Beauty can be a gift-or a wicked temptation. So it is for Filippo Lippi, growing up in Renaissance Florence. He has a talent-not only can he see the beauty in everything, he can capture it, paint it. But while beauty can seduce you and art can transport you-it cannot always feed you or protect you.

To survive, Pippo Lippi, orphan, street urchin, budding rogue, must first become Fra Filippo Lippi: Carmelite friar, man of God. His life will take him down two paths at once. He will become a gambler, a forger, a seducer of nuns; and at the same time he will be the greatest painter of his time, the teacher of Botticelli and the confidante of the Medicis.

So who is he really-lover, believer, father, teacher, artist? Is anything true except the paintings?