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How did the Medici family support Fra Filippo Lippi after his return to Florence?
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Fra Filippo Lippi
Madonna and Child, tempera on poplar panel by Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1440; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 79 Ć 51.1 cm.
Upon his return to Florence in 1437, the Medici family provided Fra Filippo Lippi with essential protection and patronage, which helped him secure commissions for various churches and convents.
The Medici familyās support for the artist extended beyond his initial return:
- Legal Intervention: When Lippi faced arrest, trial, and torture following his romantic involvement with the nun Lucrezia Buti and his subsequent inability to fulfill artistic contracts, it was the intervention of Cosimo deā Medici that secured his release and allowed him to renounce his religious vows.
- Commemoration: Following Lippi's death in 1469, the Medici family commissioned a splendid sepulchre for him in the cathedral of Spoleto, which was designed by the artist's son, Filippino Lippi.
This relationship highlights the broader role of the Medici as primary patrons who subsidized the artistic and humanistic activities of the Renaissance in Florence.1