Lippo D’ANDREA (Florence C. 1370 – post 1447) Lot n° 315

Saint Philip and other martyrs Tempera and gold on panel 36.8 x 26.5 x 2 cm Some restoration and wear Old label on the back with an inscription in German: um 1420 lunentino (?) . Trace of an old label on the upper side bearing another inscription: A 19. Following his training in the artistic circle around Agnolo Gaddi (documented in Florence between 1369 and 1396), Lippo d'Andrea seems to have quickly embraced the phenomenon of neo-giottism, which spread to Florence at the end of the 14th century. Subsequently, the refined painting of Lorenzo Monaco (documented in Florence between 1391 and 1422) seems to have steered Lippo towards a different style. Our panel should indeed belong to the latter part of the artist's career (around 1430), when he combined the mystical elegance and vivid, delicately nuanced colors of Lorenzo Monaco's miniatures, but in a more relaxed, accommodating version, with the new Renaissance taste inspired by Giovanni del Ponte (Florence, 1385 - 1437/38) and Masolino da Panicale (Panicale, San Giovanni Valdarno 1383 - Firenze 1440 circa). The composition of our "altarolo" is very similar to that chosen by Lippo in his miniature of the Brigettine Gradual (Bernard H. Breslauer, New York, circa 1435), also divided into two parts. To a contemporary collector new to primitives, our panel should be quite fascinating in both composition and style. Indeed, the reading of the first is based on the same logic as a comic strip, with its division into superimposed planes and distinct compartments. The development of the second, on the other hand, is the result of a pure and simple fusion of two opposing stylistic traits: on the one hand, the realism derived from Giotto and, on the other, the still typically Gothic abstraction. Lippo's poetic charm also emanates from the almost ecstatic lyricism of his figures. We would like to thank Professor Alessandro Delpriori and Professor Alessandro Tomei for confirming the attribution of our painting to Lippo d'Andrea on the basis of photographs. Reference bibliography: L. Pisani, Pittura tardogotica a Firenze negli anni trenta del Quattrocento: il caso dello Pseudo-Ambrogio di Baldese, "Mitteilingen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz", XLV, ½, 2002, p. 2-36 S. Chiodo, Lippo d'Andrea: problemi di iconografia e stile, "Arte Cristiana", XC, N. 808, 2002, pp. 1-16. H: 36.5 x W: 26.5 cm