12 Facts About Filippo Lippi

Filippo Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife.

Filippo Lippi was orphaned when he was two years old and sent to live with his aunt Mona Lapaccia.

Filippo Lippi was ordained as a priest in approximately 1425 and remained in residence of that priory until 1432.

Giorgio Vasari, the first art historian of the Renaissance, writes that Filippo Lippi was inspired to become a painter by watching Masaccio at work in the Carmine church.

In 1432 Filippo Lippi quit the monastery, although he was not released from his vows.

Filippo Lippi's escapades threw him into financial difficulties from which he did not hesitate to extricate himself by forgery.

Filippo Lippi's life included many similar tales of lawsuits, complaints, broken promises, and scandal.

In 1441 Lippi painted an altarpiece for the nuns of S Ambrogio which is a prominent attraction in the Academy of Florence, and was celebrated in Browning's well-known poem Fra Lippo Lippi.

One of these, placed to the right, is a half-length figure originally thought to be a self-portrait of Filippo Lippi, pointed out by the inscription is perfecit opus upon an angel's scroll; it was later believed instead to be a portrait of the benefactor who commissioned the painting.

In 1452 Filippo Lippi was appointed chaplain to the nuns at the Monastery of St Mary Magdalene in Florence.

The close of Filippo Lippi's life was spent at Spoleto, where he had been commissioned to paint scenes from the life of the Virgin for the apse of the cathedral.

Filippo Lippi was buried on the right side of the transept, with a monument commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici.