How did Fra Filippo Lippi’s early Madonna and Child reflect Masaccio’s influence?

Fra Filippo Lippi’s early Madonna and Child (c. 1440) reflects the profound influence of Masaccio through its reliance on the Madonna figure from Masaccio’s Pisa altarpiece. Having spent his youth at the convent of Santa Maria del Carmine, where Masaccio’s revolutionary frescoes were daily before his eyes, Lippi absorbed Masaccio’s monumental and sculptural treatment of the human figure.12

However, even in this early work, Lippi began to diverge from Masaccio’s style. While Masaccio emphasized a rational, weighty, and dignified realism, Lippi’s Madonna and Child introduces a distinct earthiness and sweetness in the depiction of the Christ Child that was unique to his own artistic vision. Over time, Lippi further integrated these Masacciesque foundations into a style characterized by linear clarity and a bas-relief effect, eventually moving toward the more serene chromatics associated with Fra Angelico.12