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Evaluation |
Background |
Fra Angelico was working at a time when the style of painting was in a state of flux. This transformation had begun a century earlier with the works of Giotto and several of his contemporaries, notably Giusto de' Menabuoi. Both had created their major works in Padua, though Giotto had been trained in Florence by the gr... |
Patronage |
If not a monastic establishment, the patron was most usually, as part of a church's endowment, a family with wealth. To maximally advertise this (wealth) favoured subjects where religious devotion would be most focused, an altarpiece for instance. The wealthier the benefactor, the more the style would seem a throwback,... |
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 B... |
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 p... |
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 ... |
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. |
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 ... |
Lives of the Saints |
When Fra Angelico and his assistants went to the Vatican to decorate the chapel of Pope Nicholas, 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 an... |
In their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Fra Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist. |
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 depicting the... |
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 mos... |
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. The... |
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 arrang... |
Works |
Early works, 1408–1436 |
Unknown |
Saint James and Saint Lucy Predella, five panels, tempera, c. 1426 to 1428 |
Rome |
The Crucifixion, panel, c. 1420–1423, Metropolitan Museum, New York. Possibly Fra Angelico's only signed work. |
Cortona |
Annunciation, c. 1430, Diocesan Museum, Cortona |
Fiesole |
Coronation of the Virgin, altarpiece with predellas of Miracles of St Dominic, Church of San Domenico, Louvre, Paris |
Virgin and Child between Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr, San Domenico, 1424 |
Christ in Majesty, predella, National Gallery, London. |
Florence, Basilica di San Marco |
Dormition of the Virgin, 1431 |
Florence, Santa Trinita |
Deposition of Christ, said by Vasari to have been "painted by a saint or an angel", 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 |
Coronation of the Virgin, altarpiece, 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 c... |
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 |
Each cell is decorated with a fresco which matches in size and shape of the single round-headed window beside it. The frescoes are apparently for contemplative purposes. They have a pale, serene, unearthly beauty. Many of Fra Angelico's finest and most reproduced works are among them. There are, particularly in the inn... |
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 |
The Mocking of Christ |
There are many versions of the Crucifixion |
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 the 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 terrace house in Oxford, England. Her father had bought them for £100 each in the 1960s then bequeathed them to her when he died. Preston, an exp... |
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