Fra. Lippo Lippi
An orphan of Florence, Filippo Lippi (c. 1406-1469) entered the Carmelite monastery of Sta. Maria del Carmine c. 1420. He was familiar with the frescoes by Masaccio in the monastery's Brancacci chapel, and his early work shows, in its use of perspective, the influence of this painter. Lippi did some work at the cloister before leaving the monastery in 1432. Vasari, a Renaissance painter whose lives of his predecessors are considered unreliable, says that the young monk was kidnapped by Moors, who released him after he painted a portrait of the man to whom he had been a slave. After a brief period in Padua, Lippi returned to Florence in 1437, which is also the year of his earliest documented painting. The Medici family became his patron. His work began to show greater use of perspective and more harmony of color and form. Lippi was named rector of San Quirico at Legnaia in 1442. Fourteen years later, as he worked on a commission at Sta. Margherita in Prato, he eloped with a nun, Lucrezia Buti. Pius II, possibly through the influence of the Medici, released them from their vows; their son, Filippino, was around four at the time. Filippo died before he finished his work at the Cathedral of Spoleto, the home, some say, of his finest work.
Karen Rae Keck
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