The son of Filippo Lippi, Filippino Lippi (Prato, April 1457 – Florence, 18 April 1504) was an active painter during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance (this last period between 1495-1527). Filippino first learned painting from his father. When he died in 1469, he completed the frescoes left unfinished by Filippo in the apse of the cathedral of Spoleto, with the theme of Scenes of the Life of the Virgin. Filippino later completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Botticelli (one of Filippo’s pupils), and his first works show a strong influence of his second master. As his painting technique matured and became more personal, between 1480-1485, Filippino’s painting showed a more marked departure from Botticelli’s style (see his Madonnas of Berlin, London and New York, and the Three Archangels and Young Tobiaof the Galleria Sabauda, Turin).
The Coronation of the Virgin, tempera and oil on poplar panel, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1475, 91 x 223 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington). This panel is believed by scholars to be Filippino’s earliest painting to survive. When Filippo Lippi (his father) died, Filippino was only 12 years old, and his artistic training was taken over by his father’s pupil, Botticelli. The influence of Boticelli is strongly perceived in this work: the rippling cascades of drapery over and around the main figures, the treatment of clothing… The confident colors though are Filippino’s own and personal contribution. As this painting is a lunette, it was probably placed over the entrance to a private chapel or sacristy, but its original location remains unknown.Tobias and the Angel, oil and tempera on poplar panel, by Filippino Lippi, 1475-1480, 33 x 24 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington). Included between Filippino’s earliest works dated before 1482 are several small, devotional panels and narrative scenes, among them this painting. This panel shows influences of the art of his father Fra Filippo, and of Botticelli and Verrocchio, and they reveal an interest of portraying landscapes enriched with monasteries, castles, bridges, lakes and the activities of people and animals that would be later prevalent in his later paintings.Mary with the Child, oil and tempera on poplar wood, by Filippino Lippi, 1475-1480, 80.8 x 57.5 cm (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin). Mary, wearing her characteristic blue robe, sits carrying baby Jesus on her lap while holding an open book to him. Both are inside a room in front of a window, through which we can see a landscape with some sort of a lake, trees, a hillside and a castle with walls and towers. On the window sill sits a vase full of flowers, probably referring to Mary as a vessel of the Child Christ.The Virgin and Child with Saint John, tempera on poplar wood, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1480, 59.1 x 43.8 cm (National Gallery, London). This work was probably executed when Filippo was still part of the workshop of Sandro Botticelli. As the Virgin Mary holds the infant Christ in her right arm, he plucks seeds from a pomegranate (a symbol of his coming Passion: his torture and crucifixion). To the left Saint John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin, looks on in wonder, holding his reed cross and clutching at the folds of his red cloak. In the very foreground, a book lies open on the marble sill, its text illegible. The vase with flowers (to the right) again probably alludes to the Virgin, who was seen as a vessel from which the Christ Child came. Behind this central group a mountainous landscape opens, with the towers and spires of a distanced city. These small paintings of the Virgin and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist were an important source of income for artists in 15th century Florence; they usually were common decorative elements of the chambers of their owners.Madonna and Child, tempera, oil, and gold on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1483–1484, 81.3 x 59.7 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The group of Madonna and Child are shown inside a contemporary Florentine palace. Through the window we can see an arcade encrusted with the coat of arms of the wealthy Florentine banker Filippo Strozzi (three crescents), who commissioned the work. The background landscape resembles the area around the Strozzi villa near Florence.Three Archangels and Young Tobias, oil on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, 1485, 100 × 127 cm (Galleria Sabauda, Turin). The scene takes place in a rocky landscape: the Archangels Michael on the left, Raphael in the center, and Gabriel holding a lily (to the right), walk alongside young Tobias, son of Tobit. This painting was once attributed to Sandro Botticelli or his workshop.
