Artibus et Historiae no. 37 (XIX)
1998, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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CARLO DEL BRAVO - Filippino and the Stoicism
In two paintings by Filippino Lippi we read "Sustine et abstine", which is a motto of Epictetus the Stoic. Following this observation, the present essay tries to identify in the corpus of the artist the visual renderings of Stoic tenets such as Providence govern`ing the universe, the protection of daemons, divination, the greatness of the human mind, theoretical ethics, not to mention the Epictetus' own persuasion that endurance and abstinence can free the soul from phantasms and ensure peace and goodÂness. In Filippino's paintings equanimity seems to be formally expressed by exact, and imagination by altered, proportions; the grottesche seem to express the other people's phantasms.