ANGELICO, Fra

This panel, which probably originally belonged to the San Domenico altarpiece. It is assumed that it represents John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407), one of the early Greek Fathers of the Church, the archbishop of Constantinople.

This painting is the central part of the predella of the Linaioli Tabernacle. The main panel of the tabernacle shows the Madonna with the Child, while the three predella pictures the Predicament of St Peter, the Adoration of the Magi and the Martyrdom of St Mark, respectively.

In the predella below the Annunciation, near the two farthest edges, two scenes are painted (23 x 14 cm each). The first represent the Birth of the Virgin, the other The Virgin Consigns the Habit to St Dominic. There are five central scenes of the life of the Virgin, one after the other without interruption (23 x 183 cm), namely (from the left). Marriage of the Virgin, The Visitation, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Death of the Virgin.

This picture shows the scene of The Adoration of the Magi.

The austerity of this painting seems a reinterpretation of Gentile da Fabriano’s magnificent altarpiece that focuses on the solemnity of Epiphany rather than the splendour of the Magi’s entourage or the richness of their garments.

This detail of the tondo by Angelico and Lippi shows the Virgin, the only one of the main figures in the work considered to be by Angelico. Comparison between her head and those of the Magus kneeling before her and Joseph to her left, reveals that they are modelled in completely different fashions.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 39 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

One cell at the end of the corridor for lay brothers was distinguished by its occupant and size. It was intended for Cosimo de’ Medici, who belonged to the community by virtue of his patronage. His room, in fact, was a double cell (Cells 38 and 39), in which the superimposed chambers were joined by a short flight of stairs. Of all the cells along this corridor, Cosimo’s was the most spacious and elaborately decorated. On the entrance wall of the lower room (Cell 38) Fra Angelico painted the crucified Christ against a ground of costly lapis lazuli, rather than the bare plaster background found in the other cells. The inscribed haloes identify the saints kneeling alongside the Virgin as Cosmas, Peter martyr and John the Evangelist, protectors of Cosimo, his oldest son, and his father, Giovanni di Bicci.

The Adoration of the Magi and the image of Christ as Man of Sorrows in the recessed tabernacle below met Cosimo’s gaze once he ascended the stairs to Cell 39. Benozzo Gozzoli, whose style closely resembled that of Angelico, and an assistant painted these frescoes, as shown by the slightly awkward stance and proportions of some of the figures as well as by their linear, closely spaced facial features.

Although the original location of this altarpiece is the Convento di San Vincenzo d’Annalena, it seems to have been painted for the double chapel of the Medici family, dedicated to Sts Cosmas and Damian and located on the south transept of San Lorenzo, Florence. In the mid-1430s, San Lorenzo was still under construction. The represented saints on the altarpiece are the patron saints of the male members of the Medici dynasty, and the predella (executed by Zanobi Strozzi) contains scenes from the life of Sts Cosmas and Damian.

In the rhythmic treatment of the architectural elements, Fra Angelico inserts figures that will later serve as the starting point for his most gifted pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli.

The painting got the name from its original location, the Convento di San Vincenzo d’Annalena, founded by Annalena Malatesta.

This is Angelico’s second sacra conversazione, and shares many elements in common with its forerunner, the San Marco altarpiece. Unlike the San Marco altarpiece, however, there are no angels here and the Virgin and Child are in the company only of Sts Peter Martyr, Cosmas, Damian, John the Evangelist, Lawrence and Francis. Although they have left their individual panels, never to return, there is still an echo of these in the blank arches of the wall which closes the back of the picture.

The high wall and its pink cornice run the full width of the panel. The natural world, which was the setting of the first altarpiece, is now confined to the grass and flowers at the very front of the picture. There is no carpet on the ground here and the foreground is much shallower than in the earlier work. The method of space projection remains basically the same and relies on the receding rectangles of the steps to the throne and of its cornice. An element common to both altarpieces is the use of a carpet running across the back of the picture parallel to the picture plane.

The painting is a repetition of the main panel of the Prado Altarpiece in a more refined architectural setting. The altarpiece is the work of Fra Angelico with an intervention of his collaborators only in the predella pictures.

In a loggia of columns and arches, the angel appears to Mary. Shown in profile, he occupies the larger part of the painting, his richly painted wings extending out through the colonnade, their upper tips marking the centre of the picture. He declaims to the Virgin, ‘the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee’ (Luke 1, v. 35). She, demure, with a dove fluttering above her head in a burst of golden light, inclines towards him and responds, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word’ (Luke 1, v. 38). Beyond them the picture space extends into the Virgin’s chamber, and further, hidden space is hinted at by the bed curtain there which serves also to set off Gabriel’s nimbus.

Outside the loggia is a delicately painted garden, enclosed by a palisade, symbolic of Mary’s virginity. Carved in a roundel above the centre column is a half-length effigy of Isaiah, who had prophesied the birth of a child to a virgin. The pink entablature of the loggia points to the second reference to the Old Testament, in the top left corner, where Adam and Eve are expelled from Paradise.

Undoubtedly Angelico’s first truly great painting, this Annunciation formed a prototype for a noble line of derivatives.

Although the themes and settings of the scenes are varied, Angelico united the ensemble with consistently scaled figures, architecture and horizons. The Annunciation takes place within a deep, open courtyard framed by twin porticos, inspired by the architecture of the church.

