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Fra Angelico ( Guido di Pietro)

Paintings

The Coronation of the Virgin Print by Fra Angelico

The Coronation of the Virgin

 The Dominican Blessed Print by Fra Angelico

The Dominican Blessed

Virgin of Humility Print by Fra Angelico

Virgin of Humility

The Death and the Assumption of the Virgin Print by Fra Angelico

The Death and the Assumption of the Virgin

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs Print by Fra Angelico

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs

The Dormition of the Virgin Print by Fra Angelico

The Dormition of the Virgin

The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints Print by Fra Angelico

The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints

Coronation of the Virgin Print by Fra Angelico

Coronation of the Virgin

Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven Print by Fra Angelico

Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

The Crucifixion Print by Fra Angelico

The Crucifixion

The Adoration of the Magi Print by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi

The Adoration of the Magi

Saint John the Baptist and Saint Dominic Print by Fra Angelico

Saint John the Baptist and Saint Dominic

A Bishop Saint Print by Fra Angelico

A Bishop Saint

Saint Anthony Abbot Shunning the Mass of Gold Print by Fra Angelico

Saint Anthony Abbot Shunning the Mass of Gold

Saint Francis and a Bishop Saint Print by Fra Angelico

Saint Francis and a Bishop Saint

The Crucifixion Print by Fra Angelico

The Crucifixion

The Entombment of Christ Print by Attributed to Fra Angelico

The Entombment of Christ

Fra Angelico

Saint Romulus

Fra Angelico

The Dominican BlessedThe Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints

Fra Angelico

Enthroned Madonna , detail

Fra Angelico

Recording of the name for baptism

Fra Angelico

Painted cabinet door : Massacre of the Innocents

Fra Angelico

Painted cabinet door : Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane , detail

Fra Angelico

Painted cabinet door : Flight to Egypt

Fra Angelico

Painted cabinet door : Annunciation

Fra Angelico

Painted cabinet door : Scene series

Fra Angelico

Painted cabinet door : Scene series

Fra Angelico

The Last Judgement

Fra Angelico
The Crucified and San Domenico , detail

Fra Angelico

The Adoration of the Magi , Tondo

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Annunciation

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Annunciation

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Adoration of the Magi

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: presentation in the Temple

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Baptism of Christ

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Transfiguration of Christ

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Christ on the Mount of Olives

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Arrest of Christ

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Mocking of Christ

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Cross

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Cross nailing

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Crucifixion with spear

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: The Entombment

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Burial , detail

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Three Marys at the Tomb

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Noli me tangere

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Descent into Hell

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Communion of the Apostles

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Madonna and Saints

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Madonna and Saints, detail

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Madonna and Saints, detail

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Coronation of the Virgin

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence: Enthroned Madonna

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion and St. Dominic

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion and St. Dominic

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion and St. Dominic

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion , detail

Fra Angelico

Frescoes in San Marco in Florence : Crucifixion , detail

Fra Angelico

St. Lawrence distributed the church treasury

Fra Angelico

St. Lawrence before the court of the Emperor Valerian

Fra Angelico

Handover of the church treasure on the St. Lawrence

Fra Angelico

Handover of the church treasury to the St. Lawrence , detail

Fra Angelico

Consecration of St. Lawrence deacon

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Madonna of Sts . Cosmas and Damian , detail

Fra Angelico

Annunciation

Fra Angelico

Annunciation , detail

Fra Angelico

Annunciation , detail

Fra Angelico

St. Dominic at the Cross of Christ

Fra Angelico

Descent from the Cross

Fra Angelico

Descent from the Cross

Fra Angelico

Descent from the Cross

Fra Angelico

Descent from the Cross

Fra Angelico

Crucifixion: The Marian , detail

Fra Angelico

Coronation of the Virgin and the life of St. Dominic

Fra Angelico

Mary with the Child and Angels

Fra Angelico

Mary with St. Dominic and St. Thomas

Fra Angelico

Coronation of the Virgin

Fra Angelico

Coronation of the Virgin

Fra Angelico

Scenes from the Life of St. Nicholas of Bari

Fra Angelico

Scenes from the Life of St. Nicholas of Bari

Fra Angelico

Scenes from the Life of St. Nicholas of Bari

Fra Angelico

Adam's skull at Mount Calvary

Fra Angelico

Scenes from the lives of Sts . Stephen and Lawrence

Fra Angelico

Sermon of St. Peter , in the presence of St. Mark

Fra Angelico

Martyrdom of St. Mark

Fra Angelico

Enthroned Madonna with Child and Saints

Fra Angelico

Annunciation


Drawings

Fra Angelico

The Prophet David , harp playing

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The Coronation of the Virgin Print by Fra Angelico

