Saint Dominic

Saint Dominic at the Courtauld Gallery, dating to about 1460, depicts the founder of the Dominican order with the attributes of his black and white habit and a lily. Lippi, though himself a Carmelite, painted for various religious orders across Florence and the surrounding region, adapting his devotional imagery to each patron's specific requirements. His influence on the next generation of Florentine painting was decisive: his pupil Sandro Botticelli took Lippi's lyrical elegance and developed it into the mythological paintings that became the defining images of Medici humanist culture.

The Dominican founder is rendered with dignified simplicity, Lippi's refined technique capturing the contrast between the black cope and white habit with subtle tonal variations and precise drapery folds.