For Lippi and others, a new naturalism grew alongside a new emphasis on stylistic variety. One sees it in the casual portrait drawings. The wealthy patrons never look ostentatious, even as their expressions never give away emotional conflict. Under the pressures of a personal style, realism no longer means earthiness or penetration deep beneath the everyday. It is a flight beyond.
Style serves as a vision.
The Met has a winner. For a better artist, perhaps, the puzzle might have fallen into place spontaneously. Some artists seem never to make mistakes from the start, but then there is only one Botticelli. There is also only one Fillipino Lippi. I was surprised by a large show almost exclusively of Lippi himself.