As his painting fame increased, Filippino was called by the Medici, and together with Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, he worked on the fresco decoration of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s villa at Spedaletto. His skills as a painter were put to the test when he was commissioned to continue the decoration of the Brancacci chapel (around 1483–1484), the same chapel Masolino and Masaccio had left unfinished. In his frescoes for the Brancacci chapel, Filippino shows influences from the art of Masaccio to the point of executing his frescoes almost in the same way the Master had done, both in style and color. For this fresco cycle, Filippino painted for the series on the Stories of Saint Peter, the following frescoes: Disputation with Simon Magus in face of Nero and Crucifixion of Saint Peter, Saint Peter Jailed and Liberation of St. Peter.
Filippino Lippi’s first major commission was to complete in 1484-1485 the fresco cycle in the Cappella Brancacci of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, started by Masaccio and Masolino several decades before. Pictured above, the fresco representing the Disputation with Simon Magus (right) and Crucifixion of Peter (left) (1481-1482, 230 x 598 cm). This fresco depicts the two last episodes from the story of the life of Peter: to the right we see him, with St. Paul, in his dispute with Simon Magus in front of the Emperor; to the left, his Crucifixion. Filippino included a number of portraits in this fresco, among them are: a self-portrait (the first figure to the right, looking towards the spectator, see detail below); the first man to the right of the three men standing between St. Peter and Nero is Antonio del Pollaiuolo, while the one to the left is probably Raggio, a merchant’s broker; in the group of three to the right in the Crucifixion of Peter, the man looking towards the audience is probably Botticelli.Filippino painted a self-portrait at the extreme right of the fresco with the Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of Peter (Cappella Brancacci, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence).St. Paul Visits St. Peter in Prison, fresco, by Filippino Lippi, 1481-1482, 230 x 88 cm (Cappella Brancacci, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence). This fresco depicts the passage described in the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Varagine (written between 1259–1266) where Theophilus, Prefect of Antioch, puts Peter in prison. There the Apostle was frequently visited by St. Paul, who went to Theophilus and told him that Peter had the power to resurrect the dead. Theophilus was very interested and told Paul that he would released Peter from prison if he was able to resurrect his son, who had died 14 years ago. This fresco is the most “Masaccesque” of Filippino, so much it’s seen the influence of Masaccio’s painting that it has been suggested that Lippi probably worked on it from a sinopia prepared by Masaccio.St. Peter Freed from Prison, fresco, by Filippino Lippi, 1481-1482, 230 x 88 cm (Cappella Brancacci, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence). This scene shows Peter being awoken by the Angel and taken out of his cell, while the guard is deeply asleep and notices nothing.
Around 1485, Filippino was asked to paint the altarpiece with the Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard (Badia Fiorentina Abbey Church, Florence). This panel is Filippino’s most popular painting. He worked on it between 1485 to 1487. Here we can see the same artistic qualities of his father (Fra’ Filippo), though some exaggerated. This is an admirable work with a singular idealization of reality. Saint Bernard bows his head, surprised, before the figure of the Virgin, who appeared to dictate her treatise on the “Song of Songs”, which he’s writing at the desk. The Virgin is a delicate Florentine young woman, with a long pale neck and golden hair, which escapes her transparent veil. Her halo is crystalline; light diffuses silhouetting her fine hands and shining clothes. Both in technique and depiction of the landscape, Filippino was much more advanced than his father.
Apparition of The Virgin to St. Bernard, oil on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, 1485–1487, 210 x 195 cm (Church of Badia Fiorentina, Florence). This painting is considered as one of the finest lyric pictures of the entire Renaissance. In the painting we can see St. Bernard of Clairvaux, seated at a desk holding his pen, experiencing a vision of the Virgin (who was a regular subject of his writings). Mary is accompanied by angels all showing similar stylistic types as those invented by Filippino’s master: Botticelli. The apparition takes place outdoors, ingeniously framed by a rocky outcrop that creates a natural bench and bookshelf for the scholar. Behind Bernard, to the right in the dark spaces created by the piling rocks, are two chained demons, while in the area above (top right corner), Cistercian monks converse or look heavenward in front of their Renaissance-style abbey. Still higher in the composition, on top of the hill beyond the abbey, a sick old man is being carried down towards the building. On the left side, a fine landscape takes the eye into the distance. A portrait of the donor, Francesco del Pugliese, seems to kneel in prayer in the lower right corner, while across from him (on the left side), a blond angel leans inward with his hands clasped in prayer. Filippino’s use of color was probably inspired by Flemish chromatism.
