"Abundant invention and a special intelligence define Filippino Lippi’s works as presented by Nelson, who matches those qualities in his analysis of the artist’s career. Filippino emerges here in all of his creative versatility. Nelson demonstrates the painter’s stylistic sensitivity, showing how he met the demands of different situations with striking and innovative solutions. Highly praised in his time, Filippino provoked new ways of looking. Nelson, in turn, provides a fascinating new way of seeing Lippi and his works."

Patricia Rubin, emerita professor of art history, New York University

"Nelson's book combines a rigorous historical approach with an admirable openness to ideas that make it the most sophisticated and well-rounded monograph on the artist yet written. By thoughtfully defining the special qualities of this inventive painter, Nelson offers his readers new insights into how Filippino's work was understood by his contemporaries and how his inventiveness mattered in his own time."

Christian K. Kleinbub, professor of Italian Renaissance art, Ohio State University