Filippino Lippi was born, probably in 1457, at
Prato,
Tuscany, the illegitimate son to
Lucrezia Buti and the painter
Fra Filippo Lippi. The couple had both broken vows of celibacy, and though after Filippino's birth they received a
papal dispensation to marry (arranged by
Lorenzo di Medici),
Vasari says that they never did. Filippino's sister Alessandra was born in 1465. Filippino first trained under his father in his workshop. They moved to
Spoleto, where Filippino served as workshop assistant during the construction of
Spoleto Cathedral. When his father died in 1469, Filippino was aged twelve and was among the assistants to his father who completed the
frescoes with
Storie della Vergine ("
Life of the Virgin") in the cathedral. Filippino later completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of
Botticelli, who had been a pupil of Filippino's father. In the 1472 records of the
Painters' guild it is noted that Botticelli had only Filippino Lippi as an assistant, and that he was living in his master's house. The two artists often worked together on the same project. The shared works include the panels belonging to a later dismantled pair of
cassoni, the panels being now divided among the
Louvre, the
National Gallery of Canada, the
Musée Condé in Chantilly, and the Galleria Pallavicini in Rome. Works by Botticelli and Filippino from these years include many paintings of the
Madonna and Child which are often difficult to distinguish from one another. , Bologna, Italy Filippino's early solo works greatly resemble those of Botticelli, but perhaps with less sensitivity and subtlety. The first ones (dating from 1475 onward) were attributed to an anonymous "
Amico di Sandro" (i.e. "Friend of Botticelli"), a term introduced by
Bernard Berenson in 1899, though by 30 years later Berenson's "lists" ascribed most of them to Lippi. Eventually Lippi's style evolved, becoming more personal and effective during the period 1480–1485. Works of this early period include: the
Madonnas of Berlin, London, and Washington, D.C., the
Journeys of Tobia of the
Galleria Sabauda, Turin, the
Madonna of the Sea of the
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, and the
Histories of Ester. Together with
Perugino (another pupil of his father),
Ghirlandaio, and Botticelli, Filippino Lippi worked on the decoration of
Lorenzo de' Medici's villa at Spedaletto. On 31 December 1482, he was commissioned to decorate a wall of the Sala dell'Udienza of the
Palazzo Vecchio in
Florence, a work never begun. Soon after, probably in 1483–84, he was called to complete
Masaccio's decoration of the
Brancacci Chapel in the
Santa Maria del Carmine di Firenze, that had been left unfinished when the artist died in 1428. There Filippino painted
Stories of Saint Peter, in the following frescoes:
Quarrel with Simon Magus in face of Nero,
Resurrection of the Son of Teophilus,
Saint Peter Jailed,
Liberation, and
Crucifixion of Saint Peter. Filippino's self-portrait at age twenty-five is at the right hand portion of the central panel, Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St. Peter (
see detail at info box). Filippino Lippi's work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the
Palazzo Vecchio, was completed on 20 February 1486. It is now in the
Uffizi Gallery. At about this time, Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with the
Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard, which is now in the
Badia Fiorentina, Florence. This is Filippino Lippi's most popular painting: a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a phantasmagorical scenario of rocks and almost anthropomorphic trunks. The work is dated to 1485–1487. Later, Filippino worked for Tanai de' Nerli in Florence's
Santo Spirito church. On 21 April 1487,
Filippo Strozzi asked him to decorate the Strozzi family chapel in
Santa Maria Novella with
Stories of St. John Evangelist and St. Philip. He worked on this commission on and off over a long time. He only completed it in 1503, after Strozzi's death. The windows with musical themes, in the same chapel, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. These paintings have been considered as influenced by the political and religious crisis in Florence at the time: the theme of the fresco, the clash between
Christianity and
Paganism, was hotly debated during those years and in connection with the friar
Girolamo Savonarola. Filippino depicted his characters in a landscape that recreated the
ancient world in its finest details, showing the influence of the
Grottesco style he had seen during his time in
Rome. He created an "animated", mysterious, fantastic, but disquieting style, showing the unreality of nightmares. Thus, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners with grim faces, who raged against the
Saints. In the scene of
St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple, the statue of the
pagan deity is represented as a living figure challenging the Christian saint. In 1488, now in his early thirties, Lippi went to
Rome, where
Lorenzo de' Medici had advised Cardinal
Oliviero Carafa to entrust him with the decoration of the
family chapel in
Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The frescoes he produced there show a new inspiration, different from his earlier works, but confirm Lippi's continued research on the themes of the classical era. He completed the series by 1493. (1496) tempera grassa on wood,
Uffizi, Florence, Italy Lippi returned to Florence some time between 1491 and 1494. Works of this period include:
Apparition of Christ to the Virgin (, now in
Munich),
Adoration of the Magi (1496, for the church of San Donato in Scopeto, now in the
Uffizi),
Sacrifice of Laocoön (end of the century, for the villa of
Lorenzo de' Medici at Poggio a Caiano),
St. John Baptist and Maddalena (Valori Chapel in San Procolo, Florence, inspired by the work of
Luca Signorelli). In addition Filippino worked away from his home town, at the
Certosa di Pavia, a
Carthusian monastery or Charterhouse located outside
Pavia, and also in
Prato, where, in 1503, he completed the
Tabernacle of the Christmas Song, now in the City Museum. In 1501 Lippi painted the
Mystic Wedding of St. Catherine for the
Basilica of San Domenico in
Bologna. Lippi's final work was the
Deposition for the
Santissima Annunziata church in Florence, a work which was left unfinished at his death. Filippino Lippi died on 18 April 1504, aged 47. It is a sign of his fame and reputation that on the day of his burial all the workshops of the city closed in his honor. == Modern reception ==