Maria Santi:
A Concerned Genius

It is unlikely that the Italian Renaissance artist Fra Filippo Lippi knew that in the books on aesthetics they would tell how he raised the social status of the artist by jumping out of the window.

He was left an orphan early, and at the age of eight he was sent to a monastery. “Fra” is the abbreviation of “fratello”, that is, “brother” is the official appeal of the monks to each other. Like most citizens of the Renaissance, he lived in a monastery not at all by vocation. Just as today sales managers go to work in the office, so the monasteries were a structure in which to feed. A skilled person could take a profitable position, and a curious person could get an education. According to biographer Vasari, “the boy proved to be as dexterous and resourceful in manual labor, as dumb and poorly receptive to the study of sciences, why he never felt the desire to apply his talent to them and make friends with them” *. But Filippo was not stupid. Kidnapped once by the Berber pirates, he freed himself by drawing with coal their leader.

Fra Filippo Lippi

Like most monks of that time, more than anything, he loved girls and revels. Of course, there were evil monks who had enough alcohol. But Lippi was primarily a love of life. He appreciated the company, jokes, flirted and fascinated people.

When he was 50, he stole from the monastery twenty-year-old Lucretia Buti. He made her a baby. And after a while he threw it. At 63 years old, according to rumors, the relatives of another young lover poisoned him.

And such a man worked for the gray cardinal of Florence Cosimo Medici. He, although he loved the philosophy of Plato, but dealt with the dissent without sentiment. In order to create a financial empire in an unstable medieval world, iron will was required. Cosimo knew two points of view: his and wrong.

Considering Lippi’s disposition, the Medici ordered him locked up for the night. “But he, having not been there for two days, prompted by a love, or rather, animal frenzy, cut with scissors strips of bed sheets, went down through the window and indulged in his delights for many days” *.

The artist injured his leg. But still I went to affordable women. What should the customer have done based on the logic of his character? At least break the second limb. But let us give the floor to history.

“Having not found him, Cosimo sent to look for him and in the end nevertheless returned to work; and since then he gave him the freedom to indulge in pleasures and repented very much for having kept him locked up before, mindful of his insanity and of the dangers that threatened him. And therefore, henceforth, he always tried to keep him with mercies, and by this he obtained great diligence from him, saying that in his superiority rare talents are like celestials, and not pack asses. ”*

What happened? Has a loan shark learned to respect the desires of those who work for him in one night? Unlikely. The painters then were something like bohemians: artisans who received a penny for their work. Cosimo at least was amazed that Lippi was not afraid of him. He also liked his work. “He was so appreciated for his high qualities that much of the reprehensible in his life was covered by the level that his valor reached” *.

After that, other artists began to appreciate slightly more. Of course, not everyone can jump from the window. But it’s clear that the art of taking risks can even reverse the crisis today.

* cited from the book of Giorgio Vasari "Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects."

Who wants to hear even more stories from the author of the article, come to the lecture-discussion “Violence in art” on Friday, January 30 at 19-30. The price and location can be found in the author’s group http://fb.com/proiskusstvo and by phone +7 (968) 434-24-61.