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diff --git a/41887-8.txt b/41887-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e7be5e7..0000000 --- a/41887-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1491 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Filippo Lippi, by Paul G. Konody - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Filippo Lippi - -Author: Paul G. Konody - -Editor: T. Leman Hare - -Release Date: January 20, 2013 [EBook #41887] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FILIPPO LIPPI *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - 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. 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