Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/186

152 self engaged in another tedious law-suit respecting a picture of St. Jerome, which he had agreed to paint for Lorenzo de' Manetti. As usual the unscrupulous artist had taken the money without painting the picture, and was condemned to be publicly excommunicated by the Archbishop.

Meanwhile the frescoes in the church at Prato, which Filippo had engaged to execute, in 1452, and for which he had already received considerable sums, were still unfinished. After repeated entreaties and remonstrances. Carlo de' Medici, the illegitimate son of Cosimo, who became Rector of Prato, in 1460, at length induced the Friar to resume the long-neglected work, and the frescoes were finally completed in 1464. On the right wall of the choir, the artist painted scenes from the life of the Baptist; on the left he represented the history of St. Stephen, the patron-saint of Prato. These frescoes are Fra Lippo's most important works, and reveal his really great powers of design and execution. The grandeur of the composition and dramatic vigour with which the story is told, the animation and variety of the individual figures and the admirable proportions and perspective of the architecture justify the high praise bestowed upon the friar's works by Morelli, who compares them with Mantegna's frescoes at Padua, and pronounces them to be among the noblest creations of the fifteenth century. The early subjects from the Baptist's life abound in fascinating episodes and graceful figures, whose classical design and flowing lines prove Fra Lippo to have been an attentive student of antique models. Especially attractive is the simple and touching scene in which the young