Throughout the cycle, parallel and prophetic texts amplify the resonance of every scene. In the Annunciation, the quotations from the Book of Isaiah and the Gospel of Luke are virtually identical in phrasing, confirming, according to Christian exegesis, that Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled through the Incarnation and divinely ordered.

The attribution and the datation of this painting was long debated. However, after a successful restoration it is today appreciated as one of the painter’s masterpieces. The artist returned time after time to his favourite theme of the angel bringing the news and the devout Mary in a posture of humble acceptance.

The size of the main panel is 149 x 158 cm, while the five predella panels, representing five scenes of the life of the Virgin (the Marriage of the Virgin, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, and the Funeral of the Virgin), have the size of 17 x 26 cm each.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 3 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

On the left St Peter the Martyr is represented. This is a favourite theme, here simplified. A contribution of Angelico’s pupils can be assumed.

The composition of this fresco is severe in the extreme. The Virgin inhabits not a house but a cell as Spartan as that in which the fresco is painted, and beyond Gabriel and Mary the eye meets only a plain blank wall. The one piece of decoration, the capital of the column, is deliberately obscured by the wing of the angel. Here and throughout the series the pallet is extremely restrained, as if Angelico thought rich and varied colours were as likely as decoration to distract the friars from spiritual contemplation.

The picture shows the angel of the Annuciation wearing precious garment embroidered with gold.

The picture shows the Virgin of the Annuciation wearing precious garment embroidered with gold.

The superimposed scenes are portrayed on a golden ground, the elaborately tooled patterns and rich array of colours of which seem inspired by the exquisite textiles and chromatic brilliance of Gentile da Fabriano’s altarpiece.

This painting was part of the predella which belonged to a triptych of the Madonna and Child with Four Saints (known as the Compagnia di San Francesco Altarpiece), commissioned for the convent of Santa Croce in Florence 1429. The five predella panels depicting scenes from the life of St Francis of Assisi are the following:

1. Trial by Fire (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

2. Receiving the Stigmata (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome)

3. Meeting of St Francis and St Dominic (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

4. Apparition of St Francis at Arles (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

5. Lamentation over St Francis (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

Among the predella panels, the Apparition of St Francis at Arles is especially remarkable for its deep architectural setting, its luminary effects and its atmospheric perspective.

Two panels in Detroit represent the Annunciation at the moment when the angel Gabriel greets the Virgin. She responds in a gesture of humble acceptance, crossing her arms over her chest. In her right hand she holds a small red bound book. She has marked the place by her finger.

The original provenance and function of these two panels is uncertain. Though they are clearly fragments, it has never been ascertained whether they had been cut out of a larger composition, were the subsidiary part of an altarpiece, or constituted the wings of a diptych

This picture is the second from the right on the predella. The legend of Sts Cosmas and Damian, twin brothers who were famed for making no charges for their services as physicians, is outlined in the predella panels of this San Marco altarpiece. Several attempts to put them to death failed, until the last, pictured here. The final moments of the two brothers are shown set against one of Angelico’s finest landscapes. Outside a town with fortifications akin to those of Jerusalem in his Deposition, the two saints wait to join the three headless figures in the foreground. The greatest emphasis falls on the one who kneels directly in front of a row of five cypresses which runs parallel to the picture plane. The trees can be taken to symbolize the five being executed.

In the predella below the Annunciation, near the two farthest edges, two scenes are painted. The first represent the Birth of the Virgin, the other The Virgin Consigns the Habit to St Dominic. There are five central scenes of the life of the Virgin, one after the other without interruption, namely (from the left). Marriage of the Virgin, The Visitation, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Death of the Virgin.

This picture shows the scene of the Birth of the Virgin.

This altarpiece was painted by Angelico after his return from Rome for the Franciscan convent of Bosco ai Frati in Mugello. It was probably commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici who started the renovation of the convent in 1438. The altarpiece represents the Virgin and Child enthroned with two angels, and Sts Anthony of Padua, Louis of Toulouse and Francis (on the left), as well as Sts Cosmas, Damian and Peter Martyr (on the right).

The altarpiece shows further developments of the formula that underlies his earlier sacra conversazione. The architecture is richer and more plastic, so that its articulation of the picture space is partly camouflaged. The throne has been widened and heightened, now looking like the apse of a small church, bringing greater emphasis to the Virgin and Child at the expense of the saints. The wall is enlivened by a series of recessions and projections in the form of niches and half ionic columns. Although the grass and flowers have been excluded from the foreground, the natural world reasserts itself, albeit in a symmetrical composition, behind the wall.

This altarpiece was painted by Angelico after his return from Rome for the Franciscan convent of Bosco ai Frati in Mugello. It was probably commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici who started the renovation of the convent in 1438. The altarpiece represents the Virgin and Child enthroned with two angels, and Sts Anthony of Padua, Louis of Toulouse and Francis (on the left), as well as Sts Cosmas, Damian and Peter Martyr (on the right).

