LIPPI, Fra Filippo
(b. 1406, Firenze, d. 1469, Spoleto)

Coronation of the Virgin (detail)

1441-47
Tempera on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

In the centre foreground of the altarpiece, a group of saints congregate. They are robustly rendered and without identifying attributes for the most part. Lippi had recourse to tiny lettering inscribed across their clothing to label some of these very human-looking heavenly courtiers as "sacred." Among them is a saintly family, very prominently displays at the right, disposed outward toward the viewer.