The youngest of the four sons of Mariano and Smeralda Filipepi, Alessandro, was born in Florence on Via Nuova (now Via del Porcellana) near the Arno River. Like many residents of this area, his father was engaged in the craft of a tanner, which was favored by the proximity of the Arno and the Mugnone tributary that flowed into it near Prato d'Ognisanti. We find the first mention of Alessandro, as well as other Florentine artists, in the so-called cadastre, where statements of income were made for taxation, which, in accordance with the decree of the Republic of 1427, the head of each Florentine family was obliged to make. So, in 1458, Mariano Filipepi indicated that he had four sons: Giovanni, Antonio, Simone and thirteen-year-old Sandro and added that Sandro was “learning to read, he is a sickly boy.” This phrase sheds light on the psychological makeup of the teenager: the illnesses he suffered in childhood obviously left a mark of melancholy on him, which later manifested itself in many of his paintings.

Series: Great Masters of Italian ArtISBN 5-85050-204- 1SLOVO/SLOVO, Moscow, edition in Russian, 1998