active from 1317 -1356 · Siena, San Gimignano and Sienese Gothic

Gold backgrounds, elegant line and devotional gentleness place Lippo Memmi at the heart of the influence of Sienese painting in the 14th century.

Filippo di Memmo, known as Lippo Memmi, was probably born in Siena at the end of the 13th century. Son of the painter Memmo di Filippuccio, he belongs to a family of artists active between Siena and San Gimignano. His first major documented work is the Maestà painted in 1317 in the Palazzo del Popolo in San Gimignano. The Virgin sits in the center of a celestial courtyard where gold, fabrics and gestures order the image like a ceremony. Lippo becomes the collaborator and brother-in-law of Simone Martini, with whom he shares a workshop, models and clientele. Lippo becomes the collaborator and brother-in-law of Simone Martini, with whom he shares a workshop, models and clientele. Their Annunciation of 1333, signed jointly for the cathedral of Siena, brings Sienese Gothic elegance to a summit: flexible line, inscribed word and golden space transform the story into precious presence. Memmi creates frescoes, altarpieces, diptychs and small panels intended for private devotion. Virgin and Child with saints and angels shows how the hierarchy of scales, the punching of gold and the finesse of faces concentrate a theological universe in an intimate format. His workshop widely disseminated this language in Tuscany and beyond until his death in 1356. The "Lippo Memmi" selection notably compared Virgin and Child with saints and angels and The Crucifixion. His reading favors light.

In Lippo Memmi, gold is not a setting: it becomes the very space where the gaze, prayer and line meet.