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Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels by Filippo Lippi

Filippo Lippi · 1440-01-01

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This is Filippo Lippi's "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels," painted around 1440 in tempera. It hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. What most captions won't tell you is that the serene face of the Madonna belongs to a young nun who caused one of the greatest scandals of the early Renaissance.

Lippi was a Carmelite friar, and Lucrezia Butzi was a novice in the convent of Santa Margherita in Prato, where he served as chaplain. He asked the nuns to let him paint Lucrezia as the Virgin Mary. The two fell deeply in love during those sittings, and in 1456 they escaped together during a religious procession.

The scandal was enormous. Lippi was arrested for sacrilege, and the couple's status as a fugitive friar and a runaway nun made them outcasts. Only the direct intervention of Cosimo de' Medici with Pope Pius II resolved the crisis. The Pope eventually released them both from their monastic vows so they could marry legally.

The infant Christ in this painting looks out at us while holding a book. He is Logos, the divine Word made flesh. And in a deeply human twist, he is also a portrait of the artist's own son, Filippino, who would become a celebrated master in his own right, taught by his father in the Lippi workshop.

#arthistory #filippolippi #renaissance

Details

Lippi's hallmark oval face with downcast eyes; the slight tilt toward the Child creates the painting's emotional fulcrum and is the first place a viewer's eye lands.
Lippi's hallmark oval face with downcast eyes; the slight tilt toward the Child creates the painting's emotional fulcrum and is the first place a viewer's eye lands.
The infant turns outward to engage the viewer directly, breaking the private mother-child moment and implicating the audience in the devotional address.
The infant turns outward to engage the viewer directly, breaking the private mother-child moment and implicating the audience in the devotional address.
Ultramarine blue of this saturation was more expensive than gold in 1440; the sheer volume of fabric signals the patron's wealth as much as Mary's queenly status.
Ultramarine blue of this saturation was more expensive than gold in 1440; the sheer volume of fabric signals the patron's wealth as much as Mary's queenly status.
The halo is rendered as a delicate foreshortened disc rather than a flat plate , an Early Renaissance spatial experiment worth highlighting as a technique passage.
The halo is rendered as a delicate foreshortened disc rather than a flat plate , an Early Renaissance spatial experiment worth highlighting as a technique passage.
Lippi's tempera allows crisp contour on the fingers; the gentle grip communicates maternal tenderness without sentimentality.
Lippi's tempera allows crisp contour on the fingers; the gentle grip communicates maternal tenderness without sentimentality.
Transcript

Filippo Lippi was a Renaissance master and a Carmelite friar. His Madonna was a young nun named Lucrezia Buti. Look at this face. It is a real woman, not an ideal. He was her convent's chaplain. They fell in love and they ran away together. The scandal rocked Florence. Cosimo de' Medici had to plead with the Pope for their release from their vows. Their son, Filippino, grew up to be a great painter too, taught by his father. The little boy in this painting, holding the book of wisdom, is their love made flesh.