Cosimo de’ Medici, wishing liim to execute a work in his own palace,[1] shut him up, that he might not waste his time in running about; but having endured this confinement for two days, he then made ropes with the sheets of liis bed, which he cut to pieces for that purpose, and so having let himself down from a window, escaped, and for several days gave himself up to his amusements. When Cosimo found that the painter had disappeared, he caused him to be sought, and Fra Filippo at last returned to his work, but from that time forward Cosimo gave him liberty to go in and out at his pleasure, repenting greatly of having previously shut him up, when he considered the danger that Fra Filippo had incurred by his folly in descending from the window; and ever afterwards, labouring to keep him to his work by kindness only, he was by this means much more promptly and effectually served by the painter, and was wont to say that the excellencies of rare genius were as forms of light and not beasts of burden.
For the church of Santa Maria Primerana,[2] on the piazza of Fiesole, Fra Filippo painted a picture, wherein he depicted Our Lady receiving the Annunciation from the angel. This work exhibits extraordinary care, and there is so much beauty in the figure of the angel, that it appears to be indeed a celestial messenger.[3] This master executed two pictures for the nuns of the Murate; one, an Annunciation, is placed on the high altar; the other, presenting stories from the lives of San Benedetto and San Bernardo, is on another altar of the same church.[4] In the palace of the Signori a Fra Filippo likewise painted a picture of the Annunciation, which is over a door; with another representing San Bernardo, placed over another door in the same palace. In the sacristy of Santo Spirito, in Florence, is a painting by this master, representing the Virgin surrounded by angels, and
- ↑ Two paintings by Fra Filippo, formerly in the Palazzo Medici are now in possession of the Brothers Metzger of Florence. The one is an Annunciation. In the other are seven Saints seated, St. John in the centre; both are finished with exquisite care.—Ed. Flor. 1849.
- ↑ This work is now in the neighbouring residence of the Canons.
- ↑ This picture was sold many years since, and is conjectured to be now in the Pinacoteck of Munich.— Ed. Flor. 1849.
- ↑ The convent was suppressed in 1812, and the fate of these two pictures is unknown.
