Pala Magrini
Filippino Lippi·1483
Historical Context
Pala Magrini (1483), in the church of San Michele in Foro in Lucca, is an altarpiece commissioned for a Luccan patron — evidence of Lippi's expanding clientele beyond Florence in the early 1480s. Working outside Florence required him to accommodate local taste and iconographic preference while maintaining the aesthetic standards of his Florentine formation. The church of San Michele in Foro, an impressive Romanesque building in the centre of Lucca, provided a demanding architectural setting for a major altarpiece, and the Magrini family commission would serve both liturgical function and family commemoration.
Technical Analysis
The altarpiece format demands a vertical compositional hierarchy appropriate to public liturgical function, quite different from the more intimate formats Lippi used for private devotion. His arrangement of the sacred figures within the altarpiece's formal structure shows his ability to adapt compositional instincts to different architectural and devotional contexts.
