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The Funeral of Saint Stephen
Also known as: Celebration of the Relics of Saint Stephen
About the Artwork
Since frescoes in 15th-century Italy often presented complex narratives, details of storytelling had to be carefully worked out before beginning to paint on wet plaster. Here Fra (Father) Filippo Lippi made a preliminary plan for a composition depicting the funeral of Saint Stephen, part of his fresco cycle on the lives of Saints Stephen and John the Baptist in the cathedral of Prato. His use of the free-flowing but permanent medium of ink allows us to see today the areas where he changed his mind—such as the placement of Stephen’s head and the figure at the altar.
Inscriptions
verso of secondary support, center, in brown ink: Pordonone Fece
Provenance
Possibly Giorgio Vasari, Arezzo Paul Oswald, Locarno 1922 (?): Carl O. Schniewind, Zurich and Chicago ca. 1936: possibly Ludwig Rosenthal, Bern and Munich ca. 1936: with Dr. F. A. Drey, Munich 1936: with P & D Colnaghi, London Colonel Norman Colville, London with P & D Colnaghi, London ca. 1947: with Dr. August Maria Klipstein (1885-1951), Bern 1947: with Richard H. Zinser, Forest Hills, NY. Paul Oswald, Locarno, Switzerland 1947: Purchased by Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 18-October 11, 1960). Paintings by Old Masters. P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. (organizer) (June 15-July 16, 1960). The Renaissance Image of Man and the World. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 27, 1961). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-31, 1964). Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971). Italian Drawings with von Hirsh Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 15-December 4, 1978). Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987). Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988). The Drawings of Filippino Lippi and His Circle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (October 27, 1997-January 11, 1998). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2019-January 5, 2020). Botticelli: The Drawings. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (November 18, 2023-February 11, 2024) https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/botticelli-drawings.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Fra Filippo Lippi (Italian, c. 1406–1469)
- Date
- c. 1460
- Medium
- pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash with traces of stylus over traces of black chalk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 24.9 x 19.3 cm (9 13/16 x 7 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 24.9 x 19.3 cm (9 13/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1947.70
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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-00011065
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