angels, became the prototype of a long succession of similar +pictures. In the dancing "Salome" of the Prato frescoes, again, we have +the forerunner of the type of figure and movement that received its +highest development in the art of Botticelli, Filippo Lippi's greatest +pupil. + +Every phase of the triumphant progress of Renaissance art finds an echo +in Filippo Lippi's painting. Masaccio helped him to shake off Gothic +awkwardness and to achieve a certain degree of statuesque dignity. From +Gentile da Fabriano he took the delight in gay, festive attire and +sumptuous pageantry, which is clearly expressed in Sir Frederick Cook's +_tondo_, and in a modified form in the Academy "Coronation." Pier dei +Franceschi's great conquest of the realm of light and air did no more +fail to leave its mark upon the Carmelite's art, than did Paolo +Uccello's discoveries in the science of perspective. The classic thrones +of his Madonnas and the architectural backgrounds of some of his +pictures proclaim his enthusiasm for the forms and decorative details of +the Renaissance churches and palaces that were then rising, under the +influence of the new learning, in every part of Florence. Nor is it +possible to over-estimate the prodigious effect produced upon the +artist-monk's receptive mind by his study of the works of Donatello. The +Uffizi "Madonna" is in reality a relief by Donatello or one of his +followers translated into paint. Take any photographic reproduction of +that picture, and examine the head of the roguishly smiling angel, the +arms of the Infant Saviour and of the Madonna, and the way the whole +group is set against the window-frame. The illusion is extraordinary. If +it were not for the landscape seen through the opening in the background +and the transparent folds of the veil over the Virgin's head, it would +be pardonable to mistake the picture thus reduced to black and white for +a bas-relief of the Donatello School. + +Thus, with the shrewd intelligence of which his features in the +auto-portrait introduced into the "Coronation" are so eloquent, Fra +Filippo knew how to take hints and suggestions from the art of all his +great contemporaries. But he applied the same keen intelligence to the +study of the living world around him. The knowledge imparted to him by +other masters was thus allowed to filter through his personal +observation of Nature. And whilst it is possible to trace in his work +the most varied artistic influences, his own personality was never +eclipsed or obscured. Always ready to learn and to assimilate new +principles, he never stooped to the imitation of mere mannerisms. From +any such inclination he was saved by his temperament, his human +sympathy, his artistic curiosity. Only to his earliest Madonnas cling +reminiscences of Giottesque types and formulas. Even before he had +reached full maturity, the typical had become ousted by the individual. +And in this respect he was again an initiator in Florentine art. He +was one of the first painters of his school who makes us feel that +almost every character in his pictures is the result of personal +observation--is practically a portrait. He is the first true genre +painter of his school. Benozzo Gozzoli, it is true, went far beyond him +as a pictorial raconteur of Florentine fifteenth-century life; but the +origin of Benozzo's genre-like treatment of scriptural incidents, which +makes his frescoes at Pisa and San Gimignano 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. The exquisitely recorded happenings in the +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 which ruled the rendering of this +favourite subject. The earlier "Coronation of the Virgin" shows +something of the same tendency in the charming group of a female saint +and two children in front of the kneeling monk. The saint, like the +Virgin Mary herself, is just an elegantly attired Florentine lady of the +period. The very angels surrounding the throne of the Heavenly Father +are humanised, as it were, by being divested of their wings. Even in the +stately and formal "Virgin Enthroned," at the Louvre, 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 so happily describes him, a genre-painter, whose genre +was that of the soul, as that of others was of the body. But he +expressed the soul through the body. As M. André Maurel has it: "Before +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 by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London + The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance_, by Bernhard Berenson +(G. P. Putnam's Sons). + +[2] He retained this post until July 1452. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Table of Contents added by Transcriber. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Filippo Lippi, by Paul G. Konody + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41887 *** |