LIPPI, Filippino
(b. ca. 1457, Prato, d. 1504, Firenze)

Apparition of The Virgin to St Bernard (detail)

1486
Oil on panel
Church of Badia, Florence

The vision of St Bernard which interrupts his scholarly pursuits, occurs not in the heavens but rather in the environment of the here and now, on earth. Behind Bernard, in the dark reaches of the rock, are two chained demons, while in the zone above, Cistercian monks converse or look heavenward in front of their fine Renaissance abbey.