22 pages • 44-minute read
Fra Lippo Lippi
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Background
Literary Context: Browning’s Development of the Dramatic Monologue
In 1840, Browning published Sordella, a long poem in the style of Dante, that was widely ridiculed. For 15 years after that, Browning was considered a poor poet of little originality. After his elopement with the poet Elizabeth Barrett, Browning left England to reside in Italy and took in the culture there, while helping Elizabeth with her work. Italy inspired him to write about what he saw and read, and he crafted some poems of his own, several of which were lengthy dramatic monologues. These poems, including “Fra Lippo Lippi,” were collected into a volume called Men and Women in 1855. While many reviewers mentioned the strength of the poems in the collection, it didn’t sell well.
In this mid-career period, Browning favored writing such epic narrative poems which gave voice to unusual characters. “Fra Lippo Lippi” is one of the finest examples of Browning’s skill at the dramatic monologue. Fra Lippo Lippi’s concerns about morality and art had resonance for Browning’s Victorian audience, who also faced restrictions on the subject matter for creative work. This theme is also why “Fra Lippo Lippi” remains one of Browning’s most familiar and anthologized poems.
Browning’s work with the dramatic monologues in this volume did set the stage for his magnum opus, The Ring and the Book. In 1868, The Ring and the Book was published to great acclaim. The work became an overnight success and established Browning as a major English poet, rivaling only Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the poet laureate. Browning’s reputation was solidified and he became the undisputed master of the dramatic monologue. Due to this, new interest was paid to Browning’s older poems. “My Last Duchess,” “Porphyria’s Lover,” “Fra Lippo Lippi,” “Andrea del Sarto,” and “Childe Rolande to the Dark Tower Came” were soon considered exemplars of this form. Browning’s reputation still rests on his mastery of the dramatic monologue.
Historical Context: Fra Lippo Lippi
For his poem, Browning used Giorgio Varsi’s biography of the actual artist and monk, Filippo di Tommaso Lippi, who lived in Florence, Italy, circa 1406 to 1469. Fra Lippo Lippi, as he become known, was an important master of the Early Renaissance period, due to his technical proficiency and humanistic sympathy toward his subjects. According to Varsi, after his parents’ deaths, his aunt sent Lippi to the Santa Maria del Carmine convent, where he remained until the age of 17 (See: Further Reading & Resources). There, he was loathe to study and spent all his time making art. The Prior instructed him to emulate Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone’s technique, which he did to great success. By the 1430s his reputation was such that he went to work for Cosimo de Medici, leaving behind the monastery, but not his vows.
In 1439, Lippi began “Saint Jerome in Penance” for de Medici, which is when Browning sets the action of his poem. The historical Fra Lippo Lippi seems to have been widely known throughout Florence for spending his time and money on various illicit activities. Vasari writes of Fra Lippo Lippi even using bedsheets to escape from his locked room when de Medici tried to restrain Fra Lippo Lippi’s more riotous instincts. Browning uses this story in his poem, along with other facts.
However, some of the historical facts appear out of order. Fra Lippo Lippi’s painting “The Coronation of the Virgin” was painted later, in 1442. Despite this, Browning includes its conception in Fra Lippo Lippi’s mind, as he promises the guard a six-month turnaround. The painting did famously include a self-portrait which was considered subversive. Fra Lippo Lippi also began painting frescos in the chapel at Prato in 1452, which made use of the stories of St. John the Baptist, including the dance of Salome. His model for the figure of Salome—as well as images of the Madonna—was Lucrezia Buti, a young woman living at the Prato nunnery. Once she agreed to model for Fra Lippo Lippi, they began a sexual affair. He eventually kidnapped her from the nuns and they cohabitated, having two children, one of whom became a renowned painter himself. Browning may be alluding to Lucrezia by mention of “Saint Lucy” (Line 387) at the end of his poem, which is a blend of historical fact and poetic license.
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