Lippi, Fra Filippo, called Lippo c.1406-1469
Italian religious painter

He was born in Florence. An orphan, he was sent to the monastery of S Maria del Carmine in Florence where he became a Carmelite monk. In 1424 he became a pupil of Masaccio, who was painting the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel there. The style of his master can be seen in his early work, eg the frescoes The Relaxation of the Carmelite Rule (c.1432). Of his stay in Padua (c.1434) no artistic record has survived. The Tarquinia Madonna (1437), his first dated painting, shows Flemish influence. His greatest work, on the choir walls of Prato Cathedral, was begun in 1452. Between 1452 and 1464 he abducted a nun and was released from his monastic vows by Pope Pius II in order to marry her. She was the model for many of his Madonnas and the mother of his son, Filippino Lippi. His later works are deeply religious and include the series of Nativities. He was working in the cathedral at Spoleto when he died. He was immortalized in Robert Browning's poem 'Fra Lippo Lippi' in Men and Women (1855).

Bibliography: C Strutt, Fra Filippo Lippi (1901)