Life and career
Filippino Lippi worked within the religious and patronage networks of Renaissance Florence and Rome. The son of painter Fra Filippo Lippi, he developed a distinctive language of lively figures and inventive detail. Drawings and finished devotional pictures reveal how study, workshop practice and patron requirements interacted.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
- 01
second half 1400s
second half 1400s
Head of a Young Man
- Material / technique
- point of brush and brown wash and brush and brown wash heightened with lead white
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Broad or uncertain date: not a secure career stage.
Dudley P. Allen Fund · Image: public domain (CC0) - 02
c. 1488–93
c. 1488–93
The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret
- Material / technique
- tempera and oil on wood
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
This monumental tondo, among Filippino’s most significant works, was commissioned by Neapolitan cardinal Oliviero Carafa, a leading political and ecclesiastical figure. The painter’s ingenious composition harmoniously overlaps five brilliantly colored divine figures within the challenging circular format. Behind a low wall adorned with sacred and domestic objects, Joseph observes the intertwined group of Mary holding Christ, who embraces his cousin John the Baptist, supported by Saint Margaret. Created during Filippino’s Roman years (1488–93), the painting reflects the inspiration he drew from ancient art. The preparatory drawing reveals how he reimagined Greco-Roman figures—his sketch of an antique Venus statue was refashioned into Saint Margaret—while the weathered pier references remnants of ancient architectural and decorative motifs, illustrating Filippino’s deep engagement with the fragments of antique murals, sculpture, and architecture throughout the city.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 - 03
c. 1490
c. 1490
St. Jerome in His Study
- Material / technique
- pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk(?), with brush and brown wash, heightened with lead white; pricked
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Compare materials, style and colour
The head study concentrates on an individual form; Saint Jerome develops a narrative through ink and wash; the painted tondo coordinates multiple figures within a circle. Compare wash-based tone with tempera-and-oil colour. The head study’s broad date and the other works’ overlap prevent a secure three-stage chronology.
Material
What can this material do? Distinguish a design, an original object and a later impression or cast.
Style
Compare viewpoint, edges, composition and marks. Which choices persist, and which change?
Colour
Compare palette, contrast and light. Consider the support, printing, surface treatment and ageing.
Sources and further reading
Original educational interpretation; catalogue descriptions are separately credited. Each study links to its source. Reference entries without images are not added to the comparison timeline.