_Fra Filippo Lippi_ (Florentine: about 1406-1469). _See_ 666.
"St. Bernard was remarkable for his devotion to the blessed Virgin; one
of his most celebrated works, the _Missus est_, was composed in her
honour as mother of the Redeemer; and in eighty sermons from the Song
of Solomon he set forth her divine perfection. His health was extremely
feeble; and once, when he was employed in writing his homilies, and was
so ill that he could scarcely hold the pen, she graciously appeared
to him, and comforted and restored him by her divine presence" (Mrs.
Jameson: _Legends of the Monastic Orders_, p. 152). Notice the peculiar
shape of the picture, the upper corners of the square being cut away.
The picture was painted in 1447 (the artist receiving 40 _lire_, equal
now perhaps to £60, for it and another work) to fit a space over
the door of the Palazzo della Signoria at Florence. "Have you ever
considered, in the early history of painting, how important is the
history of the frame-maker? It is a matter, I assure you, needing your
very best consideration, for the frame was made before the picture. The
painted window is much, but the aperture it fills was thought of before
it. The fresco by Giotto is much, but the vault it adorns was planned
first ... and in pointing out to you this fact, I may once for all
prove to, you the essential unity of the arts" (_Ariadne Florentina_,
§§ 59, 60).