LIPPI, lip'pe, Fitipeo. The name of two prominent Florentine painters of the early Re naissance.—Fra FILIPPO (c.1406-69), the father, was the son of a butcher of Florence. At the death of his parents, when only eight years old, he was placed in the Carmelite convent at Flor ence, and in 1421 he joined the Order. Vasari's story of his life is largely fabulous. It is un likely that he was taken a prisoner by the Moors and transported to Barbary-. He left the convent in 1431, with the consent of his superior. He was employed in various paintings by Cosimo de' Medici. In 1456 he was appointed chaplain of the nunnery at Prato, whence he eloped with a nun. the beautiful Lucrezia Buti. They were joined by Lucrezia's sister Spinetta, but the two nuns were taken hack to the convent in 1458, only to escape again to Filippo. Finally, at the intereission of Cosimo de' Medici, the Pope re leased Filippo and Lucrezia from their vows, and they were married. Filippo died at Spoleto, October 9, 1469.
Flu Filippo was a pupil of Masaccio, but his art was also influenced by the idealism of Frit Angelico. Ilis works are warm and transparent in color, and are full of human sympathy. lie was the first to paint a class of pictures char acteristic of the Florentine school, in which the Virgin is portrayed as a Florentine mother, and maternal love and childlike innocence are the themes represented. His greatest surviving works are the frescoes in the Cathedral of Prado (1452-64), which are worthy of being conquired with those of Alasaccio in the Brancacci Chapel. They represent scenes from the lives of John the Baptist and Saint Stephen. Although he is inferior to Masaccio in composition and simplic ity, and though he places too much emphasis on subsidiary figures, Fra Filippo excels in indi vidual figures and in the delineation of costume. The frescoes in the apse of the Cathedral of Spoleto, completed after his death by Fra Dia mante, his pupil, are charming decorations.
Filippo shows to best advantage in his easel pictures. Among the very best of these is the famous "Coronation of the Virgin," painted in 1441 for the nuns of San Ambrogio, now in the Florentine Academy. The Academy also has a tine "Madonna with Saints." as has the Louvre; there are charming "Holy Families" in the Ber lin Museum, the galleries of .7%lunich and l'rato, the Pit ti Palace, Florence. and especially in the Uffizi. In the National Gallery. London. are the "Vision of Saint Bernard" (1445) and :III "An nunciation ;" in the Berlin Museum, the "Virgin Adoring the Infant," and "Mary, Alother of Mercies," in which the Virgin is represented with large numbers of kneeling worshipers under her wide-spreading mantle, on either side. Fra Filip
po was the head of an important school, and among his pupils were Sandro Bottieelli, Benozzo Gozzoli, and his son.
Fader° LIPPI, the younger, called Filippino Lippi (c.1457-1504). He was a son of Fra Filip po and Lucrezia Buti. and was born at Prato. lie acquired the rudiments of art from his father, and after the latter's death he was apprenticed to Sandro Botticelli. One of his earliest and great est works was the completion of the frescoes of Masaccio in the Branca•ei Chapel (1180-85). Ile executed the task in a masterly manner. adapt ing his style to that of Masaccio, although re taming his individuality. The greater part of "Saints Peter and Paul liaising the Dead Youth," which Masaccio bad begun, is by him, and he also painted the frescoes "Peter and Paul Before Nero," and the "Crucifixion of Saint Peter." While these works are not as simple m strong as those of Nlasaceio. they are nevertheless fine and dignified in composition. and more grace ful.
Filippino's earliest paintings show the iniln enee of his father. This is especially the case in the "Vision of Saint Bernard." in the Badia at Florence, executed in tempera. but tine in color as an oil painting, and delightful in sentiment. Ills other works of the early period Melo& the "Virgin Enthroned" (14$6), in the 1'11171, suggest ing Botticelli. and a fine "Madonna" in Santo Spiritus Florence; several madonnas and a fine "Crucifixion" in the Berlin Museum. To his late period, after the Roman visit, belong "Christ Appearing to the Virgin," Munich Pinakotbek; "Adoration of the Kings" (1496), Uffizi; "Meet ing of Joachim and Anna," Gallery of Copen hagen; and especially the "Marriage of Saint Catharine," an altarpiece in San Domenico, Bologna. In 1488 Filippino was commissioned to execute in the Church of Santa Maria supra Minerva, Rome, a cycle of frescoes illustrating the dogmas of the Order of Saint Dominic, which he exeeuted with masterly skill. He was very much impressed by the monuments of Rome, as is especially shown in his use of Renaissance decora tion in later works. In 1502 he completed the frescoes of the Strozzi Chapel, in Florence, with subjects from the history of Saints Philip and John. He died April 18, 1504, at Florence.