Merry Christmas from Filippino, Leonardo, Sandro and Me!

Filippino Lippi, Adoration of the Magi, 1496, Uffizi, Florence

Filippino Lippi's Adoration of the Magi was painted for the convent of the San Donato agli Scopeti to substitute the Leonardo commission of 1481 that was never finished.

Leonardo Da Vinci,  Adoration of the Magi, 1481, Uffizi, Florence

In 1529, the Filippino Lippi Adoration of the Magi was bought by Cardinal Carlo de' Medici and, finally, in 1666, became a part of the Uffizi collection.  As you may remember, in 1469, when his father, Fra Filippo Lippi, died, Filippino went to study with Sandro Botticelli.  We can find many similarities between Filippino Lippi's Adoration of the Magi and Sandro Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi.

Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1475, Uffizi, Florence

Both painting portray members of the Medici family.  Filippino Lippi's painting does, however, show more care to detail and an edginess in the movement of the figures.

Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year to all!  Carol

Filippino Lippi Pulls It All Together: The Altar Wall

As we have seen in the fresco cycles of Saint Phillip and Saint John the Evangelist in the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Filippino Lippi created the altar wall frescoes to complete the theme of resurrection.

The frescoes continually reminds us that pagan rituals are overcome by Christianity, including the war-god being destroyed and the dead being brought back to life.  In the altar wall frescoes, Filippino Lippi abandons stories for allegories and symbolism.  He blends paganism with Christianity even though they are antagonistic.  He uses inscriptions and a "sombre grisaille" that replaces the colorism so vibrant on the side wall stories.  (Sale)  To understand the Strozzi Chapel in it's entirety, we must explore the meaning of the altar wall.

Filippo Strozzi was thought to have been a megalomaniac.  This is most evident in an inscription in a frieze in the entablature at Lacceto.  It reads, Virgini Gentrioi Philippus Strozza Sui In Salumtem Condidit.  The Philippo Strozzi part is in much bolder letters and centered above for the viewers to see.  What is at odds with this is that Philippo Strozzi is buried in the Strozzi chapel behind the altar.  The marble of his sarcophagus in dark and the chapel is poorly lit.  Strozzi's sarcophagus, with it's marble reliefs, and the arch above are not the altarpiece for the chapel but an element of the broader, decorative theme.  Rising from the moulding, that goes around all three walls, is a very illusionistic architectural painting.  It looks like marble and is intended to appear as if it is an extension of the tomb.

The heretofore hidden tomb now becomes monumental in it's appearance.  It is based on the triumphal arch.  The large, central arch contains the chapel's lancet window.  There are figures, inscriptions, and decorative motifs.  It was not uncommon in the late Quattrocento to have classical triumphal arches and the Renaissance was familiar with the literature describing them.  Because of it's association with triumph and virtue, the function of the arch was a portal through which changes in one's existential status took place.  The classical arch then became a feature of funerary architecture.  Great wall tombs at that time included inscriptions.  Sale, in his dissertation Lippi's Strozzi Chapel, states that this probably is the reason that Filippo Strozzi seny Filippino Lippi to Venice, as was stated in his contract.  As you can see above, Filippino Lippi had the problem of fitting the High Gothic-shaped window within his classicized decoration.  The chapel wall tomb's primary theme is that of immortality.  Immortality with God is fundamental to Christianity.  On the sarcophagus are reliefs of the Madonna and Child in a garland and cherub tondo.  There are flying angels around. The sculpted part of the altar wall depicts the realm of dealth.  The Madonna and Child show the promise of a future life.  One of Filippo Strozzi's imprese is the recumbent lamb.  We seen this in the keystone in the arch, symbolizing humility.

The spandrel area above the arch represents original sin.  The ghostly beings on either side are standing on and holding skulls and bones.  There are more skulls depicted.  A plaque states Ni Hanc Despexeris Vives.  The translates as Unless you scorn (despise) this, you will live.  To scorn death is not Christian, it implies pride.  "The redemption of Adam's sin by Christ did not remove the punishment of physical death but it opened the way to eternal beatitude for the Christian's soul and his resurrected, incorruptible body."  (Sale)  This implies that Christians should seek the liberation of the soul from the corruptible body.  The two winged beings are not angels but, rather, personifications of death and sleep.  They call our attention to this.  The figure on the left gestures to an inscription to remind us of the ultimate decay of our flesh.  This is not to sadden but to redirect the viewer's attention to the soul and the afterlife.

