Madonna of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

Filippo Lippi's Madonna of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, painted around 1466 and still in the Palazzo Medici, is one of his final works, painted as his career was ending — he died in 1469 while working on the Spoleto Cathedral frescoes. The Medici palace, designed by Michelozzo for Cosimo de' Medici, housed one of the most significant private art collections in Italy, and a Madonna panel for the palace chapel was among the most prestigious private commissions available. Lippi's relationship with the Medici family had been sustained throughout his career — Cosimo had protected him from ecclesiastical consequences after his scandalous relationship with a nun — and this late work for their palace represents the culmination of a lifetime's patronage relationship.

Lippi's late devotional style achieves peak refinement with translucent veils, soft modeling, and the dreaming, melancholic beauty of his Madonna type that profoundly influenced his pupil Botticelli.