On April 21, 1487, Filippino received a commission by Filippo Strozzi to decorate the family’s chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella with frescoes developing the Stories of St. John Evangelist and St. Philip. He completed this work until 1503 as he worked on it intermittently. The windows of this chapel were also designed by Filippino and completed between June and July 1503; they develop musical themes. All these works for the Strozzi family reflected the political and religious crisis in Florence during that time: the clash between Christianity and Paganism, a hotly debated topic in Florence during the times of Girolamo Savonarola.
Frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel off the right transept of the Church of Santa Maria Novella (Florence), by Filippino Lippi, 1489-1502. The Chapel is dedicated to the Apostles Philip and James. On the right wall of the chapel is the scene of St. Philip Driving the Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis, above it in the lunette is the Crucifixion of St. Philip. On the left wall is the scene with St. John the Evangelist Resuscitating Druisana, and above it in the lunette is The Torture of St. John the Evangelist. In the vault are Adam, Noah, Abraham and Jacob. In the niche behind the altar table is the tomb of the donor, Filippo Strozzi, above it on the altar wall, an allegorical pictorial program referring to the donor. Surrounding the pointed-arched stained glass window, Filippino painted columns an architectural elements together with other figures in grisaille.St. Philip Driving the Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis, fresco, by Filippino Lippi, 1487-1502 (Strozzi Chapel, Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence). Here, Filippino filled the pictorial space with a nearly surrealistic collection of real and invented imagery, and also here we can witness that the balance and harmony upon which all of Florentine Humanism had been center during the first years of the Renaissance were now broken: the rhetorical gestures, the charged expressions, the unreal colors, but above all the ambiguity between architecture and figures, already belonged to a new age (what we came to know as High Renaissance). The calm certainties of the 15th century gradually disappeared and gave way to the more troubled, questioning details common during the 16th century. At the foot of the gargantuan altar steps crouches the dragon that Saint Philip is exorcising. The composed and carefully measured perspectives that Tuscan painters preferred almost to the end of the 15th century, the regular depiction of architecture and classical rhythm are here abandoned in favor of an eclectic and deliberately confused bag of architectural motifs. The overall effect is one of instability that also projects into the groups of characters. There is a sense of unending clash between sculpture, reliefs, votive offerings, colored statues, and lifelike details. We are seeing nothing less than the air of tension prevalent in Florence after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. The dramatic gestures and facial reactions of several of the participants to the horrific smell of the devilish dragon is like a reflection of what the Florentine society of the time was going through.
Portrait of a Youth, oil and tempera on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1485, 52 x 37 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington). The face of this young man becomes the focal point of the painting. Soft blue, gray and beige in contrast with the brilliant red of his head cap emphasize the face, while the window frame encloses him. The exterior world is suggested by nothing more than the blue sky, so no landscape is distracting the viewer from the contemplation of the sitter. Here we can see that Filippino’s work still takes much from the teachings of his master, Botticelli, though he adds his bolder use of paint in modeling the form of the face and costume.
In 1488, Filippino went to Rome, as Lorenzo de’ Medici advised Cardinal Oliviero Carafa to commissioned him with the decoration of the family chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He finished these frescoes by 1493.