On the outer side of each column are inscriptions.  On the right we see Deo. Max. (abbreviation for Deo Maximo) meaning to the greatest god.  This refers to Mars.

On the left we see  the inscription Parthenice which means virginal or virgin.  Parthenice refers to the virgin goddess Diana who's iconography can be found in the Saint John the Evangelist miracle scene.

  In both stories, paganism is defeated by Christianity.  We see two female muses, one playing the lyre.  They are in reversed poses.  Their sweeping drapery obscures their physiques.  Sale mentions that Winternitz, in his research, discovered the source of this on a sarcophagus with Apollo, Minerva, and the nine muses which is now in Vienna but was in Rome.  The muse playing the lyre is in an exaggerated contrapposto pose.  The muse on the right holds the mask of tragedy.

From the vault with it's prophets, to the side walls with it's saints and miracles, to the altar wall with it's symbolism, Filippino Lippi created the perfect resting place for his patron, Filippo Strozzi.

The Saint John the Evangelist Cycle at Strozzi

On the left wall of the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, and across from the Saint Phillip cycle we discussed a few days ago, Filippino Lippi has painted scenes from the life of Saint John the Evangelist (San Giovanni Evangelista).  The issues surrounding these frescoes differed from the limited stories available on Saint Phillip.  More is known about Saint John the Evangelist and, again, the main source material is from Voragine's Legenda Aurea.

John means, "grace of God" or "to whom a gift from God is given."  It is said that John was given four gifts:  1.  He was the most beloved apostle as shown by his presence at the Transfiguration and his resting on Christ at the Last Supper;  2.  He was chaste as he was chosen as a disciple;  3.  He could reveal religious mysteries as he wrote the fourth gospel, the Book of Revelation, and three Epistles making him the patron saint of theologians;  4.  His chastity is again shown as he was chosen to care for the Virgin Mary when Christ was dying on the cross.  Saint John became virginum custos, special protector of virgins and widows.  The frescoes on the left wall of the Strozzi Chapel depict two scenes, the Ressurection of Drusiana and Saint John in Oil.

In the lower fresco, the Ressurection of Drusiana, Filippino Lippi shows Saint John the Evangelist's miracle of raising the dead.  Saint John the Evangelist, who had been banished, returns to Ephesus where he was honored by the faithful.  He comes across the funeral of a friend, Drusiana, and her family tells him of her devotion to Saint John and her wish to have seen him before she died.  Saint John stopped the procession and ordered Drusiana to rise up and go home to prepare food.  Drusiana did as Saint John stated.

We see the city gate far in the background.  In the center is John and Drusiana.  Woman and children are on the right and the funeral procession leads us off to the left.  There is a limited sense of perspective of space.  The funeral bier is parallel to the picture plane.  The figures create a "frieze-like band" and are on a "illusionistically-treated procenium."  (Sale)  Several individual structures divide the piece.  Filippino Lippi draws our attention to the main protagonists, Saint John and Drusiana, and then to the funeral procession as a whole.

Sales, in his dissertation Lippi's Strozzi Chapel, states that the scene appears more pagan than Christian.  An example of this is the staff on which the banner is attached.  There are sprigs of cypress on top and also in the hair of the woman carrying the banner.  Sale states that Festus, repeating Servius on Aeneid, reads:

Cypresses were therefore placed at the houses of

the dead, because a tree of this type, once cut

off, will not sprout again, just as from the

dead there is nothing further to be hoped; for 

this reason it was judged to be under the patronage of Pluto.

Also, we notice that the dramatically-cloaked cleric is holding an urn, possibly for Drusiana's ashes after cremation.

The zoomorphic iconography relates to time (past, present, and future) as does the Strozzi circle (no beginning or end) with wings, showing flight and speed.

This lower scene on the left wall of Strozzi Chapel implies the promise of resurrection to our chapel patron, Filippo Strozzi, who is buried within.  Like Saint Phillip (battling Mars) across on the lower right wall, Saint John confronts these pagan rituals.  By bringing Drusiana back from the dead, Saint John saves her from the pagan life and shows the powerful effects of Christianity.

