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    MASTERPIECES
    IN COLOUR
    EDITED BY
    T. LEMAN HARE

    FRA FILIPPO LIPPI

    (1406-1469)




"MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR" SERIES


    ARTIST.                 AUTHOR.

    BELLINI.                GEORGE HAY.
    BOTTICELLI.             HENRY B. BINNS.
    BOUCHER.                C. HALDANE MACFALL.
    BURNE-JONES.            A. LYS BALDRY.
    CARLO DOLCI.            GEORGE HAY.
    CHARDIN.                PAUL G. KONODY.
    CONSTABLE.              C. LEWIS HIND.
    COROT.                  SIDNEY ALLNUTT.
    DA VINCI.               M. W. BROCKWELL.
    DELACROIX.              PAUL G. KONODY.
    DUeRER.                  H. E. A. FURST.
    FRA ANGELICO.           JAMES MASON.
    FRA FILIPPO LIPPI.      PAUL G. KONODY.
    FRAGONARD.              C. HALDANE MACFALL.
    FRANZ HALS.             EDGCUMBE STALEY.
    GAINSBOROUGH.           MAX ROTHSCHILD.
    GREUZE.                 ALYS EYRE MACKLIN.
    HOGARTH.                C. LEWIS HIND.
    HOLBEIN.                S. L. BENSUSAN.
    HOLMAN HUNT.            MARY E. COLERIDGE.
    INGRES.                 A. J. FINBERG.
    LAWRENCE.               S. L. BENSUSAN.
    LE BRUN (VIGEE).        C. HALDANE MACFALL.
    LEIGHTON.               A. LYS BALDRY.
    LUINI.                  JAMES MASON.
    MANTEGNA.               MRS. ARTHUR BELL.
    MEMLINC.                W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE.
    MILLAIS.                A. LYS BALDRY.
    MILLET.                 PERCY M. TURNER.
    MURILLO.                S. L. BENSUSAN.
    PERUGINO.               SELWYN BRINTON.
    RAEBURN.                JAMES L. CAW.
    RAPHAEL.                PAUL G. KONODY.
    REMBRANDT.              JOSEF ISRAELS.
    REYNOLDS.               S. L. BENSUSAN.
    ROMNEY.                 C. LEWIS HIND.
    ROSSETTI.               LUCIEN PISSARRO.
    RUBENS.                 S. L. BENSUSAN.
    SARGENT.                T. MARTIN WOOD.
    TINTORETTO.             S. L. BENSUSAN.
    TITIAN.                 S. L. BENSUSAN.
    TURNER.                 C. LEWIS HIND.
    VAN DYCK.               PERCY M. TURNER.
    VELAZQUEZ.              S. L. BENSUSAN.
    WATTEAU.                C. LEWIS HIND.
    WATTS.                  W. LOFTUS HARE.
    WHISTLER.               T. MARTIN WOOD.

    _Others in Preparation._


[Illustration: PLATE I.--THE VIRGIN ADORING THE INFANT SAVIOUR

(In the Accademia, Florence)

In this earliest known picture by Filippo Lippi, the painter is still
entirely under the influence of his youthful training. It is just like
an illuminated miniature on a large scale, and is lacking in unity of
design or pictorial vision. Note the way in which the figure of the
Madonna is detached from the background, without having any real plastic
life; and how awkwardly the monk is placed in the corner. The rocky
landscape, with its steep perspective, is still quite in the spirit of
the early primitives, although certain realistic details, like the
cut-down tree-stump behind the Virgin, and the reflection of the sky in
the water, show his loving observation of Nature. The picture was for a
long time attributed to Masaccio's master, Masolino.]




    Filippo Lippi

    BY P. G. KONODY

    ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT
    REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR

    [Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.]

    LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK

    NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO.




CONTENTS


                                                             Page
      I.                                                        9

     II.                                                       19

    III.                                                       41

     IV.                                                       66




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


    Plate
       I. The Virgin Adoring the Infant Saviour      Frontispiece
              In the Accademia, Florence

                                                             Page
      II. St. John the Baptist with six other Saints           14
              In the National Gallery, London

     III. The Vision of St. Bernard                            24
              In the National Gallery, London

      IV. The Annunciation                                     34
              In the National Gallery, London

       V. The Coronation of the Virgin                         40
              In the Accademia, Florence

      VI. The Virgin and Child                                 50
              In the Pitti Palace, Florence

     VII. The Virgin and Child with two Angels                 60
              In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence

    VIII. The Virgin and Child with Angels and two Abbots      70
              In the Louvre, Paris


[Illustration]




