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About the Artwork
These panels depicting Saints Anthony the Abbot and Michael originally flanked a central scene of the Madonna and Child with Angels, now lost, to form a triptych. Giovanni di Cosimo de’Medici of Florence commissioned the ensemble in 1457 as a gift to Alfonso V of Aragon. Fra Filippo Lippi, a Carmelite friar and one of the great masters of early Renaissance Florence, depicted realistic, weighty figures in a three-dimensional space using a system of linear perspective, inspired partly by Masaccio’s Brancacci Chapel, and reflected in the background architecture. Saint Anthony the Abbot rejected all earthly possessions in pursuit of a contemplative life in the desert. He is generally regarded as the founder of monasticism and is depicted wearing a monk’s habit. Saint Michael’s sword and shield refer to his role as heaven’s defender against evil.
Provenance
by 1457: Commissioned by Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici, Florence, as a gift for King Alfonso V of Aragon (Alfonso I of Naples) by 1458: Collection of King Alfonso V of Aragon (Alfonso I of Naples), Naples by 1871: Collection of Countess Sara Pacheco, Madrid 1871: Purchased by Sir John Charles Robinson, Madrid, for Sir Fancis Cook, Soughty House, Richmond, Surrey By descent to Sir Frederick Cook, Sir Herbert Cook, and their heirs by 1964: Rosenberg & Stiebel Inc., New York 1964: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965). Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971). Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007). Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Fra Filippo Lippi (Italian, c. 1406–1469)
- Date
- 1458
- Medium
- tempera on wood panel
- Dimensions
- Framed: 94 x 40 x 6.5 cm (37 x 15 3/4 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 81.3 x 29.8 x 3 cm (32 x 11 3/4 x 1 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1964.150.1
More by Fra Filippo Lippi in museum collections
Pair of Panels from a Triptych: The Archangel Michael and St. Anthony Abbot
Fra Filippo Lippi1458 · Painting
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009516
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