Directorâs Remarks
In the fall of 2017 Paula and Geoffrey Nuttall concluded their stay at the NIKI with a conference on the Florentine painter Filippino Lippi (1457-1504). As Scholars-in-Residence in Florence both had worked on different topics, Paula on a group of comic-grotesque drawings attributed to Verrocchio, and Geoffrey on the di Poggio, Magrini and Bernardi families of Lucca. In the introduction to this volume Paula explains why they choose the Florentine painter as the subject of a conference. The incredible efficiency and speed with which they brought together eighteen colleagues from various countries attests to the fact that interest in Filippino Lippi is very much alive, as the great turnout also demonstrated. A group of international scholars discussed this most versatile, original and dazzling of renaissance artists. The papers, here collected, offer new insights into Filippinoâs artistic relationship to his father, to Botticelli and to his Lucchese patrons. The authors explore variously questions of style and vision with reference to Lippiâs portraits, his response to Netherlandish painting, his treatment of space and light, his followers and aspects of his artistic legacy, as well as presenting new technical evidence on the Strozzi Chapel. I wish to conclude these brief remarks by expressing my sincere gratitude to Paula and Geoffrey Nuttall for their dedication to editing the conference proceedings and for having provided us with the opportunity to continue the debate and enrich our knowledge and appreciation of this exceptional painter.
Michael W. Kwakkelstein
Director Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence