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Subject Information |
Upon the recommendation of Lorenzo dé Madicei, Oliviero Carafa, the Neapolitan cardinal, commissioned the Florentine artist, Filippino Lippi, on the 2nd of September, 1488, to decorate a burial chapel in the Dominican Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva. By the 25th of March, 1493 (the Feast of the Annunciation) the chapel had been dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Dominican theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, by Pope Alexander VI. During the late 16C the east wall of the chapel was destroyed in order to make room for a wall tomb for the Cardinal’s nephew, Pope Paul IV. However, the main altar wall (south), the west wall and the vault remain in tact. Filippino Lippi (1457-1504) was trained in the workshop of his father, Fra Felippino Lippi (1406-1469) whose other pupil of note at this time was Sandro Botticelli. After Filippa’s death, Botticelli took Filippino into his workshop as an apprentice around 1472. Stylistically, Filippino depicts his figures in an elegant and refined linear style using a soft colour palette. Warm light plays over the surface animating the composition. Emotion is expressed by way of facial expressions and gestures, the latter formally linking the composition. The receding landscape with its myriad details was influenced by the Flemish school and in particular by Hugo van der Goes’s Portinari Altarpiece (c. 1473-9) which Lippi could have seen in Florence by May, 1483. *** The vault with the Carafa family crest in the centre, is divided into four quadrants in which each of four pagan sibyls - the Cumaean, Delphic, Tiburtine and Hellespontine--are depicted. Angels hold the Sibylline Books in which the sibyls had foretold the story of Christ. Plaques and scrolls with text emphasize their prophecies which by the end of the Middle Ages had been accepted by the western church. Twelve sibyls had become sanctioned counterparts to the Old Testament prophets. The main altar wall consists of narrative scenes of the patron and the Virgin. A frescoed marble altarpiece depicts “The Annunciation with St. Thomas Aquinas Presenting Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin” surrounded by figures and a receding landscape while above an image of “The Assumption of the Virgin” is presented. *** The altarpiece in the Cappella Carafa is “The Annunciation with St. Thomas Aquinas Presenting Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin”. In the same room as the Archangel Gabriel and the Holy Dove Cardinal Carafa is shown kneeling as St. Thomas Aquinas presents him to the Virgin, thereby emphasizing her role as mediator between heaven and earth. The right half of the composition is quiet and still while in the left Gabriel’s left foot has just touched the threshold. His draperies are still moving. An image of the Holy Dove is just above Gabriel’s head as the prophecy to Mary is immediately taking place. Cardinal Carafa kneels before the Virgin as St. Thomas Aquinas, clothed in the Dominican habit, stands behind him. The artist has used a halo and pallor of the skin to indicate that the heavenly St. Thomas has interceded on behalf of the earthly Cardinal whom he presents to the Virgin. The books to the left of St. Thomas are prominent, showing him to be renown as a Dominican theologian. *** The frescoed architectural details of the pilasters and entablature of the Annunciation altarpiece fresco are, like may contemporary artists, responding to the wealth of antique decorating found in and about classical Rome. Pope Julius II, Michelangelo and Raphael would take notice and be influence by this type of antique ornamentation. *** In the lateral scenes of the Annunciation altarpiece, Filippino includes figures and a receding landscape which teems with activity. The poses and gestures of the figures in the front plan lead the viewer’s eye up to the putties and thence towards to Assumption thereby uniting the composition. Facial expressiveness emotes incredulity and excitement at the miraculous and dramatic event. *** “The Assumption of the Virgin” with attendant angels is on the upper portion of the main altar wall. Standing on a cloud held aloft by three torch-bearing angels, Mary, now crowned, has ascended into the Heavenly realm. The encircling angels play musical instruments evoking movement and joy through poses, gestures, moving draperies and ribbons depicted in beautiful soft colours. Mary’s drapery billows about her as she looks earthward. By her central position and the increase in the volume of her cloak Lippi has made this image of the Virgin the dominant figure in the chapel. Implicit in this scene is the band established by the heavenly Virgin’s gaze towards the favoured Cardinal Carafa serving to reinforce her role as mediator between heaven and earth. *** In the west wall of the Cappella Carafa, in the lunette above, is found frescoes from the life of St. Thomas. In “The Triumph of St. Thomas” Lippi painted a Miracle of St. Thomas which, due to its location, we were unable to photograph. *** Filippino’s expertise in putting into visual form erudite Dominican theology along with his ability to absorb new trends in painting established him as one of the most important painters in Italy. By about 1487 the artist could boast of having, amongst others, such wealthy and prestigious patrons as Felippino Struzzi and Lorenzo dé Medici (il Magnifico). On the day of Filippino’s burial the shops along the Via dei Servi in Florence closed in his honour. However his renown was not long lasting. Such grants in the art word as Leonardo, Botticelli or Michelangelo would overshadow Filippino’s fame later in the 16C. Research by Marlene Philion-Jacques, BA (in Art History), for Archivision |
