The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 16, 2024

Pair of Panels from a Triptych: The Archangel Michael and St. Anthony Abbot

Pair of Panels from a Triptych: The Archangel Michael and St. Anthony Abbot

1458
(Italian, c. 1406–1469)
Italy, Florence, 15th century
tempera on wood panel
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.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1964.150
Location: 117B Italian Renaissance

Description

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.
  • Condessa Pacheco, Madrid (sold 1871); Sir Francis Cook, Doughty House, Richmond (1871, sold by family 1964); (Rosenberg & Steibel)
  • Leone De Castris, Pierluigi. La pittura del Quattrocento a Napoli: 1400-1458 : da Ladislao D'Angiò-Durazzo ad Alfonso D'Aragona. 2020, 236. Mentioned: p. 246; Reproduced: p. 236, figs. 314-315.
    Berenson, Bernard. I disegni dei pittori fiorentini. Milano: Electa editrice, 1961. Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 129; Reproduced: vol. 3, fig. 175
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 79 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 79 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 1. European Paintings before 1500. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Reproduced: fig. 30A & 30B, p. 80 - 83; colorplate XVI
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 90 archive.org
    Boskovits, Miklós, ed. Italian Paintings from the 13th to 15th Century. Firenze, Italy: Polistampa, 2009. Mentioned: p. 155
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 276
  • Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
    Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).
  • {{cite web|title=Pair of Panels from a Triptych: The Archangel Michael and St. Anthony Abbot|url=false|author=Filippo Lippi|year=1458|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.150