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Panel from a Triptych: The Archangel Michael

Filippo Lippi1458

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

These panels depicting Saints Anthony the Abbot and Michael originally flanked a central scene of the Madonna and Child with Angels, now lost, to form a triptych. Giovanni di Cosimo de’Medici of Florence commissioned the ensemble in 1457 as a gift to Alfonso V of Aragon. Fra Filippo Lippi, a Carmelite friar and one of the great masters of early Renaissance Florence, depicted realistic, weighty figures in a three-dimensional space using a system of linear perspective, inspired partly by Masaccio’s Brancacci Chapel, and reflected in the background architecture. Saint Anthony the Abbot rejected all earthly possessions in pursuit of a contemplative life in the desert. He is generally regarded as the founder of monasticism and is depicted wearing a monk’s habit. Saint Michael’s sword and shield refer to his role as heaven’s defender against evil.

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  • Title: Panel from a Triptych: The Archangel Michael
  • Creator: Filippo Lippi (Italian, c. 1406-1469)
  • Date Created: 1458
  • Physical Dimensions: Framed: 94 x 40 x 6.5 cm (37 x 15 3/4 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 81.3 x 29.8 x 3 cm (32 x 11 3/4 x 1 3/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Condessa Pacheco, Madrid (sold 1871); Sir Francis Cook, Doughty House, Richmond (1871, sold by family 1964); (Rosenberg & Steibel)
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.150.1
  • Medium: tempera on wood panel
  • Department: Medieval Art
  • Culture: Italy, Florence, 15th century
  • Credit Line: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
  • Collection: MED - Medieval Art
  • Accession Number: 1964.150.1
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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