The Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist, Catherine of Alexandria, Mary Magdalene, Bartholomew, Dorothy and Julian the Hospitaller

The Florentine artist Lipp d’Andrea was formerly known as the Pseudo-Ambrogio di Baldese, until he was correctly identified by Serena Padovani in 1979 (S. Padovani, ‘San Michele Arcangelo’, in Tesori d’arte antica a San Miniato al Tedesco, Genoa,1979, pp. 55-57; see also L.B. Kanter, Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 1300-1450, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1995, p. 318). Lippo was commissioned in 1411 to paint the fresco façade of the Palazzo del Ceppo, Prato, alongside Ambrogio di Baldese, Niccolò di Pietro Gerini and Alvaro di Pietro. In 1434-36, on the occasion of the completion of Brunelleschi’s dome, he was selected to paint frescoes of the apostles for the tribune chapels of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, together with Bicci di Lorenzo, Giovanni dal Ponte and Rossello di Jacopo Franchi. Given the number of surviving paintings ascribed to Lippo today, and taking into account the distinguished nature of some of these commissions, he appears to have been a prolific painter who enjoyed significant commercial success during his lifetime.

We are grateful to Prof. Mauro Minardi for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs. At the time of its exhibition in 1995, this painting was offered with expertise by Prof. Gaudenz Freuler, attributing it to Lorenzo di Niccolò.