In 1456, the painter Filippo Lippi was commissioned by the monastery of Santa Maria in Prato to complete the decoration of the church's high altar. To paint the Virgin, he took as his model one of the nuns, Lucrezia Buti, with whom he fell in love. Lippi kidnapped Lucrezia and brought her to Florence, where they had two children.
Vasari describes the love at first sight: "His gaze fell on Lucrezia [...], who had a superb grace and air; he insisted so much on the nuns that he obtained her portrait to place in a figure of Our Lady for their monastery."
The kidnapping caused a scandal, especially as Filippo Lippi himself had taken his vows at the Carmelites in Florence. Cosimo de' Medici, who protected the painter, obtained from Pope Pius II that the two lovers be released from their vows. But did they marry? Or would Lippi have preferred to leave Lucrezia for an affair with a married lady from Spolette...?
6 notices. Affichage des notices 1 à 6.
