''Scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary'' (Italian - ''Le Storie della Vergine'') is a cycle of

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s by

Filippo Lippi Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest. Biography Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife. He was orp ...

Spoleto Cathedral Spoleto Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta; ''Duomo di Spoleto'') is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia created in 1821, previously that of the diocese of Spoleto, and the principal church of the Umbrian city of Spo ...

History

The cycle was commissioned in 1466, when Lippi had completed his ''

Stories of St. Stephen and St. John the Baptist The ''Stories of St. Stephen and St. John the Baptist'' is a fresco cycle by the Italian Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi and his assistants, executed between 1452 and 1465. It is located in the Great Chapel (''Cappella Maggiore'') of the Cat ...

'' at

Prato Cathedral Prato Cathedral, or Cathedral of Saint Stephen, ( it, Duomo di Prato; Cattedrale di San Stefano) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Prato, Tuscany, Central Italy, from 1954 the seat of the Bishop of Prato, having been previously, from 1653, a cathe ...

, and was abruptly terminated by Lippi's death in 1469, caused by poison according to Vasari's ''

Lives of the Artists ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

''. His studio assistants completed the work in around three months. Lippi was buried in Spoleto Cathedral despite

Lorenzo the Magnificent Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

's request for the remains to be returned to Florence - Spoleto replied that unlike Florence their great new cathedral had no illustrious men buried in it.

Scenes

From left to right the cycle shows: * Annunciation * Dormition (centre, out of chronological sequence, probably at the commissioner's request due to the cathedral's dedication to the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

Maria Pia Mannini, Marco Fagioli. ''Filippo Lippi. Catalogo completo.'' Firenze 1997. ) * Nativity * Coronation of the Virgin (high on the half-domed apse)

Gallery

File:Spoleto049.jpg, ''Annunciation'' File:Spoleto048.jpg, ''Dormition'' File:Spoleto050.jpg, ''Nativity'' File:Filippo Lippi, Coronation of the Virgin, Cathedral of Spoleto.jpg, ''Coronation''

References

{{Filippo Lippi Paintings by Filippo Lippi Church frescos in Italy Paintings in Umbria Paintings of the Death of the Virgin Paintings depicting the Annunciation Paintings of the Coronation of the Virgin Nativity of Jesus in art 1460s paintings Spoleto