Widely admired for his paintings of exquisitely beautiful Madonnas, Florentine Renaissance friar-artist Fra Filippo Lippi (c. 1407-69) gained renown also for his love affair with the nun Lucrezia who bore their son, Filippino Lippi, later a well-known painter himself. In this book, Megan Holmes shines new light on Lippi's life and career, from the first paintings he created while a friar in Santa Maria del Carmine to the later works he painted when living outside the monastery for the Medici family, their supporters, and other patrons. Focusing especially on the fascinating conjunction of Lippi's work as a painter and his experiences as a Carmelite friar, Holmes transforms our understanding of Filippo Lippi and of the way art was produced and viewed in fifteenth-century Florence.