The altarpiece shows further developments of the formula that underlies his earlier sacra conversazione. The architecture is richer and more plastic, so that its articulation of the picture space is partly camouflaged. The throne has been widened and heightened, now looking like the apse of a small church, bringing greater emphasis to the Virgin and Child at the expense of the saints. The wall is enlivened by a series of recessions and projections in the form of niches and half ionic columns. Although the grass and flowers have been excluded from the foreground, the natural world reasserts itself, albeit in a symmetrical composition, behind the wall.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 31 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

In contrast to most frescoes in the cells of the friars and novices, those in the corridor of the lay brethren are illustrative narratives that closely follow the Gospel of Matthew. These portrayals were directed to a community that was less attuned to theological and visual abstraction. Many of the scenes are situated in mountainous landscapes or detailed architectural settings. In Christ in Limbo, scaly demons hide in the rocky fissures of Purgatory while the faithful escape the darkness of Limbo to rush toward the resurrected Christ.

The contribution of an assistant can be assumed in the execution of this fresco.

In the summer of 1447 Fra Angelico, assisted by Benozzo Gozzoli and several other minor artists, had painted a fresco of the Prophets in one of the triangular ceiling vaults and Christ the Judge in another in the Chapel of San Brizio, a large Gothic construction built around 1408 in the Orvieto Cathedral. The remaining sections of the ceiling were painted by Luca Signorelli in 1499-1502.

In the centre of the quadrant above the altar, Christ proffers the globe of the universe as he raises his right hand to summon the dead from their graves. Seated upon banks of clouds against a golden background, he radiates a gilded aureole of light, the scintillating rays of which illuminate the faces and garments of the seraphim surrounding him.

In the summer of 1447 Fra Angelico, assisted by Benozzo Gozzoli and several other minor artists, had painted a fresco of the Prophets in one of the triangular ceiling vanes and Christ the Judge in another in the Chapel of San Brizio, a large Gothic construction built arounf d 1408 in the Orvieto Cathedral. The remaining sections of the ceiling were painted by Luca Signorelli in 1499-1502.

In the Temple, Christ is presented for circumcision. The table takes centre stage and its receding top leads the eye back to the choir. The forms of the three figures in the foreground are echoed in the background by the three arched walls of the choir and their windows. The chiefly vertical fall of the draperies of all the figures is painted with great discrimination, and echoes the fluting of the pilasters.

The altarpiece Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome, John the Baptist, Francis and Onophrius is known as the Compagnia di San Francesco Altarpiece.

Fra Angelico’s renown extended beyond the congregations of his Order. In accord with the mission of Saint Dominic to evangelize, the friar expressed the lessons of his faith for numerous clients. Documents demonstrate that a range of patrons sought his work throughout the 1420s. In 1429, the penitential confraternity of San Francesco, which met in the cloister of Santa Croce, paid Fra Angelico (‘frate Guido’) for its altarpiece. Though the altarpiece was cut apart at some point in its history, its components have been identified. The central and lateral panels are in the Museo di San Marco, Florence, while the predella panels are dispersed in various collections.

This scene is the left half the fresco below the lunette on the east wall. The right half depicts the martyrdom of St Lawrence. The two are linked by the cornice which, although it changes in its detailing, is essentially common to both scenes.

The composition of Condemnation of St Lawrence by the Emperor Valerian owes much to Angelico’s earlier sacra conversazione. The wall broken into sections by pilasters, hung with a rich ornamental curtain and incorporating a lofty architectural throne, is familiar from the Annalena altarpiece of a couple of years before. Various soldiers and city worthies stand in a circle before the Emperor, helping to create a sense of depth without the assistance of any converging orthogonals in the foreground.

This altarpiece, exhibited now in the Mus�e du Louvre together with its seven predella pictures, was executed for the church San Domenico in Fiesole, and it is one of the most famous of Fra Angelico’s works. It is a good example of the painter’s art of tempera painting with fresh colours that have not changed. On the predella the story of San Domenico is depicted.

In this altarpiece Fra Angelico departs markedly from his usual methods of space projection, but this can be explained by the extreme difficulty of integrating so complex a composition as a traditional Coronation, into the type of space he had recently employed. The whole, although still a heavenly scene, is set on terra firma. The sky is a realistic blue and not gold. The very low view-point enables the assembled saints and angels to be placed in a series of tiers without obscuring one another. The figures in the foreground kneel so as not to attract undue emphasis. Mary Magdalen holds out her jar of oil, marking the central axis.

Recently a date of 1450, which is considered compatible with the internal dating evidence of this altarpiece, is suggested.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 9 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

The glory of St Mary, a theme dear to Angelico is acclaimed by six kneeling saints. The saints represented on the lower part are (from the left) St Thomas, St Benedict, St Dominic, St Francis, St Peter the Martyr and St Mark. The fresco probably belongs to the first ones executed in the Convent by Fra Angelico.

These six saints can be seen as a token representation of the elect, who surround Christ and the Virgin in heaven in the traditional rendering of this scene. But like so many other figures in the series of San Marco frescoes, they have an air of detachment from the events to which they are nominally witnesses. They hold their hands out in adoration and gaze heavenwards, but none looks directly at the scene of coronation. The Virgin, with her arms folded over her chest, leans forward to receive the crown. She is seated beside Christ, in accordance with the usual composition for this subject.

In this series of frescoes at San Marco Angelico has not turned back to medieval prototypes but instead, through economy in the use of figures, restraint in the overt expression of emotion, and austere use of colour, he has created his own meditative images of remarkable force.

St Nicholas of Bari is shown kneeling in the foreground of The Coronation of the Virgin with his episcopal mitre and crook. St Nicholas’s cope shows several scenes from the Passion, including the Betrayal, Mocking, and Flagellation. To his left are St Anthony and St Francis of Assisi.

