Madonna of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

This panel by Fra Filippo Lippi shows the Virgin as a half-length figure within a niche topped by a shell-shaped dome, holding the Christ Child, who stands on a marble parapet. Lippi had been using this compositional scheme since 1436, yet the style points to his late career, close to his frescoes in the cathedral of Spoleto, which is why it is generally regarded as one of his final panels. Its origin remains uncertain. The art historian Giuseppe Poggi found it in 1907 in the San Salvi psychiatric hospital in Florence, and several theories about its provenance have been proposed, including the Riccardi family's Villa of Castelpulci or the original decoration of the palace itself. After the Italian state acquired it, the work was moved to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, where it hangs in the Hall of the Triumphs and Arts. It was restored in 2001. On the reverse is a drawing of the head of Saint Jerome.

Painter

Filippo Lippi

Date

1466

Medium

tempera, panel

Dimensions

155 × 71 cm

Museum

Palazzo Medici Riccardi

Genre

religious art

Depicts

boy, Mary, woman, mother, Christ Child

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