I


In Vasari's gossipy _Lives of the Painters_, and indeed in most art
histories written before the era of scientific critical research, there
is an inclination, in the absence of documentary material, to
reconstruct the old masters' characters and lives from the evidence of
their extant works. Many a charming legend, that was originally
suggested by the expression of the painter's personality in his art, and
has been handed down from generation to generation, had to be shelved as
dusty archives yielded new knowledge of indisputable prosaic facts to
the diligent searcher. Whilst the serious student owes a debt of deep
gratitude to those who devote their time and labour to the investigation
of documentary evidence, and to establishing critical standards for the
sifting of the great masters' works from those of their followers and
imitators, the elimination of romance from the history of art is a
hindrance rather than a help to the ordinary person who cares not a jot
about morphological characteristics, but loves nevertheless to spend an
hour now and then in communion with the old masters. For him,
paradoxical though it may seem, there is more significant truth in many
an entirely fictitious anecdote, than in the dry facts recorded by the
conscientious historian.

Thus we know now that Domenico Veneziano outlived Andrea dal Castagno by
several years, and could therefore not have been foully murdered by his
jealous rival. But does not the fable of this act of violence, suggested
no doubt by the fierceness and rugged strength of Andrea's art, help the
layman to understand and appreciate the qualities which constitute the
greatness of that art? We know now that Fra Angelico, far from
accounting it a sin to paint from the nude, was an eager student of
human anatomy; but the stories told of his piety and angelic sweetness
have become so fused with everybody's conception of the Dominican
friar's art, that even those to whom the spiritual significance of art
is a sealed book, search almost instinctively for signs of religious
fervour and exaltation in Fra Angelico's paintings. The stories of
Sodoma's habits of life and of his strange doings at Mont' Oliveto
belong probably to the realm of fiction, but they serve to explain and
accentuate the worldly tendencies of his artistic achievement.

In these instances, to which many others might easily be added,
the artists' personality and manner of life have been fancifully
reconstructed from the character of their work. Very different
is the case of Fra Filippo Lippi. Here criticism has seized upon
certain authentic facts of the Carmelite friar's life and amorous
adventures--facts that in their main current have been established
beyond the possibility of dispute, even though they have been
embroidered upon by imaginative pens--and has dealt with his art in the
light of that knowledge, reading into his paintings not only his
artistic emotions, but his personal desires and passions. Only thus
can it be explained that generation after generation of writers on art
have misconstrued the exquisite and touching innocence and virgin purity
of his Madonna type into an expression of sensuality. Again and again we
read about the pronounced worldliness of Fra Filippo's religious
paintings, about their lack of spiritual significance and devout
feeling.

[Illustration: PLATE II.--ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST WITH SIX OTHER SAINTS

(In the National Gallery, London)

The companion picture to the "Annunciation" lunette is the first
rendering in Italian art of a Santa Conversatione in the open air. It is
just an assembly of seven saints, without any real inner connection, the
two pairs at the sides--SS. Francis and Lawrence on the left, and SS.
Anthony and Peter Martyr on the right--being absorbed in their own
doings and paying no attention to the blessing which St. John apparently
bestows upon SS. Cosmas and Damianus, the patron saints of the Medici
family. The little glimpse of a landscape background behind the marble
bench affords evidence of Fra Filippo's close study of Nature even at
that early period.]

Vasari, of course, is the fountain-head of this misconception of the
Carmelite's art. According to the Aretine biographer, "it was said that
Fra Filippo was much addicted to the pleasures of sense, insomuch that
he would give all he possessed to secure the gratification of whatever
inclination might at the moment be predominant, but if he could by no
means accomplish his wishes, he would then depict the object which had
attracted his attention in his paintings, and endeavour by discoursing
and reasoning with himself to diminish the violence of his inclination.
It was known that, while occupied in the pursuit of his pleasures, the
works undertaken by him received little or none of his attention."

It so happens that many of the discreditable incidents of the friar's
life, recorded by Vasari, have been confirmed by documentary evidence.
There is not a shadow of doubt that Fra Filippo did abduct the nun
Lucrezia Buti from her convent; that Filippino Lippi was the offspring
of this illicit union; and that the Frate subsequently did not avail
himself of the special papal dispensation to wed the nun. There is also
abundant proof to show that Fra Filippo, in spite of the high esteem in
which he was held as an artist, and which caused him to be entrusted
with many a remunerative commission, was for ever in financial straits,
was involved in many vexatious law cases, attempted to cheat his own
assistants, and had no hesitation to break faith with his patrons. But
all this does not affect his art. To read sensuality into his types of
womanhood can only be the result of prejudice, of approaching his
pictures in the light of the knowledge gathered from the pages of the
chroniclers. Worldly he is compared with the pure, exalted