Filippo Lippi: The Complete Story
A Carmelite friar is sent to paint the nuns of a convent in Prato, and instead he falls for one of them, Lucrezia Buti, and carries her off. It sounds like a scandal invented for a novel. It is the life of Filippo Lippi, one of the most gifted, and least monkish, painters of the early Renaissance.
Lippi painted Madonnas of unusual sweetness and grace, taught the young Botticelli, and lived a life that gripped Florence and gave Vasari some of his juiciest pages.
Sweetness in tempera
Lippi painted tender, human Madonnas and saints, with gentle faces and flowing drapery, softer and warmer than the stern holy images that came before.
He worked in tempera painting, building luminous, delicate panels that helped move the early Renaissance toward real feeling.
The friar and the nun
Commissioned to paint at a convent, Lippi fell in love with a young nun named Lucrezia Buti and took her away with him, a scandal that gripped Florence.
According to Vasari, the Medici themselves intervened to smooth things over and release the pair from their vows. Their son, Filippino Lippi, grew up to become a fine painter too.
The teacher of Botticelli
Lippi ran a busy workshop, and his most famous pupil was the young Sandro Botticelli, who took his master tender line and grace and carried them to new heights.
You can trace a clear thread from Lippi gentle Madonnas to the flowing beauty of the next Florentine generation. It is early Renaissance art learning how to be human.
A poison and a Medici tomb
Lippi died in Spoleto in 1469 while painting frescoes in the cathedral. Vasari spread a juicy rumour that he was poisoned by the relatives of a woman he had pursued, though there is no proof and it fits his legend a little too neatly.
What is certain is the honour that followed. Lorenzo de Medici had a marble tomb built for him in Spoleto Cathedral, with an epitaph by the poet Poliziano. A runaway friar was buried like a prince of art.
Filippo Lippi, common questions
What is he known for?
Tender, graceful Madonnas and for being the teacher of Botticelli.
Did he really run off with a nun?
Yes, with Lucrezia Buti; the Medici reportedly helped free them from their vows.
Was his son a painter?
Yes, Filippino Lippi became a noted painter in his own right.
When did he die?
In 1469, in Spoleto.
Why his Madonnas still charm
Lippi proved that holy painting could be warm and human without losing its grace, and he passed that gift straight to Botticelli. His life was a scandal and his art a tenderness, and somehow the two together feel entirely of the Renaissance.
The model for many of his sweetest Madonnas is thought to have been Lucrezia herself, the nun he loved, so the woman at the centre of his scandal may also be the face of his most sacred paintings. His art helped turn the stiff holy icon into a living, breathing person, and through Botticelli that warmth ran on into the very heart of the Florentine Renaissance. The runaway friar, in the end, gave the Renaissance one of its tenderest hands.