The Coronation of the Virgin

Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; c. 1395[2] – February 18, 1455) was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects as having "a rare and perfect talent".[3]

He was known to contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (Brother John of Fiesole) and Fra Giovanni Angelico (Angelic Brother John). In modern Italian he is called il Beato Angelico (Blessed Angelic One);[4] the common English name Fra Angelico means the "Angelic friar".

In 1982 Pope John Paul II proclaimed his beatification,[5] in recognition of the holiness of his life, thereby making the title of "Blessed" official. Fiesole is sometimes misinterpreted as being part of his formal name, but it was merely the name of the town where he took his vows as a Dominican friar, and was used by contemporaries to separate him from other Fra Giovannis. He is listed in the Roman Martyrology[6] as Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus—"Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, known as 'the Angelic' ".

Vasari wrote of Fra Angelico:

But it is impossible to bestow too much praise on this holy father, who was so humble and modest in all that he did and said and whose pictures were painted with such facility and piety.[3]

Biography
Early life, 1395–1436

Fra Angelico was born Guido di Pietro at Rupecanina[7] in the Tuscan area of Mugello near Fiesole towards the end of the 14th century. Nothing is known of his parents. He was baptized Guido or Guidolino. The earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from October 17, 1417 when he joined a religious confraternity at the Carmine Church, still under the name of Guido di Pietro. This record also reveals that he was already a painter, a fact that is subsequently confirmed by two records of payment to Guido di Pietro in January and February 1418 for work done in the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte.[8] The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, when he is first referred to as Fra Giovanni, following the custom of those entering a religious order of taking a new name.[9] He was a member of the Dominican community at Fiesole. Fra, a contraction of frater (from the Latin), is a conventional title for a friar.

According to Vasari, Fra Angelico initially received training as an illuminator, possibly working with his older brother Benedetto who was also a Dominican and an illuminator. San Marco in Florence holds several manuscripts that are thought to be entirely or partly by his hand.[3] The painter Lorenzo Monaco may have contributed to his art training, and the influence of the Sienese school is discernible in his work. He had several important charges in the convents he lived in, but this did not limit his art, which very soon became famous. According to Vasari, the first paintings of this artist were an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Carthusian Monastery of Florence; none such exist there now.[3]

From 1408 to 1418 Fra Angelico was at the Dominican friary of Cortona where he painted frescoes, now destroyed, in the Dominican Church and may have been assistant to or follower of Gherardo Starnina.[10] Between 1418 and 1436 he was at the convent of Fiesole where he also executed a number of frescoes for the church, and the Altarpiece, deteriorated but restored. A predella of the Altarpiece remains intact in the National Gallery, London which is a superb example of Fra Angelico's ability. It shows Christ in Glory, surrounded by more than 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans.


San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445

In 1436 Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built Friary of San Marco in Florence. This was an important move which put him in the centre of artistic activity of the region and brought about the patronage of one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority, or "Signoria" (namely Cosimo de' Medici), who had a large cell (later occupied by Savonarola) reserved for himself at the friary in order that he might retreat from the world. It was, according to Vasari, at Cosimo's urging that Fra Angelico set about the task of decorating the monastery, including the magnificent Chapter House fresco, the often-reproduced Annunciation at the top of the stairs to the cells, the Maesta with Saints and the many smaller devotional frescoes depicting aspects of the Life of Christ that adorn the walls of each cell.[3]
San Marco Altarpiece.

In 1439 he completed one of his most famous works, the Altarpiece for St. Marco's, Florence. The result was unusual for its times. Images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints were common, but they usually depicted a setting that was clearly heavenlike, in which saints and angels hovered about as divine presences rather than people. But in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory. Paintings such as this, known as Sacred Conversations, were to become the major commissions of Giovanni Bellini, Perugino and Raphael.[11]
The Vatican, 1445–1455

In 1445 Pope Eugenius IV summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's, later demolished by Pope Paul III. Vasari claims that at this time Fra Angelico was offered by Pope Nicholas V the Archbishopric of Florence, and that he refused it, recommending another friar for the position. While the story seems possible and even likely, if Vasari's date is correct, then the pope must have been Eugenius and not Nicholas. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in Orvieto with his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, executing works for the Cathedral. Among his other pupils were Zanobi Strozzi.[12]

