Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Today we present a particular Masperpiece, a painting attributed in 1930 to one of the greatest artists of the early Renaissance: Fra Filippo Lippi, he is a fifteenth-century painter and “master of fresco technique”

Filippo Lippi

fra Filippo Lippi
Fra Filippo di Tommaso Lippi (Firenze, 23 giugno 1406 – Spoleto, 9 ottobre 1469)

He was, together with Beato Angelico and Domenico Veneziano, the main painter in Florence, part of the next generation after Masaccio. On June 8, 1421, Philip took the vows, keeping the same baptismal name. In 1424 he witnessed the decoration by Masolino da Panicale and Masaccio on the Brancacci chapel, which played a fundamental role in his artistic vocation. Other models on which the boy was formed were the new sculptures by Donatello, Luca della Robbia, Nanni di Banco and Brunelleschi. Perhaps in 1432 he left the convent of Florence for Padua. Various sources mention a series of works for Padua, including, in collaboration with Ansuino da Forlì, the frescoes of the Podestà chapel, but all his activity of this period has been lost. In this period Lippi also came in contact with Flemish painting and the Venetian color. Of these years it is a curious episode told by Vasari:

“E trovandosi nella Marca d’Ancona, diportandosi un giorno con certi amici suoi in una barchetta per mare, furono tutti insieme dalle fuste de’ Mori, che per quei luoghi scorrevano, presi e menati in Barberia, essendo ciascuno di loro condotto alla catena in servitù e tenuto schiavo, dove stette con molto disagio per XVIII mesi. Ma advenne un giorno, che avendo egli molto in pratica il padrone, gli venne commodità e capriccio di dipignerlo; per il che preso un carbone spento del fuoco, con quello tutto intero lo ritrasse co’ suoi abiti indosso alla moresca, in un muro bianco. Fu da gli altri schiavi detto questo al padrone, perché a tutti un miracolo pareva, non s’usando il disegno né la pittura in quelle parti, e ciò fu cagione di dargli premio e di liberarlo da la catena dove per tanto tempo era stato tenuto”.

After leaving Padua, he returned to Florence where, in 1437, he opened his own shop . In 1438 he is quoted in a letter by Domenico Veneziano to Piero de ‘Medici in which Filippo Lippi is treated as Beato Angelico as the best artist active in the city. From 1439 it is probable that Philip no longer lived in the convent but had home on his own and, in that same year, Lippi wrote to Piero de ‘Medici trying hard to exchange his still unfinished painting with food and clothes (the painting is probably the penitent Saint Jerome of the Altenburg museum).

From 1452 to 1465 he worked in Prato, under the protection of the Medici, realizing the frescoes of the Maggiore chapel in Santo Stefano. In this period he paints the most important work of his career: the Madonna with the child and angels known by all as “Lippina”. The unusual dimensions suggested that it was a celebration for a private and personal occasion of the artist, such as the birth of his son Filippino (1457). An eighteenth-century inscription on the back of the table testifies to the presence of the painting, at that time, in the villa of Poggio Imperiale, owned by the Medici. May 13, 1796 is registered at the entrance to the Galleria Granducale, the original nucleus of the Uffizi.

"Lippina"
“Lippina”, 1465, Florence, Uffizi Gallery

In the last years of his life, he has worked in Spoleto painting the frescoes with the Stories of the Virgin for the Duomo’s gallery. Philip died between 8 and 10 October 1469 and was buried in the Cathedral of Spoleto. His son Filippino, who had already started his artistic career, designed the marble tomb with a bust.

The Masterpiece

We are pleased to present the “Madonna col Bambino” by Filippo Lippi, which has just been included in the catalog of limited editions of the Bottega Tifernate.

An elegant image, an icon of Renaissance art and references to the Gothic style: around the middle of the fifteenth century, on a panel of about 80 x 50 cm, and for a still unknown patronage, Filippo Lippi designed another classic of his painting time with clear references to medieval iconography: the circular and flat haloes and the large golden cloth stretched behind the two protagonists are symbolic references to the typical gold iconography of the medieval Madonna and Child.

To date the emotional impact that is unleashed at the sight of such a harmonious work is still alive. The delicacy, the sweetness, the melancholy, the affection of this Madonna and of this Child, are a source of enchantment.

An unique Limited Edition, creation.

To allow you to got such timeless beauty, made in only 499 copies worldwide, the Bottega Tifernate has decided to recreate it with the maximum care and the highest fidelity available, in oil on canvas, size 40×30 cm,( 55×45 cm external frame). An elegant work, with a frame in wood gilded in gold leaf gouache, arouses in the viewer an emotional pathos that does not leave indifferent.

Filippo Lippi, Madonna col bambino, pictografia ad olio su tavola con applicazioni in foglia oro

The creation is accompanied by a folder with the Certificate of Authenticity and the explanation of the Work. The Certificate is compiled with the name and surname of the owner who, due to the univocal numbering, helps to define the exact possessor of it.

Newsletter

Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter e hai 10 € di sconto sul tuo primo ordine.
E poi potrai leggere le novità e le storie sul mondo Bottega Tifernate.
Un mondo di arte…

Bottega Tifernate sostiene la candidatura dell’Alta Valle del Tevere a Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2026

Progetto di internazionalizzazione “Promozione digitale sui mercati esteri” realizzato con il contributo POR FESR 2014 – 2020 Az. 3.3.1. Avviso pubblico voucher 2020

Copyright © 2023 Bottega Artigiana Tifernate S.n.c. – C.F. e P. I. 02126900543
Privacy PolicyCookie Policy | Customized by Microweb