Italian Early Renaissance Painter, ca.1406-1469 Filippo Lippi was born in Florence. He took his vows in 1421 in the monastery S. Maria del Carmine, where Masaccio frescoed the Brancacci Chapel in the church (1426-1427). By 1430 Lippi is mentioned in church documents as "painter." Masaccio's influence, as well as Donatello's, can be seen in Lippi's early works, such as the Tarquinia Madonna of 1437 (National Gallery, Rome) and the Annunciation (S. Lorenzo, Florence) and Barbadori Altar (Louvre, Paris), both begun in 1437/1438. However, the severity of Masaccio and Donatello was mitigated by Lippi, who was instrumental in salvaging from the Gothic past the lyrical expressiveness of a linear mode which Masaccio had all but given up for modeling in chiaroscuro. Toward the middle of the 15th century Lippi's pictures became more finely articulated and his surface design more complex. It is probable that he had a large workshop, and the hand of assistants may be observed in the important fresco decoration started in 1452 in the choir chapel of the Prato Cathedral. After delays and strong protests this commission was finally completed in 1466. The cycle, a highly important monument of Early Renaissance painting, demonstrates Lippi's increasingly more mature style, revealing him to be witty, original, and well versed in all the artistic accomplishments of his time, to which he himself contributed. Through linear perspective Lippi was able to render a convincing illusion of recession and plausible three-dimensional figures. He knew how to express emotions, and he was a keen observer of nature. Lippi painted astonishing portrait likenesses and combined figures and space with an animated surface rhythm, the best example of which can be seen in the Feast of Herod, one of the last scenes in the Prato cycle. During his stay at Prato he was the cause of a scandal (later resolved by papal indulgence): he ran off with a nun, Lucrezia Buti, who bore him two children, one of whom, Filippino Lippi (ca. 1457-1504), was also a painter. In the Prato frescoes as well as in his contemporary panel pictures, such as the Madonna with Two Angels (Uffizi Gallery, Florence), or in the exquisite tondo of the Madonna (Pitti Palace, Florence), Filippo Lippi anticipated later developments in 15th-century painting. In these pictures are to be found the sources of Sandro Botticelli, Lippi's most illustrious pupil. Lippi's innovations extended also to iconography. In his quest for realism he introduced the "bourgeoise" Madonna: the type of contemporary Florentine lady elegantly dressed in the fashion of the time with the hair on her forehead plucked to stress the height of it. He also introduced the subject of the Madonna adoring the Child in the woods (Museum of Berlin, and Uffizi, Florence).   Related Paintings of LIPPI, Fra Filippo :. | Disputation in the Synagogue (detail) sg | Circumcision GGH | Disputation in the Synagogue (detail) dg | King Midas Judging the Musical Contest between Apollo and Pan | Madonna and Child eh |
Related Artists:
Hyppolyte Victor Sebron
1801-1897
BARRA, Didier
French painter (b. 1590, Metz, d. 1644, Napoli French painter, active in Italy. He was for a long time confused with FRAN?OIS DE NOM?, and the work of both artists was thought to be by a Mons? Desiderio, a 'highly praised painter of perspectives and city scenes' (de Dominici). It is now generally accepted that Mons? Desiderio was the pseudonym of Didier Barra (1982 exh. cat.), son of Cl?ment Barra. Didier Barra left Metz probably c. 1608, when his name appeared for the last time in the city archives. From c. 1630 he was active in Naples, where he came into contact with landscape and townscape painters from northern Europe. De Dominici wrote that he was associated with Belisario Corenzio. The point of departure in reconstructing Barra's oeuvre is the Panoramic View of Naples (Naples, Mus. N. S Martino), which is signed and dated Desiderius Barra ex civitate Methensi in Lotharingia, F. 1647. The picture is a precise and panoramic view of Naples from the sea, from a single viewpoint, enriched by lively brushwork and with spirited scenes of shipping in the foreground. Its topographical precision suggests that Barra was influenced by the engravings of large views of Naples made by Alessandro Baratta ( fl 1629-30), and he may himself have trained as a cartographer. On the basis of this picture, several views of Naples have been attributed to Barra.
Jean antoine Watteau
French Rococo Era Painter, 1684-1721 He is best known for his invention of a new genre, the f?te galante, a small easel painting in which elegant people are depicted in conversation or music-making in a secluded parkland setting (see under F?TE CHAMP?TRE). His particular originality lies in the generally restrained nature of the amorous exchanges of his characters, which are conveyed as much by glance as by gesture, and in his mingling of figures in contemporary dress with others in theatrical costume