Filippo Lippi’s celebrated Madonna and Child painting is back at Palazzo Medici Riccardi after being on display at Palazzo Strozzi and the Louvre in Paris.
The painting formed part of an exhibition titled The Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence, 1400-1460, which began at Palazzo Strozzi in March 2013 and moved to the Louvre in September. After the show’s recent conclusion on January 6, 2014, the iconic work has returned to its rightful home.
The exhibitions gathered some 140 works, divided into 10 thematic sections. Lippi’s painting, originally intended for private devotional use, was part of a section titled The Diffusion of Beauty. His work was juxtaposed with that of Luca della Robbia, a sculptor within Donatello’s circle.
The Madonna and Child is thought to have been part of the Medici collections, traveling quite a bit over the years. After passing into the hands of the Riccardi family, the painting moved to Castelpulci from Palazzo Medici Riccardi, then to the former convent of San Salvi and, finally, to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi once again. Restored in 1972, it has been on display there since 1985.
