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Madonna and Child (Lippina)
ArtistFilippo Lippi
Yearc. 1465
TypeTempera on panel
Dimensions92 cm × 63.5 cm (36 in × 25.0 in)
LocationUffizi Gallery, Florence

Madonna with Child (Italian: Madonna col Bambino e angeli or Lippina) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Filippo Lippi. The date around which it was executed is unknown, but most art historians agree that it was painted during the last part of Lippi’s carreer, between 1450 and 1465.[1][2][3][4] It is one of the few works by Lippi which was not executed with the help of his workshop and was an influential model for later depictions of the Madonna and Child, including those by Sandro Botticelli. The painting is housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy, and is therefore commonly called “The Uffizi Madonna” among art historians [3][4][5]

Background edit

Main article: Filippo Lippi

Fra Filippo was born in 1406 in Florence to a poor family where his father was a butcher. He entered a monastery with his brother at an early age. Later in his life, he was moved to a monastery in Prato, and here fell in love with a nun, Lucrezia Buti, with whom he had two children. He encountered more trouble when his patrons claimed that Fra Filippo did not fulfill his contracts. Fra Filippo’s main patrons were the Medici family.[1]

History edit

The commission and the exact execution date of the painting are unknown. In 1457, Giovanni de’ Medici wished to gift a panel to the King of Naples and commissioned fra Filippo to paint it. Fra Filippo, who was working in Prato at that time, decided to temporarily return to his residence in Florence to work on this project. Fra Filippo wrote letters to Giovanni that show that the painter abandoned the project because of a lack of funding. Although art historian Ulmann belives that Fra Filippo presented the Uffizi Madonna to Giovanni to thank him for acting as an intermediary between him and the King of Naples, Edward C. Strutt states that this belief was wrong. However, he also states that the Uffizi Madonna was in all probability executed during Fra Filippo’s stay in Florence.

In this painting, Fra Filippo uses certain techniques that make it clear that he executed this painting long after he had begun working at the Duomo di Prato. For example, his “frank, effective execution […] revelas a great familiarity with the technique of fresco painting”, which he acquired by working at the Duomo. [3] The Madonna is traditionally identified with Lucrezia Buti, as for most of Fra Filippo's Madonnas.[1] [5] [6]

The unusual size is perhaps connected to a personal event, such as the birth of his son, Filippino (1457): however, if Filippino was chosen as model for the angel in the foreground, the panel could be from a date as late as around 1465.

An 18th-century inscription in the rear of the panel testifies the presence of the painting in the Medici Villa del Poggio Imperiale at the time. On 13 May 1796 it entered the Gran Ducal collections in Florence, which formed the base of the future Uffizi museum.[3]

Description edit

External videos
 
  Fra Filippo Lippi, Smarthistory[7]

The Uffizi Madonna is associated with the taste of the new age, as the Madonna is “lovelier and more fashionable than any of Filippo’s earlier Madonnas”[1]. The group of Madonna and Child is, unusually for the period, placed in front of an open window beyond which is a landscape inspired to Flemish painting. The Madonna sits on a chair, at the window of a house located on a hilltop, which offers a view of an elaborate landscape of “plains, distant mountains, a city and a bay”. Her eyes are pointed down and her hands are folded in prayers before the Divine Child, who is held up to her by two angels. She is wearing an elaborate coiffure with a soft veil and pearls: this element, along with her costume, represents the elegance of the mid-400s and was re-used in numerous late 15th century works in Florence [1]. Furthermore, as in many Renaissance paintings, the Madonna’s hair is shaved farther back than we are used to because, “the forehead [was] an object of special beauty” that resembled “a glowing, beautifully set pearl”.[1] This Madonna resembles other Madonnas from the same artist. It is closely related to the Pitti tondo Madonna, however, the Uffizi Madonna lacks “the pathetic girlish loveliness” of the Pitti tondo and rather has “a more womanly and mature type of beauty”. The angel on the right is one of the most curious parts of the painting: the angel is looking at the viewer with a “roguish smile, more expressive of mischief than of seraphic perfection”.[3] He is forgetting is pose and does not seem to be playing his part, rather he seems to be the real child[6].

Technique edit

The large window placed behind the Madonna helps reducing the gap between the viewer and the figures, which are also very close to the plane to assist in making the viewer feel part of the painting.[2] Fra Filippo’s fresco background from his time in Prato influences this painting from the coloring and the inattention to details. The colors are applied in bold strokes, that almost look independent from each other, which shows that Fra Filippo was “taking very little trouble to ensure harmonious blending of the various tints”, which is a characteristics of frescoes. The composition of the painting is of pyramidal shape, and the foreground and background are arranged in a way that suggest that Fra Filippo was also influenced by the mehtods of Donatello’s school.[3] From his earlier paintings, it is evident that Fra Filippo was influenced by Masaccio.[8] However, Masaccio’s chiaroscuro, has disappeared in the Uffizi Madonna, and figures are now illuminated by a soft glow with harsh shadows. This greatly reduces the sense of volume that was peculiar in Fra Filippo’s earlier paintings[1].

Symbolism edit

This painting contains religious symbols: outside the window, we can see rocks and seashore, which are recurrent themes in Florentine Renaissance paintings. The seashore probably alludes to the Virgin Mary’s title “star of the sea and port of our salvation”, and the rocks allude to the prophecy that “prophet Daniel, who saw a stone, cut out without hands, which fell from a mountain, smashed the idol with the feet of clay, and then grew to become a mountain which filled the entire earth”.[1]

Interpretation edit

Paying close attention to the angel on the right, art historian Marylin Lavin has argued that the Uffizi Madonna “should be understood as a representation of the marriage of Christ and the Virgin Mary”. According to Barnaby Nygren, the fact that the Madonna is not holding the child, but rather he is being presented to her argues Lavin’s interpretation. However, Bernard argues that “the relationship between bride and groom is not as the Virgin Mary and Christ but rather as the individual devout soul and God”.[4] Finally, Jonathan Jones argues that the Madonna is “one of the most beautiful paintings of the Renaissance” and an exemplification of the humanizing of religion that dates back to Giotto. According to him, Fra Filippo with this painting makes the relation between the Madonna and the child that of a real mother and baby.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Hartt, Fredrick. History of Italian Renaissance Art. Englewood Cliffs, N.J, and New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc. and Harry N. Abram, Inc.
  2. ^ a b Nygren, Barnaby. "Una cosa che non e': Perspective and Humour in the Paintings of Flippo Lippi". Oxford Art.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Strutt, Edward (1901). Fra Filippo Lippi. London: George Bell and Sons.
  4. ^ a b c Nygren, Barnaby (Fall2008). "A FRIEND OF THE GROOM OR A LOVER OF THE BRIDE?: THE CUCKOLDING ANGEL IN FILIPPO LIPPI'S "UFFIZI MADONNA"". Notes in the History of Art. 28 (1). Retrieved 31-10-2015. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b [5)http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/madonna-with-child-and-two-angels-by-filippo-lippi/ 5)http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/madonna-with-child-and-two-angels-by-filippo-lippi/]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ a b c Jones, Jonathan. [6) http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/feb/14/art "Madonna With Child and Two Angles, Filippo Lippi"]. The Guardian. Retrieved 30-10-2015. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); horizontal tab character in |url= at position 3 (help)
  7. ^ "Fra Filippo Lippi". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  8. ^ Berenson, Bernard (1959). The Italian Painters of the Renaissance. Cromwell Place, London: The Phaidon Press.

Sources edit

  • Fossi, Gloria (2004). Uffizi. Florence: Giunti.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Lippina.

Category:Paintings by Filippo Lippi Category:1460s paintings Category:Collections of the Uffizi Category:Paintings of the Madonna and Child

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