From 1447 to 1449 he was back at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the Niccoline Chapel for Nicholas V. The scenes from the lives of the two martyred deacons of the Early Christian Church, St. Stephen and St. Lawrence may have been executed wholly or in part by assistants. The small chapel, with its brightly frescoed walls and gold leaf decorations gives the impression of a jewel box. From 1449 until 1452, Fra Angelico was back at his old convent of Fiesole, where he was the Prior.[3][13]
Death and beatification

In 1455 Fra Angelico died while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, perhaps in order to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.[3][13][14]

When singing my praise, don't liken my talents to those of Apelles.
Say, rather, that, in the name of Christ, I gave all I had to the poor.

The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.
I, Giovanni, am the flower of Tuscany.
—Translation of epitaph[3]

For the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, the English writer and critic William Michael Rossetti wrote of the friar:

From various accounts of Fra Angelico's life, it is possible to gain some sense of why he was deserving of canonization. He led the devout and ascetic life of a Dominican friar, and never rose above that rank; he followed the dictates of the order in caring for the poor; he was always good-humored. All of his many paintings were of divine subjects, and it seems that he never altered or retouched them, perhaps from a religious conviction that, because his paintings were divinely inspired, they should retain their original form. He was wont to say that he who illustrates the acts of Christ should be with Christ. It is averred that he never handled a brush without fervent prayer and he wept when he painted a Crucifixion. The Last Judgment and the Annunciation were two of the subjects he most frequently treated.[13]

Pope John Paul II beatified Fra Angelico on October 3, 1982, and in 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists.[5]

Angelico was reported to say "He who does Christ's work must stay with Christ always". This motto earned him the epithet "Blessed Angelico", because of the perfect integrity of his life and the almost divine beauty of the images he painted, to a superlative extent those of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
—Pope John Paul II

Evaluation
San Marco, Florence,The Day of Judgement, upper panel of an altarpiece. It shows the precision, detail and colour required in a commissioned work
Background

Fra Angelico was working at a time when the style of painting was in a state of change. This process of change had begun a hundred years previous with the works of Giotto and several of his contemporaries, notably Giusto de' Menabuoi, both of whom had created their major works in Padua, although Giotto was trained in Florence by the great Gothic artist, Cimabue, and painted a fresco cycle of St Francis in the Bardi Chapel in the Basilica di Santa Croce. Giotto had many enthusiastic followers, who imitated his style in fresco, some of them, notably the Lorenzetti, achieving great success.[11]
Patronage

The patrons of these artists were most often monastic establishments or wealthy families endowing a church. Because the paintings often had devotional purpose, the clients tended to be conservative. Frequently, it would seem, the wealthier the client, the more conservative the painting. There was a very good reason for this. The paintings that were commissioned made a statement about the patron. Thus the more gold leaf it displayed, the more it spoke to the patron's glory. The other valuable commodities in the paint-box were lapis lazuli and vermilion. Paint made from these colours did not lend itself to a tonal treatment. The azure blue made of powdered lapis lazuli went on flat, the depth and brilliance of colour being, like the gold leaf, a sign of the patron's ability to provide well. For these reasons, altarpieces are often much more conservatively painted than frescoes, which were often of almost life-sized figures and relied upon a stage-set quality rather than lavish display in order to achieve effect.[15]
Contemporaries

Fra Angelico was the contemporary of Gentile da Fabriano. Gentile's altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi, 1423, in the Uffizi is regarded as one of the greatest works of the style known as International Gothic. At the time it was painted, another young artist, known as Masaccio, was working on the frescoes for the Brancacci Chapel at the church of the Carmine. Masaccio had fully grasped the implications of the art of Giotto. Few painters in Florence saw his sturdy, lifelike and emotional figures and were not affected by them. His work partner was an older painter, Masolino, of the same generation as Fra Angelico. Masaccio died at 27, leaving the work unfinished.[11]
Altarpieces

The works of Fra Angelico reveal elements that are both conservatively Gothic and progressively Renaissance. In the altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin, painted for the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella, are all the elements that a very expensive altarpiece of the 14th century was expected to provide- a precisely tooled gold background, lots of azure, lots of vermilion and an obvious display of arsenic green. The workmanship of the gilded haloes and gold-edged robes is exquisite and all very Gothic. What make this a Renaissance painting, as against Gentile da Fabriano's masterpiece, is the solidity, the three-dimensionality and naturalism of the figures and the realistic way in which their garments hang or drape around them. Even though it is clouds these figures stand upon, and not the earth, they do so with weight.[11]
The Transfiguration shows the directness, simplicity and restrained palette typical of these frescoes. Located in a monk's cell at the Convent San' Marco, its apparent purpose is to encourage private devotion.

