Filippino Lippi, son of the better-known Fra Filippo Lippi, was born in Florence and spent most of his life there, training in his father’s workshop and then in that of Botticelli, as well as receiving numerous commissions of his own. It was while he was working on one of these in the late 1480s – the family chapel of the banker Filippo Strozzi – that he was poached by the Neapolitan cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who asked Filippino to relocate to Rome and paint a cycle of frescoes for Carafa’s chapel there. His spell in the Eternal City is the subject of this exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which places works Filippino made there – such as a luscious tondo depicting the holy family and several sketches and studies for Carafa’s commission – with works he made before and after, showing the profound effect that his brief time in Rome had on him (until 22 Feb 2026).
Find out more from Cleveland Museum of Art’s website.
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