Fra Filippo LippiItalian, 1406–1469Seven Saints
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Seven Saints” now? The National Gallery, Room 60, London. Yes, on view now. Checked October 12, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
Closed· opens at 10:00 AM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum's website
About the painting
Seven Saints is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian Renaissance master Filippo Lippi, dating to c. 1449–1459, in the collection of the National Gallery, London. It is a pendant to Lippi's Annunciation, also in the National Gallery. The lunettes were commissioned as part of the decoration of the Palazzo Medici in Florence, where they were likely placed above a door or a bed.
Read on
There is general agreement on Lippi's authorship of the panels, but their dating is less certain; they were produced some time between Lorenzo the Magnificent's birth in 1449 and the completion of the palace's furnishing in 1459. That their patron belonged to the Medici family is testified by the presence of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici's coat of arms in the other lunette, and by the link between the saints depicted in this panel and the male members of the family. Piero di Cosimo lived in Palazzo Medici from 1456.
In the center is Saint John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence, flanked by the Saints Cosmas and Damian (protectors of the Medici, and in particular of Cosimo de' Medici, Piero's father). On the right, in the foreground, is Saint Peter of Verona, protector of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, and next to him is Saint John the Evangelist, protector of his brother Giovanni. On the left, in the foreground, are Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron of Pierfrancesco the Elder (Piero's cousin), and Saint Lawrence, patron of his uncle, Lorenzo the Elder.
Both lunettes were acquired in 1855 from the Metzger brothers by Sir Charles Eastlake and donated to the National Gallery in 1861.
Details
- Accession number
- NG667
In the catalog
Display history
On view · Room 60
The National Gallery · Oct 12, 2026 — now · Verified
Whether it was on view is unknown
The National Gallery · Sep 29, 2026 — Oct 12, 2026 · Unconfirmed
Sources
- Wikidata
- Image: The National Gallery — Filippo Lippi · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
In the life of Fra Filippo Lippi
The whole life1438
Domenico Veneziano ranks him with Fra Angelico
In 1438 Domenico Veneziano, in a letter to Piero de’ Medici, ranks Filippo Lippi with Fra Beato Angelico as the best painter in Florence.
1439
“The poorest friar in Florence”: six marriageable nieces
In a letter of 1439 Lippi describes himself as the poorest friar of Florence, charged with the maintenance of six marriageable nieces.
probably from 1439
Probably a house of his own instead of the monastery
From 1439, probably, Filippo no longer lives in the monastery but has a house of his own.
23 February 1442
Rector of the church of San Quirico in Legnaia
On 23 February 1442 Pope Eugene IV appoints Lippi “prior and praiseworthy abbot” of the church of San Quirico in Legnaia near Florence; other accounts date his appointment as rector of San Quirico to 1457.
