Filippo Lippi's Pala Martelli Returns to San Lorenzo After Restoration

Dated between 1439 and 1440, Filippo Lippi's Pala Martelli was commissioned by the sons of Niccolò Martelli to honor their father's testamentary wishes. Niccolò Martelli, along with the Medici, was a patron for the construction of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. The altarpiece, an Annunciation with stories of Saint Nicholas in the predella, was originally placed in the Martelli family chapel, also built with Niccolò's funds. After a two-year cleaning and restoration (2014–2016) fully funded by the Fondazione Friends of Florence, the work has returned to its original location. Painted on three supports—two hinged poplar panels forming the central altarpiece and a horizontal panel for the predella—the painting had long intrigued historians, who even hypothesized it was assembled from organ or cabinet doors. Previously restored in the early 20th century by Fabrizio Lucarini, the removal of protective varnishes that had darkened surfaces and altered colors revealed splendid transparencies and chromatisms, evidence of Lippi's mastery of egg tempera. Original halos in the central part and details in the lower register of the stories have reemerged, such as the golden spheres illuminating the scene of the Alms and the dramatic execution scene with a condemned man's face breaking the painting's elegiac quiet.