The lunette above depicts the martyrdom of Saint John at the Latin Gate in Rome.  Saint John had gone to Asia Minor to preach at Ephesus.  He was taken prisoner by the proconsul and refused to participate in sacrifices to the local gods.  The emperor, Domitian, sent him to Rome and had him sacrificed in a cauldron of boiling oil.  Saint John felt no pain and received no injuries.  He was exiled to the island of Patmos where he composed the Book of Revelation.

We see Saint John as he prays in the cauldron.  The emperor orders that more fire be generated below.  A figure stands to the left with pieces of armor strewn below him.  There is an imperial advisor with a turban.  Next, we see the emperor, Domitian, rising from his throne.  He is classicized with a laurel wreath on his head.

To the right of Saint John, we see the god Mercury with a caduceus in one hand and a sphere in the other.  This tells us that the scene we are looking at is judicially legal yet morally unjust, reinforcing the emptiness of power when in the face of Christianity.  There are more figures to the right and an elaborately-dressed soldier draws us back into the piece.

Was the choice of these two scenes of San Giovanni Evagelista intended to balance those of the right wall (Saint Phillip's crucifixion above and his exorcism of the dragon from the altar of Mars below)?  Although there is much more iconography for Saint John, we must consider that Filippino Lippi chose these two scenes to balance the wall fresco cycles of the Strozzi Chapel.

The Saint Phillip Cycle at Strozzi

Filippino Lippi's narrative frescoes on the side walls of Santa Maria Novella in Florence are thought to "astound and shock" as described by J. Russell Sale in his dissertation entitled, Lippi's Strozzi Chapel.  It is said that the frescoes depict pagan antiquity with extreme detail on the "verge of excess baggage."  This was a critical label occasionally put on Filippino Lippi's work.  (Sale)  Are these narrative frescoes purely decorative, iconographical or both?

When Filippino Lippi signed his commission contract with Filippo Strozzi, instructions for the side walls were simply, "on each (side) wall of the chapel there shall be two narratives (storie), according as they shall be given by Filippo Strozzi."  On the left, or west, wall are frescoes of San Giovanni Evangelist, to whom the chapel is dedicated.  On the right, or east, wall are frescoes of two events from the life of Saint Phillip, Filippo Strozzi's patron saint. Although rare, Filipino Lippi could have seen, on his way back from Venice in Padua in 1489, two narrative scenes that depict the life of Saint Phillip.  Sale suggests that Filippino Lippi was influenced by Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel and, mostly, by Andrea Montegna's frescoes in the Ovetari Chapel.  Montagna's influence may have precipitated Fillippino's interest in settings of antiquity, or all' antica.

Giotto Lamentation, Scrovegni Chapel, 1304-1306

Montegna Stories of Saint James, Ovetari Chapel, 1448-1457

We will start with the east wall and the scenes of the life of Saint Phillip.  When Filippo Strozzi bought the chapel in Santa Maria Novella it was agreed that a celebration of the Mass in honor of Saint Phillip the apostle would take place on May 1 each year.  Although there are very few paintings of the life of Saint Phillip, the gospels and Jacobus de Voragine's Legende Aurea provide the source of the detail of the legends of Saint Phillip and make them more available.

The name Phillip means "mouth of lamp" (brilliant teaching), "mouth of hands" (continual good works), and "love of superior things" (celestial contemplation).  (Sale)  The two scenes from the life of Saint Peter are depicted from bottom to top and are divided by a frieze.  The lower-most fresco shows Phillip, after being a preacher for 20 years in Scythia, having been taken by heathens and forced to observe sacrifices before a statue of the pagan god, Mars.  A dragon emerges and kills the priests and tribunal with his breath.  Phillip announces that if the statue of Mars is broken up he would bring the dead to life.  The  statue was broken and Phillip healed the sick and raised the dead.

We see Mars elevated in the center.  The dragon has emerged from a hole at the base of the statue.  Heathens protect themselves by holding their noses.    Phillip, with an exaggerated gesture, commands the dragon to leave.  The scene has thoroughly classical drapery on the figures.  In his thoroughness, Sale shows us some of the all' antica approaches.  On the right, the candelabra held by a pagan is an adaptation of the seven-part minorah in the interior of the Arch of Titus.  The lower pedestal that supports Mars is influenced by a four-footed Roman base now in the Vatican.  The slumped figure of the priest's son on the right is thought to have been taken from the Column of Trajan.  Perhaps the complex superstructure of the altar of Mars was inspired by the sacellum (a small shrine or chapel) of Bacchus on a medal of Antonius Pius.  Clearly we see, however, that Filippino Lippi was not concerned with a strict adherence to the originals.  He made these scenes his own.