Filippino Lippi worked between 1489-1491 in the frescoes in the Carafa Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. The chapel was dedicated to the Virgin of Annunciation and to St. Thomas Aquinas, and also was the funerary chapel of the Neapolitan Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, an energetic opponent of the Turks. The fresco decoration has three main themes: Carafa, as prince of the church, Carafa as protector of the Dominican Order (he claimed to be descended from St. Dominic’s family), and a celebration of his qualities. On the vault are Medici emblems and those of the Carafa family, symbolizing the close relationship between the two families, plus four Sibyls. On the right hand wall are scenes from the life of St. Thomas Aquinas. The altar wall has an Assumption and the central part of the wall an Annunciation and Aquinas presenting Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin. The fresco of the left wall was lost in 1559 when the monument to Pope Paul IV, nephew of Cardinal Oliviero, was constructed. This fresco cycle was Filippino’s only work in Rome.The frescoes of the right wall of the Carafa chapel by Filippo Lippi and his assistant Raffaellino del Garbo, include a frame of painted architecture that divide the pictorial space into a lunette and a central scene separated by a painted frieze. The main portion of the wall portrays The Dispute of St. Thomas (or “The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas over the Heretics”) and is inspired by the fourth book of Aquinas, the Summa contra Gentiles. St. Thomas is sitting within a cross-vaulted pavilion holding an open book (the Bible). At his feet is a figure covered by books, symbolizing Sin, holding a strip of parchment, an allusion to the importance attributed by Dominicans to knowledge in the fight against heresy and vice. The women at the saint’s sides are (to the left) personifications of Philosophy and Theology (with a crown, pointing upward), and (to the right) Socratic Dialectics (with a snake) and Grammar, portrayed while teaching a young boy. The characters in the foreground are mostly heretics including the Persian prophet Mani, founder of Manicheanism, with a finger on his lips (to the right), Eutyches with a pearl earring (towards Mani’s right) and others. The books on the ground are the heretics’ books, about to be burned. On the right is a Dominican friar, who has been identified as Gioacchino Torriani, at the time prior of the order. On the left, in the distance, is a cityscape including a depiction of the Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which at the time was in the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano and was then believed to portray the emperor Constantine. The lunette, above the main wall, contains the scene with “The Miracle of the Book”. In the right background is a loggia, behind which is a city. The small white dog attacking a boy in the foreground is usually a representation of the Devil threatening the youth’s purity. The woman with monastic garments and a rosary inside the belt (to the right) has been seen as a personification of the Catholic Church. The character on the extreme right, dressed as a Muslim, is addressed by a man pointing at the woman (an allusion to the man’s need to convert).The middle wall (altar wall) of the Carafa Chapel, by Filippino Lippi, is decorated with a fresco above the high altar representing the Annunciation (within a stucco frame) and the Assumption of the Virgin displayed at the sides and in the upper section of the wall. The central scene is located within a fictive arch supported by pilasters with decorated candelabra. The painted frieze running atop the pilasters depicts subjects related to the Cardinal Carafa’s activities against the Turks, while on the upper part of the pilasters (at both sides) are putti holding the Carafa coat of arms. The central scene with the Annunciation is framed within the representation of the Assumption, which develops to the sides and top of the wall. The left and right portions of the wall include groups of astonished Apostles at the vision of the Assumption at the top. The group on the left surrounds the Virgin’s empty tomb.The Annunciation scene from the series of frescoes in the Carafa Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Rome), by Filippino Lippi. The typical scene of the Annunciation to the Virgin includes (besides the Angel Annunciate to the left) the figure of St. Thomas Aquinas introducing the donor Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin (right).Assumption of Mary scene, fresco in the Carafa Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Rome), by Filippino Lippi. At the top of the altar wall, the Virgin is depicted ascending to the Heavens on a cloud which in turn is being pushed upwards by a group of dancing angels and surrounded by others playing a variety of musical instruments. At the sides of the Virgin are burning candles, angels spreading incense and a luminous mandorla of cherubims. Though Filippino portrayed the Virgin in a traditional fashion, his group of angels are more original. The instruments they play are typical of the time’s military bands, and are another allusion to Carafa’s naval success in Turkey. These musician angels are all skillfully incorporated into the curve of the wall, and their joyful celebration is appropriate to the occasion. There is no single point of sight for these images; some are seen sharply from below, others are nearly perpendicular to the surface plane. As a result, an implication of celestial movement into space is established. The angels have sweeping, agitated draperies that indicate movement.Detail of a musical angel from the Assumption fresco in the Carafa Chapel (Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome). The angel plays a drum attached at his waist with a red ribbon, the flying colored banners of the drums display the colors of the Carafa’s coat of arms.Another detail of the Assumption (Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome) by Filippino Lippi, showing a detailed landscape behind the Apostles in the lower right of the fresco. This procession of exotic characters and animals is perhaps also a reference to the triumph conceded to cardinal Carafa