Fra Lippo Lippi

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning (1842)

“My Last Duchess,” like “Fra Lippo Lippi,” is one of Browning’s most famous and anthologized dramatic monologues. Ekphrastic in nature, it too is loosely based on historical events. Here, the wealthy Duke of Ferrara reveals art objects to show off his status, including a portrait of his late wife, whom he reveals he’s had killed for her infidelity. He keeps the image of her as a trophy and a reminder. Art, like women, are only objects to be collected and there is a similarity to the Duke’s views and the Prior’s, although the Duke is far more sinister. Sexuality is considered sinful here as well.

“Andrea del Sarto” by Robert Browning (1855)

Also in Men and Women, “Andrea del Sarto” is a dramatic monologue about another Renaissance painter who lived in Florence. Again, Browning used the work of Giorgio Vasari as source material. In this poem, the aging Andrea addresses his poor life choices to his wife, Lucrezia, a conceit reminiscent of “Fra Lippo Lippi.” Andrea and Lucrezia’s marital connection is waning and she seems to have a lover. Like Fra Lippo Lippi, Andrea feels like a failure and compares himself to other artists—in this case, Michelangelo and Raphael. This poem contains one of Browning’s most famous lines about art: “Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp / Or what's a heaven for?” (Lines 97-98). While Andrea has shown technical proficiency, he lacks the passion and spirit of other artists. He knows this is in part caused by his choosing Lucrezia’s wishes over his artistic career, but he still loves her. Both Andrea and Fra Lippo Lippi are stuck in situations that trap them.

“Youth and Art” by Robert Browning (1864)

This is a shorter dramatic monologue about art and love, centered on a young woman who once trained as an opera singer and her feelings for the artist who lived opposite her. The young people can see in each other’s windows, and she is attracted to him. It is Springtime, yet the two never connect romantically. As time passes, they both eventually fail as artists and decide to move in different directions. She “marrie[s] a rich old lord / and [he’s] dubbed knight and an R.A.” (Lines 59-60). There is regret for these choices, even though they are socially acceptable. Like Lippo and Andrea del Sarto, the woman feels she has missed out on finding true passion. She believes she and the former artist have “not sighed deep, laughed free / Starved, feasted, despaired—been happy” (Lines 63-64). Like Browning’s other artists, she thinks she had one chance, missed it, and now is trapped in her current life.