Filippino Lippi Moves Forward (slowly) on Strozzi Chapel

In his dissertation, Lippi's Strozzi Chapel, J. Russell Sale describes Filippino Lippi's fresco program in the Strozzi Chapel in Florence as "one of the most striking and important Florentine sepulchral projects of the end of the Quattrocento."  This program of frescoes was laid out in the late 1480s.

Filippo Strozzi was obsessed with his family fame and notoriety.  As we learned, he had re-established his family wealth and was on a campaign of building, including a palace and a chapel.  His family coat of arms was three crescent moons (arme delle tre luna).  This is thought to represent the celestial body ruling the night sky and Diana, goddess of the moon.

In 1486, 'Filippo Strozzi purchased the chapel immediately to the right of the altar at Santa Maria Novella in Florence.  There is another Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella that belonged to Filippo's ancestors.  The previous owners of his new chapel, the Bardi family, no longer had the resources for the chapel's upkeep and could not maintain it properly.  This provided the opportunity for Filippo Strozzi to purchase it.  He was 58 years old.

Filippo Strozzi wanted an elaborate decorative program for his chapel that was extensive in scope, highly visible to the public, and intimate to his aspirations for a future life through religion.  Filippo Strozzi's patron saint was Saint Phillip.  He was also given the new patron saint of Saint John the Evangelist (San Giovanni Evangelista).  This was to be the theme of his chapel.

Filippo Strozzi's did not seem to be in too much of a rush for the adornment of the chapel.  He had other projects to which he was attending, including that of a family palace.  On April 21, 1487, he signed a contract with Filippino Lippi for the fresco program.  It appears they had a prior relationship as evidenced in Filippino Lippi's 1485 Madonna and Child, now in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The painting shows the arme della tre luna in the simulated architecture.

The commission for the Strozzi Chapel was not a sure thing for Filippino Lippi.  It is said that Ghirlandaio was in competition for the work.  The commission included the vault, two walls, a window wall, and a dado area.  In 1487, agreement was reached between Filippo Strozzi and Filippino Lippi which laid out a general program but no specifics.  It mentioned use of the finest blues (lapis lazuli), paint in "true fresco", a trip to Venice, and a completion date of March 1490.  Filippino Lippi did not meet that deadline and, as we learned earlier, he went to Rome to complete the Carafa commission.  Vasari states that the Magnificient (Lorenzo di Medici) "sent" Filippino to Rome to paint a chapel for the Cardinal.  Filippino returned to Florence in 1492, well past the completion date laid out in his contract.  Prior to his death in 1491, Filippo Strozzi did not see fit to invoke the delay clause in the contract allowing to hire another artist at Lippi's expense.

Filippo Strozzi's Last Will ensured the completion of the program at San Giovanni Evangelista in Santa Maria Novella.  Benedetto da Maiano worked on the marbles for the chapel and completed them in 1495.

Strozzi Tomb at Santa Maria Novella 

With the exception of Adoration of the Magi,

from 1495 to 1502, off and on, Filippino Lippi worked on the frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel.  We will look at them in three segments:  the vault, the narrative frescoes on the side walls, and the altar wall.