and the Papal armies after their return from the naval expedition against the Turks.The vault decoration of the Carafa Chapel (Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome) was the first to be painted by Filippino for the chapel. The vault was divided into four triangular sectors, each one with a Sibyl* holding cartouches with their prophecies. At the center is the coat of arms of the Carafa family placed inside a medallion. The frame of the scenes include a pattern of branches twisting in rings and diamonds (a symbol of Lorenzo de’ Medici), intermingled with books and palms. The allusion of the Medici family is generally considered as a gesture of gratitude for Lorenzo’s intercession towards Carafa in favor of the painter. The books refer to the Cardinal’s intellectual interests. For the depiction of the Sibyls, Filippino was the first Florentine painter to adopt the sotto in su* (“from below”) perspective. The Sibyls’ placement is in part explained by the subject matter of the picture walls beneath them. Directly above the Assumption of the Virgin wall is the Cumean Sibyl (famous for prophesying the coming of Christ depicted in the Annunciation); above the scenes from the life of Thomas Aquinas, sits the Hellespontian Sibyl, whose prophesy referred to Christ’s death on the cross (portrayed in a crucifixion in the lunette with “The Miracle of the Book”). The pronouncements of the remaining two Sybils, the Delphic (in white robes) and Tiburtine (in green robes), refer to the birth of Christ in general terms.The Delphic Sibyl (fresco in the vault of the Carafa Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome).
Some time between 1491 and 1494, Filippino returned to Florence and worked in such paintings as: Apparition of Christ to the Virgin (ca. 1493, now in Munich), Adoration of the Magi (1496, originally painted for the Church of San Donato in Scopeto, now in the Uffizi Gallery), Sacrifice of Laocoön (ca. 190’s, for the villa of Lorenzo de’ Medici at Poggio a Caiano), and St. John Baptist and Maddalena (Valori Chapel in San Procolo, Florence). For the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, Filippino painted in 1501 the Mystic Wedding of St.Catherine and in 1503 he completed the Tabernacle of the Christmas Song for the city of Prato and now housed in its municipal Museum.
Apparition of Christ to the Virgin, oil on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1493, 156.1 cm × 146.7 cm (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). The painting portrays Mary kneeling under God, shown in a golden mandorla with putti amongst the clouds in the sky. He is flanked by the Angel Annunciate (left) and the Virgin Annunciate (right). The commissioners are referenced by the monastery depicted on the hill at the left, behind Christ. Mary, according to Girolamo Savonarola’s preachings at the time (which were then popular in Florence), is shown aged and with a dramatic expression. The landscape in the background is depicted using aerial perspective, thus echoing the early Netherlandish paintings. Far away is the skyline of a city, identifiable most likely with Florence due to the presence of a large dome resembling that of Santa Maria del Fiore. The predella includes the figure of Christ rising from the tomb and held by an Angel, flanked by six Saints.Adoration of the Magi, tempera grassa* on wood, by Filippino Lippi, 1496, 258 x 243 cm (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). This panel was painted for the main altar of the church of San Donato a Scopeto in Florence, in place of the one commissioned from Leonardo da Vinci several years before, but that he never completed. Filippino followed Leonardo’s setting, in particular in the central part of the work. The child, seated in his mother’s lap, holds the first gift, offered by the oldest king, under the thoughtful gaze of his father, Joseph. Among the portraits included by Filippino in the retinue of the magi, are Pier Francesco de’ Medici, represented as the kneeling man to the left wearing a sumptuous, fur-lined yellow robe and who carries an astrolabe, alluding to the astrological knowledge of the magi. The Augustinian friars from the church of San Donato a Scopeto in Florence, who commissioned the work, evidently wanted to pay homage to this member of the Medici. Pier Francesco’s sons, Lorenzo and Giovanni have been recognized as the king being crowned and the young blond alongside him, holding the vase, respectively. The scene is set in a country landscape, in front of a stable over which the star that guided the kings is shining. In the background, there are scenes of their journey, from the sighting of the star to their passage via Herod’s palace. To produce this panel, Filippino clearly took inspiration from Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi, also in the Uffizi. Similarly to Botticelli’s work, Filippino also portrayed numerous members of the Medici clan.Allegory, oil on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1498, 29 x 22 cm (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). This painting shows God Almighty, or Jupiter, seated under a tree with the avenging thunderbolt in his hand. On the ground in front of him two boys are attacked by writhing serpents. In the center of the painting we read: “NULLA DETERIOR PESTIS Q. FAMILIARIS INIMICUS” (“Nothing is more dangerous than a family’s enemy”). In the background, in the mist, the cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence can be recognized. This subject-matter has been interpreted as the story of Laocoön and, more recently, as an allegory of the civil struggles that divided Florence at the time of Savonarola.The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine, oil on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi, 1503, 202 × 172 cm (Basilica di San Domenico, Bologna). The mystical marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria to the Child Christ is surrounded by a sacra conversazione. Their participants are, on the right, St. Paul and St. Sebastian (pierced by arrows) and, on the left, St. Peter and St. John the Baptist. The scene is set within classical architectures. The fragment of the wheel on which St. Catherine was tortured is seen partially on the foreground.
