A lecture by Kevin Murphy
In 1550, the historian Giorgio Vasari wrote that while the painter and Carmelite friar Filippo Lippi was working in Prato in the 1450s and 1460s, he encountered the young nun Lucrezia Buti and persuaded her convent to allow her to sit as a model for the Virgin Mary. According to Vasari, Lippi later “carried her off” during a religious procession; the couple lived openly together, and Lucrezia bore him a son, the painter Filippino Lippi. This talk explores these dramatic events through the streets, buildings, and institutions of Prato where Lippi lived and worked, and where Lucrezia entered religious life. It also examines the boundary between fact and fiction, asking how much of this scandalous narrative is supported by historical evidence, and why these events have continued to fascinate artists and writers ever since.
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please register here or send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it
The registration fee is 15 Euro per person.
To join this lecture online, simply click on this link to register and receive the Zoom meeting invitation: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/5hfHbNCPRFuz6gaTbuQcFQ. The virtual doors will open at 18:00 Italian time on Wednesday 1st April.
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