St Catherine of Alexandria stands holding her wheel and regarding St Agnes, who clutches her own symbol, a lamb. St Agnes’s robe falls in heavy sculptured loops to the ground. The haloes of the two saints are carefully arranged so that St Catherine’s face is not obscured. The haloes in this painting are treated very flatly but in some cases also extremely decoratively, being studded with gems.

The Medici chose the rising architect, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo to rebuild San Marco. The restoration proceeded with remarkable speed. The twenty cells of the east corridor of the dormitory were built between late 1437 and 1438, when renovation of the church was begun. Reconstruction continued sequentially, from the north corridor for lay brothers and guests (1440-41) to the south for the novices (completed in 1442).

This polyptych, as shown by the recent restoration work, emerges from the combination of three wood panels of which it is formed, put together with the upper part and the border below. Therefore the three works must have been painted at different times and for different reasons. On the top are represented the Annunciation and the Crucifixion. In the middle of the polyptych there is a Virgin and Child. On the left Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, while on the right Sts Matthew and Mary Magdalen are represented. On the predella episodes from the life of St Dominic, and other images of saints and angels are represented.

Art critics tend to date the older wood painting, the one with the Virgin, to 1434 and the complete work to 1437.

The triptych was placed on a lateral altar in the church of St Dominic in Cortona. At the beginning of the Second World War it was immured in the belfry where the wood suffered much damage due to humidity and temperatures. It was necessary to detach the painted surface and transfer it to a new base. It has been restored after many succeeding interventions. Unfortunately, it has lost its original solidity and need continuous reexamination.

This Madonna with the Child and Angels is the central part of the altarpiece called Cortona Triptych. On the left panel St John the Evangelist and St John the Baptist, on the right panel St Mark and St Mary Magdalen are depicted. The ten predella pictures show episodes of the life of Saint Dominic and standing figures of saints. The altarpiece was damaged during the second World War and restored in 1946-50.

The peak of the central panel is occupied by a scene depicting the crucified Christ with the Virgin and St John the Evangelist.

At the top of the side panels two tondos represent the Annunciation. This picture shows the angel of the Annunciation.

At the top of the side panels two tondos represent the Annunciation. This picture shows the Virgin of the Annunciation.

The detail shows the head of St Matthew from the right panel.

The detail shows the head of Mary Magdalene from the right panel.

The earliest of Fra Angelico’s mural paintings is the Crucified Christ in the Chapter House of San Domenico, the room where the friars, sometimes joined by the laity, assembled for meetings. To enhance its poignant realism, the artist foreshortened Christ’s lowered head and torso from the perspective of the kneeling worshipper. The slender, idealized body is anatomically detailed and luminously modelled. The inscriptions - in Hebrew, Greek and Latin - on the titulus of the cross identify Christ as ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’

This painting was originally the central panel of a triptych. The arms of the cross stretch right across the panel, as if intended to strengthen its frame. The upper limb takes the form of a flourishing tree, a possible reference to the popular Legend of the True Cross which claimed that the wood used for the crucifixion came originally from the tree of Jesse. In the branches of the tree sits a pelican in its piety, plucking its breast so that blood flows to feed its young, a common symbol of Christ giving of himself for the redemption of the world.

Cardinal Juan de Torquemada, a noted Dominican, kneels before the cross, his red cardinal’s hat on the ground before him next to the rivulets of blood. On either side of the cross stand the Virgin and St John. The cross is in no landscape or other spatial setting. There is only an abstract gold ground behind. At the foot of the cross is a skull representing Golgotha. Its Spartan design and intense, but quietly expressed, feeling make this a powerful image reminiscent of some of Angelico’s earlier frescoes in the convent of San Marco.

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This panel, probably the centre part of a triptych or a wing of a diptych, was formerly attributed to Giovanni Toscani (d. 1430), a follower of Masaccio and Masolino. Recent reconsideration of the attribution gave the painting to the young Fra Angelico.

The giant fresco occupies the entire wall opposite to the entrance of the Chapter Room. The saints depicted are, from the left: Cosmas and Damian, Lawrence, Mark the Evangelist, John the Baptist, the Virgin and the pious women; to the right of the Cricifixion kneeling Dominic, Jerome, Francis, Bernard, John Gualberto and Peter the Martyr, standing Zanobi (or perhaps Ambrose), Augustin, Benedict, Romuald and Thomas of Aquino. Around the fresco, on the border, are the busts of the Prophets and Sibyls in ten hexagons; in the centre, above the Crucifixion the pelikan, symbol of the redemption. Below, in the lower frieze there are 17 medallions with portraits of the most illustrious members of the Dominican Order.

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The detail represents St Benedict.

The main wall of the Chapter Room of the Convent is occupied by a large fresco showing the Crucifixion and saints. The original blue of the background has gone and the red which remaines accentuates the solitary figures which stand out dramatically. The large fresco is in the form of a lunette, with life-size figures. Below, on the right there are eleven saints, one of them St Benedict.

The detail represents St Romuald.

