Madonna del Ceppo

Filippo Lippi's Madonna del Ceppo, painted around 1452 and now in the Palazzo Pretorio Museum, Prato, was created after Lippi moved to Prato to paint the famous fresco cycle in the cathedral. The name refers to the Ceppo charitable confraternity, which likely commissioned the work. Lippi's years in Prato (c. 1452-1466) were his most productive and dramatic, including the celebrated abduction of the nun Lucrezia Buti, who became the mother of his painter son Filippino.

Lippi's Prato-period technique shows increased confidence in spatial composition with a luminous palette, elegant figure drawing, and the refined decorative sensibility that bridges the gap between early and High Renaissance painting.