Lippo Vanni

Lippo Vanni (Lippo di Vanni), Italian painter and illuminator. He is documented as a painter and illuminator in Siena between 1344 and 1375, and in 1360 and 1373 he took part in the General Council of Siena. The earliest work attributed to him is the illumination of the choirbooks for the Collegiata at San Gimignano (c. 1340-42; San Gimignano, Museo Arte Sacra), in which the supple movement and individuality of figures and scenes already show the expressive quality characteristic of Lippo's later documented work. In these illuminations the decorated initial is conceived as an aperture and not a framing device, and even principal figures are often only partially visible. Lippo treated the historiated initial in different ways in each major series of illuminations. In a Gradual for the Collegiata at Casole d'Elsa, near Siena, bold and brilliant colour contrasts and harmonies unify the letter and its historiation; architectural details are more complex and are used to create an impression of greater depth. This spatial effect is undoubtedly a response to the art of Pietro Lorenzetti, as is the treatment of form; the figures, although often dynamic, are more compact and solid, and their faces are distinctly modelled.

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