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Filippino
Lippi, "a beautiful mind"
“Filippino
is as great as his Maestro and travelling companion"
wrote the learned Antonio Paolucci, drawing a
comparison between Sandro Botticelli and Filippino
Lippi in his article on the exhibition in Florence's
Palazzo Strozzi. This was the idea that initially
spurred the Florence exhibition, as well as the
event in Prato, the birthplace of Filippino that
devotes this event to the painter in honour of the
5th centenary of his death. The exhibition proposes
a detailed critical rereading of the works of
Filippino Lippi right from his early days under his
father's tuition. The ultimate goal of the
exhibition is to set in motion an
historical-artistic revaluation of Lippi's legacy in
Italy and present an anthological review of his
critical fortune over the centuries. The exhibition
itinerary is spread over the entire city of Prato
and beyond, to the de Medici villa of Poggio at
Caiano, where Filippino Lippi created the fresco
entitled Morte di Laocoonte, and to rural parish
churches where the influence of his language is
clearly visible in local painters.
The exhibition allows the visitor to gain a profound
insight into the life and works of the artist.
Filippino was a complex character who swayed between
ancient and modern style, a man of troubled
sensitivity whose works expressed mystical religious
tension, in tune with the cultural milieu of the
last quarter of the century, dominated by
Savonarola.
Unlike his father, who lived a life of excess,
Filippino lived his life under the stoic motto,
"substine et abstine" which is also
transcribed in two of his works.
His art is charged with esoteric implications linked
to the archaeological culture of the age, and had a
key influence on his contemporaries, above all in
the recurrent use of the grotesque.
In this exhibition, visitors can admire the altar
step with the Tales of Christ's Childhood created by
Lippi together with fra' Diamante, during his
studies in Prato. Alongside the Tabernacle of
Mercatale (1498) and the Madonna with Child among St.
Stephen and St. John the Baptist(1503), visitors can
also admire works from public and private
collections by painters working at the same time as
Lippi, like the Maestro of the Nativity Johnson, the
Maestro of Serumido, along with local painters
Tommaso di Piero known as Trombetto and the Maestro
of Canneto, to mention just a few.
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Filippino
Lippi, "un bellissimo ingegno"
Ancient
rooms of Santa Caterina, Fresco Museum, Prato
From 8th May to 25th July 2004
Open every day from 10 am – 6 pm (closed Tuesdays)
Tickets € 3 full price€ 1.5 concessions
Links
The
official website
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