The main wall of the Chapter Room of the Convent is occupied by a large fresco showing the Crucifixion and saints. The original blue of the background has gone and the red which remaines accentuates the solitary figures which stand out dramatically. The large fresco is in the form of a lunette, with life-size figures. Below, on the right there are eleven saints, one of them St Romuald.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 37 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

The Crucifixion is depicted in seven cells in the corridor for lay brothers. While the friars and novices may have been moved to prayer at the thought or sight of the crucified Christ, the lay brothers required more direction in imagining the Passion. By incorporating more narrative elements, these images were able to prompt their devotion more efficaciously. In six cells Fra Angelico included the grieving Virgin and other mourners along with St Dominic or Peter martyr to cue the beholder’s response. So it was in Cell 37, the large size of which suggests it may have served as the Chapter Room for the lay brothers as they met each day under the guidance of their own prior.

The contribution of an assistant can be assumed in the execution of this fresco.

Fra Angelico painted this fresco for the refectory of the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole. He borrowed a theme from the cloister of San Marco.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 17 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

Over the course of the commission for decoration of the dormitory, Fra Angelico’s direct participation in painting the frescoes seems to have diminished, while that of Benozzo Gozzoli and his other assistants increased. This is especially evident in the images of the Crucifixion with St Dominic in the novices’ cells 17 an 20 of the south corridor, on which construction began in 1441. The frescoes were completed in only two days each. They seem to have been painted almost entirely by Benozzo Gozzoli, as is evident in the linear description of Christ’s idealized anatomy, especially his ribcage, and the uninflected modelling of Dominic’s habit.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 20 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

Over the course of the commission for decoration of the dormitory, Fra Angelico’s direct participation in painting the frescoes seems to have diminished, while that of Benozzo Gozzoli and his other assistants increased. This is especially evident in the images of the Crucifixion with St Dominic in the novices’ cells 17 an 20 of the south corridor, on which construction began in 1441. The frescoes were completed in only two days each. They seem to have been painted almost entirely by Benozzo Gozzoli, as is evident in the linear description of Christ’s idealized anatomy, especially his ribcage, and the uninflected modelling of Dominic’s habit.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 38 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

One cell at the end of the corridor for lay brothers was distinguished by its occupant and size. It was intended for Cosimo de’ Medici, who belonged to the community by virtue of his patronage. His room, in fact, was a double cell (Cells 38 and 39), in which the superimposed chambers were joined by a short flight of stairs. Of all the cells along this corridor, Cosimo’s was the most spacious and elaborately decorated. On the entrance wall of the lower room (Cell 38) Fra Angelico painted the crucified Christ against a ground of costly lapis lazuli, rather than the bare plaster background found in the other cells. The inscribed haloes identify the saints kneeling alongside the Virgin as Cosmas, Peter martyr and John the Evangelist, protectors of Cosimo, his oldest son, and his father, Giovanni di Bicci.

The Adoration of the Magi and the image of Christ as Man of Sorrows in the recessed tabernacle below met Cosimo’s gaze once he ascended the stairs to Cell 39. Benozzo Gozzoli, whose style closely resembled that of Angelico, and an assistant painted these frescoes, as shown by the slightly awkward stance and proportions of some of the figures as well as by their linear, closely spaced facial features.

The slender anatomy of Christ, the taut contours shadowed against the gold ground and the windblown loincloth are related closely to the Crucifixions by Lorenzo Monaco and his workshop, as is the foreshortening of his head, lowered in death. While derived from Lorenzo’s portrayals, Angelico’s interpretation is stylistically different, best expressed in the figures of the mourners below the Cross. The artist created the illusion of depth by varying the angles at which they are portrayed and through perspective.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 25 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

Over the course of the commission for decoration of the dormitory, Fra Angelico’s direct participation in painting the frescoes seems to have diminished, while that of Benozzo Gozzoli and his other assistants increased. This is especially evident in the images of the Crucifixion with St Dominic in the novices’ cells 17 an 20 of the south corridor, which seem to have been painted almost entirely by Benozzo Gozzoli. Other artists seem to have executed several frescoes along the east corridor, as suggested by the somewhat awkward postures and gestures of the figures, the unmodulated contours and flat colours. An example of these can be seen in Cell 25.

In the predella below the Annunciation, near the two farthest edges, two scenes are painted (23 x 14 cm each). The first represent the Birth of the Virgin, the other The Virgin Consigns the Habit to St Dominic. There are five central scenes of the life of the Virgin, one after the other without interruption (23 x 183 cm), namely (from the left). Marriage of the Virgin, The Visitation, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Death of the Virgin.

This picture shows the scene of Death of the Virgin.

This work was originally commissioned by Palla Strozzi from Lorenzo Monaco, for the sacristy of the church of Santa Trinità in Florence, but by the time of Monaco’s death only the pinnacles of this work had been painted. When Angelico took over the commission he found himself cribbed and confined by Monaco’s ready-made triple-arched Gothic frame. He ignored these constraints, however, making skilful use of the three arches in his composition to provide a scene of stunning beauty and subdued yet poignant emotion, set in an expansive Tuscan landscape. Although the work is painted on one panel, the three arches of the frame find an echo in the placing of the figures in three groups.

The central arch is largely blocked off by the wooden framework of the cross and two ladders. The cross bar of the former appears to run behind the picture frame hinting at further, obscured space. With no scene behind but the sky and the lattice work of timber, the eye is drawn to the body of Christ which is at the very centre of the picture. Angelico challenges the tendency of the other two arches to define the shape and space of the work by placing a strong vertical, in the form of a tower or a tree, in the corners of each. The pilasters on either side of the frame contain twelve panels with full length portraits of saints, and eight medallions with portrait busts. The full-length figures are shown standing on columns which are each painted with careful attention to the view-point of the spectator.

