The Holy Family with John the Baptist and St. Margaret
The Holy Family with John the Baptist and St. Margaret, Filippino Lippi (Italian, 1457 - 1504) c. 1495
1932.227
Not on display
The circular form of the painting (or tondo) was popular with Florentine painters in this period, providing them with interesting compositional opportunities. Filippino chose to work in counterpoint to the circle, stabilizing it with the vertical and horizontal forms of the column and the front ledge, and even the figures. This delight in the formal construction of space, an aspect of the development of linear perspective, is one of the hallmarks of the Italian Renaissance.
Filippino Lippi was the son of Filippo Lippi (about 1406-1469). He was trained in Florence by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). This painting was commissioned by Oliviero Caraffa, Cardinal of Naples. It was probably painted in Rome, where Filippino was working for the cardinal's family. The architectural details reflect the artist's experience of the ruins of ancient Rome.
Images Copyright © the artist, their estate, and/or the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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