Madonna and Child (Filippo Lippi)

Madonna and Child (Lippina)
Artist Filippo Lippi
Year c. 1465
Type Tempera on panel
Dimensions 92 cm × 63.5 cm (36 in × 25.0 in)
Location Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Madonna with Child (Italian: Madonna col Bambino e angeli or Lippina) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Filippo Lippi, executed around 1465. 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 it housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy,

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History

The commission and the exact execution date of the painting are unknown. The Madonna is traditionally identified with Lucrezia Buti (a nun and a lover of Lippi), thus ascribing the work to the period in which Lippi stayed at Prato (1452 - 1466). 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.

A 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.

Description

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, and has an elaborate hairdo with a soft veil and pearls: this element was re-used in numerous late 15th century works in Florence, including the slightly later Portrait of a Young Woman by Andrea della Robbia in Museo del Bargello.

Unlike previous similar works, the Child is held not by the Madonna, but by two angels, one of which, in the foreground, smiles towards the observer.

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