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From a painting by Fra Filippo Lippi |
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Bonded White Marble on Alabaster Base $235 (less Internet discount of $31) = $204 (freight $14) |
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The rich commercial life of Florence had given rise to a wealthy
leisure class before the middle of the fifteenth century. It
was a worldly class and it found delight in pretty faces. Fra
Filippo Lippi was well qualified to give pictures which these
Florentines could enjoy. He took considerable pleasure in viewing
pretty faces himself. In spite of monastic ties which he had
unfortunately contracted as a mere boy, he found himslef often
involved in amorous adventures. He was obliged to paint pictures
for altarpieces, pictures appropriate to religious settings,
but for him it was enough to paint a pretty girl for her beauty
alone. Such was the Madonna that he painted in about 1440. That
painting now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It is the
picture from which Angelica Maria was taken. It is thought that
the pretty girl was Lucrezia Buti, a beautiful nun in the convent
where he was the chaplain. Out of wedlock she bore him a son,
Filippino Lippi who also became a great painter. By dispensation
from the Pope, Lucrezia later became the wife of Filippo Lippi.
He was a masterful painter who painted with an imagination and
grace that were distinctive in the early Renaissance. The beauty
of line which he saw in the face of this charming Florentine
girl has made it an appealing subject for the statue. This item is imported from Italy. It is the same as those previously available from Eleganza in Seattle. |
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