Frescoes

The series of frescoes that Fra Angelico painted for the Dominican friars at San’ Marcos realise the advancements made by Masaccio and carry them further. Away from the constraints of wealthy clients and the limitations of panel painting, Fra Angelico was able to express his deep reverence for his God and his knowledge and love of humanity. The meditational frescoes in the cells of the convent have a quieting quality about them. They are humble works in simple colours. There is more mauvish-pink than there is red while the brilliant and expensive blue is almost totally lacking. In its place is dull green and the black and white of Dominican robes. There is nothing lavish, nothing to distract from the spiritual experiences of the humble people who are depicted within the frescoes. Each one has the effect of bringing an incident of the life of Christ into the presence of the viewer. They are like windows into a parallel world. These frescoes remain a powerful witness to the piety of the man who created them.[11] Vasari relates that Cosimo de' Medici seeing these works, inspired Fra Angelico to create a large Crucifixion scene with many saints for the Chapter House. As with the other frescoes, the wealthy patronage did not influence the Friar's artistic expression with displays of wealth.[3]

Masaccio ventured into perspective with his creation of a realistically painted niche at Santa Maria Novella. Subsequently, Fra Angelico demonstrated an understanding of linear perspective particularly in his Annunciation paintings set inside the sort of arcades that Michelozzo and Brunelleschi created at San’ Marco's and the square in front of it.[11]
Lives of the Saints
Saint Lawrence distributing alms (1447), in the Vatican, incorporates the expensive pigments, gold leaf and elaborate design typical of Vatican commissions.

When Fra Angelico and his assistants went to the Vatican to decorate the chapel of Pope Nicholas, then the artist was again confronted with the need to please the very wealthiest of clients. In consequence, walking into the small chapel is like stepping into a jewel box. The walls are decked with the brilliance of colour and gold that one sees in the most lavish creations of the Gothic painter Simone Martini at the Lower Church of St Francis of Assisi, a hundred years earlier. Yet Fra Angelico has succeeded in creating designs which continue to reveal his own preoccupation with humanity, with humility and with piety. The figures, in their lavish gilded robes, have the sweetness and gentleness for which his works are famous. According to Vasari:

In their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Fra Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist.[3]

It is probable that much of the actual painting was done by his assistants to his design. Both Benozzo Gozzoli and Gentile da Fabriano were highly accomplished painters. Benozzo took his art further towards the fully developed Renaissance style with his expressive and lifelike portraits in his masterpiece of the Journey of the Magi, painted in the Medici's private chapel at their palazzo.[16]
Blessing Redeemer (1423)
Artistic legacy

Through Fra Angelico's pupil Benozzo Gozzoli's careful portraiture and technical expertise in the art of fresco we see a link to Domenico Ghirlandaio, who in turn painted extensive schemes for the wealthy patrons of Florence, and through Ghirlandaio to his pupil Michelangelo and the High Renaissance.

Apart from the lineal connection, superficially there may seem little to link the humble priest with his sweetly pretty Madonnas and timeless Crucifixions to the dynamic expressions of Michelangelo's larger-than-life creations. But both these artists received their most important commissions from the wealthiest and most powerful of all patrons, the Vatican.

When Michelangelo took up the Sistine Chapel commission, he was working within a space that had already been extensively decorated by other artists. Around the walls the Life of Christ and Life of Moses were depicted by a range of artists including his teacher Ghirlandaio, Raphael's teacher Perugino and Botticelli. They were works of large scale and exactly the sort of lavish treatment to be expected in a Vatican commission, vying with each other in complexity of design, number of figures, elaboration of detail and skilful use of gold leaf. Above these works stood a row of painted Popes in brilliant brocades and gold tiaras. None of these splendours have any place in the work which Michelangelo created. Michelangelo, when asked by Pope Julius II to ornament the robes of the Apostles in the usual way, responded that they were very poor men.[11]