Filippino’s final work was the Deposition for the Santissima Annunziata church in Florence, which was unfinished at the time of his death in April 1504. Because of his high fame and reputation, on the day of his burial all the workshops of Florence closed as an homage.
Deposition from the Cross, a panel part of the Annunziata Polyptych, oil on wood panel, by Filippino Lippi and Pietro Perugino, 1504–1507, this panel 334 × 225 cm (Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence). The Annunziata Polyptych was started by Filippino Lippi and finished by Pietro Perugino. The central panel of the polyptych is now divided between the Galleria dell’Accademia (“Deposition from the Cross”) and the Basilica dell’Annunziata (“Assumption of the Virgin”), both in Florence. The polyptych had other six panels, which are housed in the Lindenau-Museum of Altenburg, the Metropolitan Museum of New York City, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome and in a private collection in South Africa. The work was originally commissioned for the high altar of the Annunziata Basilica in Florence. At Filippino’s death in 1504 the painting, already completed in the central part, was assigned to Pietro Perugino, who completed it, including the secondary panels, in 1507. The central panels were originally painted on two sides: the Assumption of the Virgin facing the faithful, and the Deposition from the Cross facing the choir. Later, the panel was split in two. The Deposition panel shows the moment in which Jesus Christ is taken down from the cross. Four men are carrying out the task by using ladders. On the ground, at the left, is the fainting Virgin supported by the other Pious Women. The woman praying at the foot of the cross is Mary Magdalene. On the right, in a surprised posture, is St. John the Apostle; in front of him, on the ground on a rock, are the nails of the crucifixion. Filippino painted the upper part of the painting. Jesus’ face, left unfinished, was completed by Perugino. Perugino also painted the lower part of the work, characterized by his typical serene faces and the distant landscape. The polyptych included a predella, now divided between several American museums.
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Sibyl: The oracles in Ancient Greece. Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity; originally at Delphi and Pessinos.
Sotto in su: (From Italian meaning “from below to above”). In drawing and painting, it refers to extreme foreshortening of figures painted on a ceiling or other high surface so as to give the illusion that the figures are suspended in air above the viewer. It is an approach that was developed during the Renaissance, and it was especially favored by Baroque and Rococo painters, particularly in Italy.
Tempera grassa: A type of tempera in which oil is added in no more than a 1:1 ratio with the egg yolk by volume which produces a water-soluble medium with many of the color effects of oil paint, although it cannot be painted thickly.
Sibyl: The oracles in Ancient Greece. Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity; originally at Delphi and Pessinos.
Sotto in su: (From Italian meaning “from below to above”). In drawing and painting, it refers to extreme foreshortening of figures painted on a ceiling or other high surface so as to give the illusion that the figures are suspended in air above the viewer. It is an approach that was developed during the Renaissance, and it was especially favored by Baroque and Rococo painters, particularly in Italy.
The Artistic Adventure of Mankind 