The cross has no upper limb, thereby blunting the pointedness of the arch behind which it stands. There is room at the top only for a view of the mocking panel which declares Christ King of the Jews. Christ is covered with the weals of the flagellation, and blood trickles from the lance wound in his side. More blood runs down the cross to the rock at the base, a stylized representation of Golgotha. Christ’s head lies almost horizontally, his passive face marked only by thin dribbles of blood from the pricks of the crown of thorns.

Vasari claims that one of the figures lowering Christ is a portrait of Michelozzo, the architect responsible for the rebuilding of the convent of San Marco in Florence. Pope-Hennessy suggests that if he is represented at all it is in the figure under Christ’s right arm wearing a black cappucio, or monastic hood.

In the distance at the top left lies Jerusalem, shown by Angelico as a sparkling Tuscan hill town. The city fortifications appear as a series of cubes, pillars, and walls massed together in a sharply defining light. Buildings of widely varying sizes, shapes and colours are arranged together within the city walls. At the top of the hill rises a citadel-like temple. Outside the city gates lies a landscape of ploughed fields, farmhouses, and hedgerows. In the sky, above a storm cloud is gathering which throws shadow over half the city. The whole is viewed through a screen of trees, which mark out the middle distance in the complete picture.

In this detail the towered buildings confirm the landscape as Italian. The hills stretch out into the distance, softened and smoothed by the light, peppered with gleaming villages and farmhouses. The foreground rocks are insufficiently distant to be mellowed, and are shown with all their facets and angularity. A row of trees again screens the landscape, emphasizing its distance.

Angelico stops short of portraying the figures lamenting Christ’s death in the agonies of grief; instead he shows them in languorous contemplation of their inner sorrow. Mary Magdalen kneels before Christ, taking his feet in her hands and kissing them. The Virgin kneels, her hands clasped, head on one side in reflective misery, with an air of particular detachment. She is partly screened from the viewer by the winding sheet held before her. The other holy women stand in positions of contemplation or prayer; one wipes a tear from her eye. As in earlier paintings by Angelico, the sense of the space in which the Virgin kneels is created by placing figures in a circle around her. In the background the road begins to wind its way up to Jerusalem.

Kneeling in the foreground of the picture is a Beato. He echoes the Magdalen in his position, pose and red gown. A foreshortened arm extends out towards the viewer, drawing us into the scene before us. It has been suggested that this figure is Alessio degli Strozzi, the dead son of the family whose patronage brought about the creation of the work. Behind him are five men, standing further forward in the picture plane than the women on the other side whom they balance. Like the women each is contemplative, reticent and mournful. One displays to the others some of the instruments of crucifixion: three gruesomely large nails with heavy drips of blood on them, and the neatly woven circlet of thorns whose perforations can be seen on Christ’s brow. Beneath their feet, indicative of Angelico’s enjoyment of the portrayal of nature, is the richly leafed and flowered turf which is common to so many of his paintings.

This detail demonstrates Fra Angelico’s skillful treatment of landscapes.

Fra Angelico’s Deposition demonstrates not only his skillful treatment of landscapes, but also figures, to which he often gave specific and presumably identifiable features. The man in the turban is likely a portrait of a person known to the artist.

This scene is the right part of the lunette on the north wall.

The picture shows one of the predella panels of the Coronation of the Virgin.

The Coronation of the Virgin was painted by Fra Angelico for the church of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. Although the original frame of the altarpiece is lost, the two panels that formed its predella have been identified. They represent the Marriage of the Virgin, which theologians regarded as a prefiguration of the Coronation, and the Dormition of the Virgin, which immediately precedes the Coronation. Each scene displays Angelico’s command of perspective, nuanced portrayal of emotion and radiant colour.

The fresco cycle consists of scenes from the lives of the archdeacons Stephen (lunette) and Lawrence (bottom register).

On the east wall the narratives run parallel. To the left in the lunette St Stephen is being led to his martyrdom, and to the right we see him being stoned to death. In the lower register Lawrence is first condemned by Emperor Valerian, then in the adjacent scene he is martyred by being roasted on a gridiron. Between these is an auxiliary motif, seen through a small window, showing the conversion of St Hyppolitus, the chief jailer.

This panel was part of the altarpiece of the main altar in the monastery church of San Marco, Florence, and was originally in the middle of its predella.

The centre predella panel of the San Marco altarpiece is not overtly connected to the scenes on either side of it, which show the life of Sts Cosmas and Damian, although it too is lit from the right. Instead it relates directly to the crucifixion at the base of the altarpiece which, when the predella was in situ, was immediately above it. Christ’s body is supported by Nicodemus, and his hands are held and kissed by the stooping Virgin and St John. Christ has a weightless air about him, so that the three other figures appear to have to do little to support him. The winding cloth lies stretched out in a receding rectangle creating the foreground space, its folds and colour echoing the white rock. Behind lies the dark rectangular void of the tomb. The sparsity and simplicity of the composition, the firmly closed-off space and the extensive use of white in this panel, are all also found in Angelico’s frescoes at San Marco.