The elaborate detail, and let's not use "excess baggage" here, of armor and spoils of war on the altar were suggested in the Thebaid writing by Statius on Mars:

All around were spoils of every land, and

captures peoples adorned the temple's high

front, and fragments of iron-wrought gates

and ships of war and empty chariots and

faces ground by chariot-wheels, ay, almost

even their groans.

Above the frieze, in the lunette, we see a scene which is said to have taken place one year after the scene with Mars and the dragon.  

After preaching for one year, Phillip went to Hierapolis in Asia to eliminate heresy among the Ebionites.  At the age of 87, he was crucified in the manner of Christ, about whom he preached.  The scene shows the martyrdom of Saint Peter as the pagans arduously raise his cross.

We see Filippino's interpretations of these narratives as dramatic, exaggerated, and not realistic.  They are, however, probably the best of Quattrocento Italy.

Salome

This is a favorite of Professor Hamburgh.  It is Fra Filippo Lippi's Feast of Herod in the Prato cathedral (1452-1460).  It is a three-story painting showing the beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Salome dancing, and presenting of Saint John the Baptist's head to King Herod.

Smyth: Mannerism and Maniera

In the mid 1500s, an anti-classical style in art, aimed at countering the Renaissance, was developing in Italy.  It was called Mannerism and was based on practica (practice) and not on the imitation of nature.  According to Bellori, painting reached its height with Rafael and, therefore, an inevitable decline began.

At this time, artists began to depart from the norms of their studios and from their masters.  Malvasia stated these artists "became addicted to weak, not to say incorrect, disegno, to feeble, washed-out color, in short to a certain maniera" which led the artist far from the truth.

In the 19th century, Mannerism can to mean a decline that began in Florence and Rome after the mid 16th century with "excessive adherence to a manner full of unjustified, habitual peculiarities remote from nature, and due above all to three causes."  (Smyth)  The three causes that Smyth cites in his writings are:  1.  Imitation of a previous style;  2.  Routine dexterity through practive;  3.  Admixture of extravagance and caprice.  Gustiniani's view states that la maniera "depended on imagination working without regard for truth to nature or the example of previous masters and antiquity."  The artists Pontormo, Beccafumi, Parmigianino, and El Greco caused the emergence date of Mannerism to be moved up to the 1520s.  Later works of Michelangelo can be added to the list.  This anti-classical approach had a "disquieting expressiveness", like surrealism.  Vasari and Bronzino were said to have "mannered Mannerism".  (Smyth)

In the 1550s, the term Mannerism was used in a derogatory way.  It was felt that the figures depicted were too similar, unlike Rafael where one figure did not look like another.  The artists were creating figures that were "monotonously uniform"  in relation to other figures.  (Smyth)  Vasari felt that one should copy the beautiful elements of the figure.  He wrote in his Lives that Michelangelo defined the  "road to paintings facility in its principle object, the human body.   On the other hand, Dolce felt the monotonous reliance on the same form did not refer back to nature or reality.

Manneristic conventions include the consistent application of principles that govern form and movement.  The approach was said to lack a focal point, have flat light, elongation, angularity, flattened figures parallel to the picture plane turning in two to three directions, and monotonous.

Mannerism is a recurring phenomenon in art.  It is subjective art expressing the spiritual "through anti-classic forms, deformation, and abstraction."  (Smyth)  It is rebellious and expressionistic.

Heaven Sent: The Strozzi Chapel Vault

We begin our journey into Fillipino Lippi's frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel by entering the beautiful, pietro serena Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

Santa Maria Novella, Leon Battista Alberti, 1470

We respectfully work our way up to the altar where, just to it's right, we are drawn to the vibrant, animated frescoes of the Strozzi Chapel.