Within the cells of San’Marco, Fra Angelico had demonstrated that painterly skill and the artist's personal interpretation were sufficient to create memorable works of art, without the expensive trappings of blue and gold. In the use of the unadorned fresco technique, the clear bright pastel colours, the careful arrangement of a few significant figures and the skilful use of expression, motion and gesture, Michelangelo showed himself to be the artistic descendant of Fra Angelico. Frederick Hartt describes Fra Angelico as "prophetic of the mysticism" of painters such as Rembrandt, El Greco and Zurbarán.[11]

Works
Virgin and Ch


Cortona

Annunciation (c. 1430) – Diocesan Museum, Cortona

Fiesole

Altarpiece - Coronation of the Virgin, with predellas of Miracles of St Dominic, Louvre, Paris
Virgin and Child between Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr (1424) - Church of San Domenico, Fiesole
Predella - Christ in Majesty, National Gallery, London.

Florence, Santa Trinita

Deposition of Christ, said by Vasari to have been "painted by a saint or an angel". Now in the National Museum of San Marco, Florence.
Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1432), Uffizi, Florence
Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1434-1435), Louvre, Paris

Florence, Santa Maria degli Angeli

Last Judgement, Accademia, Florence

Florence, Santa Maria Novella

Altarpiece - Coronation of the Virgin, Uffizi.

San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445

Altarpiece for chancel – Virgin with Saints Cosmas and Damian, attended by Saints Dominic, Peter, Francis, Mark, John Evangelist and Stephen. Cosmas and Damian were patrons of the Medici; the altarpiece was commissioned in 1438 by Cosimo de' Medici. It was removed and disassembled during the renovation of the convent church in the seventeenth century. Two of the nine predella panels remain at the convent; seven are in Washington, Munich, Dublin and Paris. Unexpectedly, in 2006 the last two missing panels, Dominican saints from the side panels, turned up in the estate of a modest collector in Oxfordshire, who had bought them in California in the 1960s.[17]

The Deposition from the Cross, Museo San Marco
The Madonna enthroned with Saints Cosmas and Damian, Saint Mark and Saint John, Saint Lawrence and three Dominicans, Saint Dominic, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Peter Martyr; San Marco, Florence

Altarpiece ? – Madonna and Child with twelve Angels (life sized); Uffizi.
Altarpiece – The Annunciation
San Marco Altarpiece
Two versions of the Crucifixion with St Dominic; in the Cloister
Very large Crucifixion with Virgin and 20 saints; in the Chapter House
The Annunciation; at the top of the Dormitory stairs. This is probably the most reproduced of all Fra Angelico's paintings.
Virgin enthroned with Four Saints; in the Dormitory passage

In The Annunciation, the interior reproduces that of the cell in which it is located.

Each cell is decorated with a fresco which matches in size and shape the single round-headed window beside it. The frescoes are apparently for contemplative purpose. They are have a pale, serene, unearthly beauty. Many of Fra Angelico's finest and most reproduced works are among them. There are, particularly in the inner row of cells, some of less inspiring quality and of more repetitive subject, perhaps completed by assistants.[11] Many pictures include Dominican saints as witnesses, allowing the friar using the cell to place himself in the scene.

The Adoration of the Magi
The Transfiguration
Noli me Tangere
The three Marys at the tomb.
The Road to Emmaus, with two Dominicans as the disciples
There are many versions of the Crucifixion
The Mocking of Christ

Late works, 1445–1455

Orvieto Cathedral

Three segments of the ceiling in the Cappella Nuova, with the assistance of Benozzo Gozzoli.

Christ in Glory
The Virgin Mary
The Apostles

Niccoline Chapel

The Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, at the Vatican, was probably painted with much assistance from Benozzo Gozzoli and Gentile da Fabriano. The entire surface of wall and ceiling is sumptuously painted. There is much gold leaf for borders and decoration, and a great use of brilliant blue made from lapis lazuli.

The life of St Stephen
The life of St Lawrence
The Four Evangelists.