The figures here, arranged parallel with each other, with the central perspective of the shroud leading to the tomb, shows a very different idea of spatial organization from that in Rogier van der Weyden’s panel of the same subject.

This scene shows the continuing influence on Angelico of naturalism. Having been warned in a dream, Joseph, Mary and the infant Christ make their escape from Herod’s massacres by going into Egypt. Behind them a series of trees of diminishing size plots out the perspective of the landscape. The Holy Family is lit by a strong light from the left, the Virgin’s draperies carefully delineated so as to show the position of both her legs as she rides side-saddle on the donkey. As in The Circumcision her halo is depicted as a three-dimensional object, which can both turn in space and reflect light. It was only late in his career as a painter that Angelico began to develop the spatial properties of the nimbus.

This study of exceptional quality is either a drawing by Fra Angelico which should be considered as a model given by the master to his pupils, or it is the work of the most famous of Angelico’s pupils at the time, Benozzo Gozzoli. The verso of the drawing depicts a group of figures directly related to the frescoes for the chapel of Pope Nicholas V, completed in the Vatican palace by Fra Angelico and his workshop about 1448. The verso can be ascribed to the studio of Fra Angelico.

This drawing may be associated with one of the lost scenes from the second floor of the Vatican Palace. They were destroyed by Pope Paul III to build the Pauline Chapel (painted by Michelangelo in 1542-50). The drawing, made on pint tinted paper, was executed in pen and wash with intense bistre (white) highlights on the drapery of the figures.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 35 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence.

In contrast to most frescoes in the cells of the friars and novices, those in the corridor of the lay brethren are illustrative narratives that closely follow the Gospel of Matthew. These portrayals were directed to a community that was less attuned to theological and visual abstraction. Many of the scenes are situated in mountainous landscapes or detailed architectural settings. The Institute of the Eucharist in Cell 35 underscored the Dominicans devotion to the Eucharist, which St Thomas articulated most eloquently in composing the office for the feast of Corpus Domini. It transpires in a spacious room similar to the convent’s actual refectory and repeats elements of San Marco’s own architecture - the arched windows of the dormitory, the well in the second cloister - to emphasize its relevance to the lay brother.

This fresco was executed by an assistant of Fra Angelico.

The programme of decoration for the convent of San Marco, Florence, included the production of illuminated books for the celebration of Mass. This illuminated initial depicting King David is from a Psalter painted c. 1443-45 and bound in 1449.

In the reformed Dominican communities such as Angelico’s own, San Marco, it is known that manuscript illumination was encouraged and prac tised. There is only one volume in which extensive work can safely be attributed to him, and that is the Missal number 558 at San Marco. This drawing of King David playing a Psaltery appears to be closely related in style to the work in Missal 558. David sits awkwardly, at the base of a throne on a seat, plucking at the strings of his psaltery. The depiction of the plinth, panelling, entablature and other details of the architecture on which he rests, suggests that this drawing dates from the same period as the San Marco Missal, but there can be no certainty that it was actually intended as a sketch or preparatory drawing for a manuscript illumination. The solidity and depth of parts of the draperies hint at the modelling of which Angelico was capable.

The Lamentation was made for the Dominican confraternity’s oratory, the fa�ade of which was painted with scenes from the Passion of Christ. It portrayed the loving compassion of the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and other saints as they mourned the death of Jesus and prepared him for the grave.

The bottom of the painting is damaged.

This is the fresco on the wall of Cell 2 of the Convento di San Marco in Florence. It is one of the first frescoes in the convent.

This painting was part of the predella which belonged to a triptych of the Madonna and Child with Four Saints (known as the Compagnia di San Francesco Altarpiece), commissioned for the convent of Santa Croce in Florence 1429. The five predella panels depicting scenes from the life of St Francis of Assisi are the following:

1. Trial by Fire (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

2. Receiving the Stigmata (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome)

3. Meeting of St Francis and St Dominic (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

4. Apparition of St Francis at Arles (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

5. Lamentation over St Francis (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

Elevated in the deep azure sky and surrounded by concentric rings of cherubim and angels, Christ sits on a glowing bank of clouds as he judges the world. He is flanked by the interceding figures of John the Baptist and the Virgin. Rows of saints and prophets, identified by their distinctive attributes, varied expressions and brilliantly coloured mantles, sit suspended on clouds in the heavens. A long row of tombs leads to the distant horizon, bisecting the valley below. To the right of Christ, the Blessed kneel in adoration, their faces radiant with the love of God, as angels dance in a circle in the verdant vegetation of Paradise. Golden rays of light stream through the open gates of the City of God and illuminate the white gowns of the Blessed seeking entry. To Christ’s left, demons with pitchforks drive the agonized Damned into the mouth of a mountainous Hell. The ghastly torments that await them are portrayed within its flaming circles, where naked sinners, some strangled with snakes, suffer for their transgressions.

The abundance of figures (270 in all), nuanced evocation of their emotions, descending perspective of the row of tombs and ascending landscape reveal a mastery of narrative and space that was unprecedented in Angelico’s small-scale works.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 8 minutes):

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem K 626: Dies irae

This is the left view of the panel.

This detail is from the right side of the panel.