Here, boldly painted, are four Old Testament patriarchs:  Adam, the most visible over the altar, Noah, reclining to the West above Saint John the Evangelist, Abraham, opposite and above Saint Phillip, and, finally, Jacob, hidden from the outside and above the chapel entrance.  Patriarch is Greek for leader or first among fathers.  We will see why these four were chosen as a part of the decoration theme of the chapel.  The boarders that separate the four, as J. Russell Sale describes in his dissertation, Lippi's Strozzi Chapel, are a framework of interlocked, stylized volutes containing a series of repeated palmettes, leaf-masked male heads, and the three-Strozzi crescents."

Adam, Noah, and Abraham are illuminated from a stained-glass window below.  Jacob received light from above and to the left.  Three of the four prophets are in contapposto position and fit the triangular frame in which they are painted.  Prior to this time, prophets were mostly painted in a frontal position.  Filippino's father, Fra Filippo Lippi, may have been a precursor to Fillipino's break from tradition in his frescoes of the prophets Mark and Matthew in the main chapel at the Prato cathedral.  Below, is a short, yet awe-inspiring, video of the fresco program in that duomo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2FHCC8mxU

Filippino Lippi surpassed his father in this new approach with a more intense and dramatic depiction of prophets.  He has, now, seated contrapposto poses to enhance the drama of a scene.  We saw this with his Carafa sibyls in Rome, especially the Tiburtine and Cumean sibyls.  The choice of Adam, Abraham, Noah, and Jacob was unusual but we will see that they have a woven thread of consistency in the fresco program with the theme of death and resurrection in Filippo Strozzi's final, mortal resting place - his burial chapel.

Noah and Abraham are painted above the narrative scenes on the side walls and are inclined towards the altar.  Adam is upright and ties in with the vertical expressions in the decoration below.  Between Noah and Abraham, and out of chronological order, is Jacob.  He, also, is painted upright.  These Old Testament prophets represent the first saved souls in heaven as we see described in the New Testament:

I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8:11)

The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom.  The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.  (Luke 16:22-23)

The energetic Noah represents divine intervention as he was saved from the flood by God.  

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."  (Genesis 9:1)

This begins our theme that ultimately honors Filippo Strozzi as head of the family.  Another depiction of God's intervention is in the fresco directly across from Noah, and above the depiction of the life of Saint Phillip.  This is Abraham, whose son, Isaac, was delivered from death by Abraham.  Like God the Father, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son as an instrument of faith.

Through Isaac, we have a prefiguration of the passion of Christ and Abraham reminds us of this as he glances down at the altar in the chapel where the Eucharist is celebrated.  We see a sacrificial lamb representing the Lamb of God.  Filippo Strozzi's impresa includes a recumbent lamb which is painted in the window below and on the keystone in the arch above, again connecting him to the decorative theme.

Jacob, who is not depicted in chronological order, is above the entry portal.  He has a book in his left hand and a vessel in his right hand.  We can read, "Hec est domus dei et porta (cae)le" translated as  "This is the house of God and the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:17).

Like Noah (grapes) and Abraham (lamb), Jacob also represents the figure of Christ with the vessel.   The vessel in his right hand holds oil to anoint the stone (altar).   Jacob has a vision of a ladder extending to heaven and representing the ascent to heaven and the quest for divine wisdom.  The gates of heaven theme coincide with the portal entrance to the chapel and, therefore, are the reason that Jacob is not in chronological order.

Adam is the first patriarch and the first divinely-created man.  He can easily be seen above the altar wall and above the Strozzi tomb.  He is frontally depicted with his legs turned slightly to the left.

He supports a hoe and wears a pelt, showing us his humanity.  He is gazing towards the female-headed serpent.  There is a dried out fig tree and a small, frightened child.  This is not a biblical narrative but shows life after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  As we know, Adam disobeyed God and was punished, as were all man, through original sin.  In Adam's face we see the sadness of his tragic fate.  The glare over his shoulder is the symbol of temptation.  The twists and turns of his body remind us of his internal unrest.  We are all attracted to the serpent who represents Eve and "man's seduction away from God and the spirit by sensual pleasure."  (Ambrose-Sale p.197)  As with our other patriarchs, Adam is a direct prototype for Christ.  It is believed that the small child is Adam's son, Seth.

All of our prophets are without halos but, rather, have rays of light on their faces.  This ties us back to the Strozzi three crescent moons which represent family unity, strength, and concern for one another.  They represent the goddess Luna and covey her heavenly fertility.