Discovery of lost works

Worldwide press coverage reported in November 2006 that two missing masterpieces by Fra Angelico had turned up, having hung in the spare room of the late Jean Preston, in her "modest terrace house" in Oxford, England. Her father had bought them for £100 each in 1965 then bequeathed them to her when he died in 1974. Preston had been consulted by their then owner in her capacity as an expert medievalist. She recognised them as being high quality Florentine renaissance, but it never occurred to anyone, even all the dealers she approached on behalf of the owner, that they could possibly be by Fra Angelico. They were finally identified in 2005 by Michael Liversidge of Bristol University. There was almost no demand at all for medieval art during the 1960s and no dealers showed any interest, so Preston's father bought them almost as an afterthought along with some manuscripts. Coincidentally the manuscripts turned out to be high quality Victorian forgeries by The Spanish Forger. The paintings are two of eight side panels of a large altarpiece painted in 1439 for Fra Angelico's monastery at San Marco, but split up by Napoleon's army 200 years ago. While the centre section is still at the monastery, the other six small panels are in German and US museums. These two panels were presumed lost forever. The Italian Government had hoped to purchase them but they were outbid at auction on 20 April 2007 by a private collector for £1.7M. Both panels are now restored and exhibited in the San Marco Museum in Florence.[18][19]

FRA ANGELICO, Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters , Amy Steedman

See also

Lists of painters
List of Italian painters
List of famous Italians
Early Renaissance painting
Poor Man's Bible
Fray Angelico Chavez Franciscan Friar, historian and artist who was named after Fra Angelico due to his interest in painting.
Western painting
Frangelico – Italian liqueur named after Fra Angelico

Footnotes

Considered to be a posthumous portrait of Fra Angelico.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists. Penguin Classics, 1965.
Andrea del Sarto, Raphael and Michelangelo were all called "Beato" by their contemporaries because their skills were seen as a special gift from God
Bunson, Matthew; Bunson, Margaret (1999). John Paul II's Book of Saints. Our Sunday Visitor. p. 156. ISBN 0-87973-934-7.
Roman Martyrology—a work which includes all Saints and Blesseds recognised by the Roman Catholic Church
"Commune di Vicchio (Firenze), La terra natale di Giotto e del Beato Angelico". zoomedia. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
Werner Cohn, Il Beato Angelico e Battista di Biagio Sanguigni. Revista d’Arte, V, (1955): 207–221.
Stefano Orlandi, Beato Angelico; Monographia Storica della Vita e delle Opere con Un’Appendice di Nuovi Documenti Inediti. Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1964.
"Gherardo Starnina". Artists. Getty Center. Retrieved 2007-09-28.Getty Education[]
Frederick Hartt, A History of Italian Renaissance Art, (1970) Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-23136-2
"Strozzi, Zanobi". The National Gallery, London. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
Rossetti, William Michael. "Angelico, Fra". 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
The tomb has been given greater visibility since the beatification.
Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy,(1974) Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-881329-5
Paolo Morachiello, Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes. Thames and Hudson, 1990. ISBN 0-500-23729-8
"San Marco Altarpiece". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
Morris, Steven (14 November 2006). "A £1m art find behind the spare room door". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-09-28.

Morris, Steven (20 April 2007). "Lost altar masterpieces found in spare bedroom fetch £1.7m". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-09-28.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: William Michael Rossetti (1911). "Angelico, Fra". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Rossetti, William Michael. Angelico, Fra. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Hood, William. Fra Angelico at San Marco. Yale University Press, 1993. ISBN 9780300057348
Morachiello, Paolo. Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes. Thames and Hudson, 1990. ISBN 0-500-23729-8
Frederick Hartt. A History of Italian Renaissance Art, Thames & Hudson, 1970. ISBN 0-500-23136-2
Giorgio Vasari. Lives of the Artists. first published 1568. Penguin Classics, 1965.
Donald Attwater. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. Penguin Reference Books, 1965.
Luciano Berti. Florence, the city and its Art. Bercocci, 1979.
Werner Cohn. Il Beato Angelico e Battista di Biagio Sanguigni. Revista d’Arte, V, (1955): 207–221.
Stefano Orlandi. Beato Angelico; Monographia Storica della Vita e delle Opere con Un’Appendice di Nuovi Documenti Inediti. Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1964.

Further reading

Didi-Huberman, Georges. Fra Angelico: Dissemblance and Figuration. University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN 0-226-14813-0 Discussion of how Fra Angelico challenged Renaissance naturalism and developed a technique to portray "unfigurable" theological ideas.
Gilbert, Creighton, How Fra Angelico and Signorelli Saw the End of the World, Penn State Press, 2002 ISBN 0-271-02140-3
Spike, John T. Angelico, New York, 1997.
Supino, J. B., Fra Angelico, Alinari Brothers, Florence, undated, from Project Gutenberg

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