The large receding rectangle of empty tombs creates the depth in the bottom half of this picture. An empty sarcophagus laid across it in the foreground subtly reduces the emphasis on this axis. Originally forming part of a seat, the complete picture extends to either side to show paradise and hell, but these scenes are thought to be by Angelico’s workshop. Beside the empty tombs stand the judged; the saved with radiant heads exit left to paradise; and demons drive the nimbus-less damned to the right, down to hell.

In the upper part of the panel Christ sits in jjudgment in a mandorla framed by a border of angels. On his right is the Virgin and on his left St John the Baptist. Beyond them on each side are two tiers of seated apostles and saints. The spatial depth of the terrestrial part of the picture is not maintained in the celestial half, the slight angling of the two banks of saints failing to give heaven the same illusion of depth.

The detail shows the Hell from the right side of the painting.

The altarpiece called Linaioli Tabernacle was executed for the Arte dei Linaioli (Guild of Flaxmakers). The central panel depicting the Madonna and the Child is surrounded by a band of 20 cm width which contains 12 angels playing different musical instruments. This band can be seen only when the tabernacle is open. These angels are among the most famous and most popular paintings of Fra Angelico.

The altarpiece called Linaioli Tabernacle was executed for the Arte dei Linaioli (Guild of Flaxmakers). The central panel depicting the Madonna and the Child is surrounded by a band of 20 cm width which contains 12 angels playing different musical instruments. This band can be seen only when the tabernacle is open. These angels are among the most famous and most popular paintings of Fra Angelico.

The Arte de’ Linaiuoli, the Guild of Linen Manufacturers, commissioned this altarpiece from Angelico in 1432, for the Residenza of the Guild in the Piazza Sant’ Andrea in Florence. The mammoth marble frame, 520 cm high and 270 cm wide, was designed by Ghiberti and executed by three craftsmen in his workshop. It is firmly classical, with round arch, dental cornice, and pediment.

On the outside of the doors are two monumental and statuesque figures: St Mark and St Peter. Both stand on flat but irregularly edged rocks. The background is dark and unarticulated: there is no attempt to claim it for the picture space. St Mark’s lion crouches behind his right leg. St Peter holds his key and gazes heavenwards.

The doors of the triptych open to reveal the Virgin and Child Enthroned with St John the Baptist and St Mark. The two saints have the same three-dimensional qualities as their companions on the outside of the triptych. St John the Baptist is shown with his right arm curved round and up across his chest and left shoulder, and the top of his cross pushed back away from the viewer. The right foot is to the fore. The extended hand of St Mark on the Virgin’s right draws the eye into the space occupied by the figure.

The central panel of The Virgin and Child differs from its predecessors in Angelico’s oeuvre in the absence of a circle of space-defining angels. Greater realism is achieved by translating part of the traditional gold background into elaborate golden curtains which frame the Virgin, the outline thus created echoing a pointed arch. She has the same solidity and three-dimensional qualities as the saints in the work. The Child is clothed and stands upright holding His arms out in blessing. He lacks the overtly puerile qualities of many infant Christ’s of the Renaissance and as a result appears medieval or Byzantine.

St John the Baptist is depicted on the left wing of the Linaioli tabernacle, while on the right wing St John the Evangelist can be seen. These two figures form part of a work that in 1433 opened the way to a new horizon for early renaissance religious painting.

St John the Evangelist is depicted on the right wing of the Linaioli tabernacle, while on the left wing St John the Baptist can be seen. These two figures form part of a work that in 1433 opened the way to a new horizon for early Renaissance religious painting.

The lunette represents two scenes: St Stephen being led to His Martyrdom; Stoning of St Stephen.

Stephen had been blessed by the Apostles and was the first to be ordained as deacon. Accused of blasphemy, he was stoned to death in Jerusalem. According to legend his remains were taken to Rome in the fifth century and buried beside those of St Lawrence.

This lunette is divided in two by the monumental city wall which forms a natural part of both the scenes portrayed. The soft hills strewn with collections of towers and houses are in Angelico’s familiar landscape style. All lit from the same source, the lunette has a complete spatial unity.

On the left St Stephen, having incurred the wrath of the council, is dragged to the city gate and meets his fate outside it as the first Christian martyr. On the right he is portrayed at prayer. Around him are the stones which have bloodied his face; two more bounce off the back of his head; one of his executioners raises another one high, about to strike again, and holds more in his robe. Saul, who was a consenting witness to the execution, is shown, following the details given in the Acts of the Apostles, as a young man holding part of Stephen’s clothes which had been laid at his feet by the witnesses.

The lunette represents two scenes: The Sermon of St Stephen; Dispute before the Sanhedrin.

On the left St Stephen preaches to an array of figures placed throughout the vista of space. To the right, in a chamber which is also embedded in the lefthand scene yet has a different perspective framework, he addresses the council. Here the depth of the picture is truncated by a blank wall hung with a curtain.

The lunette represents two scenes: St Peter Consacrates Stephen as Deacon; St Stephen Distributing Alms.

This humble image by Fra Angelico approaches the new lyricism of Ghiberti, Quercia, and Masolino. Though Fra Angelico has adopted the fourteenth-century devotional formula for his Madonna, with Mary seated close to the ground, he cannot help investing her with a richly tasseled pillow and a lavishly brocaded cloth of honour. Sts Dominic and Peter Martyr are tucked in at the left and right.

The fresco (repainted) was detached and transferred to masonite support.

This panel was inspired by the Madonna and Child with Saint Anne by Masaccio and Masolino.