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{{short description|Early Italian Renaissance painter (c. 1395–1444)}}
{{Short description|Italian friar and painter (c. 1395 – 1455)}}
{{distinguish|Frangelico}}
{{distinguish|Frangelico}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
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| birth_name      = Guido di Pietro
| birth_name      = Guido di Pietro
| birth_date      = {{circa|1395|lk=no}}
| birth_date      = {{circa|1395|lk=no}}
| birth_place      = [[Vicchio|Rupecanina]], [[Mugello region|Mugello]], [[Republic of Florence]]
| birth_place      = [[Vicchio]], [[Mugello region|Mugello]], Republic of Florence
| death_date      = 5 March 1455 (aged about 60)
| death_date      = 18 February 1455 (aged about 60)
| death_place      = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| death_place      = [[Rome]], Papal States
| nationality      = [[Italians|Italian]]
| resting_place    = Church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], Rome
| field            = [[Painting]], [[Fresco]]
| field            = {{flatlist|
| patrons          = [[Cosimo de' Medici]] <br/> [[Pope Eugene IV]] <br/> [[Pope Nicholas V]]
* [[Painting]]
| movement        = [[The Renaissance|Early Renaissance]]
* [[Fresco]]es
| works            = ''[[Annunciation of Cortona]]'' <br/> [[Fiesole Altarpiece]] <br/> [[San Marco Altarpiece]] <br/> ''[[Deposition of Christ (Fra Angelico)|Deposition of Christ]]'' <br/> [[Niccoline Chapel]]
}}
| module          = {{Infobox person|child=yes
| patrons          = [[Cosimo de' Medici]]<br/>[[Pope Eugene IV]]<br/>[[Pope Nicholas V]]
| signature        = Angelico da Fiesole 1387-1455.jpg}}
| movement        = [[Renaissance|Early Renaissance]]
| works            = ''[[Annunciation of Cortona]]'' <br/> ''[[Fiesole Altarpiece]]'' <br/> ''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'' <br/> ''[[Deposition of Christ (Fra Angelico)|Deposition of Christ]]'' <br/> [[Niccoline Chapel]]
| module          =  
}}
}}
{{Infobox saint
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Beatification|Blessed]]
| honorific_prefix = [[Beatification|Blessed]]
|name= John of Fiesole  
| name= John of Fiesole  
|honorific_suffix = [[Dominican Order|O.P.]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Dominican Order|O.P.]]
|birth_date=
| birth_date       =
|death_date=
| death_date       =
|feast_day= 18 February
| feast_day       = 18 February
|venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]]<br>([[Dominican Order]])
| venerated_in     = [[Catholic Church]]<br>([[Dominican Order]])
|image=
| image           =
|imagesize=
| imagesize       =
|caption=
| caption         =
|birth_place=
| birth_place     =
|death_place=
| death_place     =
|titles=
| titles           =
|beatified_date= 3 October 1982
| beatified_date   = 3 October 1982
|beatified_place=[[Vatican City]],
| beatified_place = [[Vatican City]],
|beatified_by= [[Pope John Paul II]]
| beatified_by     = [[Pope John Paul II]]
|canonized_date=
| canonized_date   =
|canonized_place=
| canonized_place =
|canonized_by=
| canonized_by     =
|attributes=
| attributes       =
|patronage=  
| patronage       = Catholic artists
|major_shrine=[[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], [[Rome]], [[Italy]]
| major_shrine     = [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], Rome
|suppressed_date=
| suppressed_date =
|issues=
| issues           =
}}
}}


'''Fra Angelico''', [[Dominican Order|O.P.]] ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|r|ɑː|_|æ|n|ˈ|dʒ|ɛ|l|ɪ|k|oʊ}} {{respell|FRAH|_|an|JEL|ik|oh}},<ref>{{Cite Dictionary.com|Angelico}}</ref> {{IPA|it|ˈfra anˈdʒɛːliko|lang}}; born '''Guido di Pietro'''; {{circa|1395}}<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_fang.htm| title = Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref>{{snd}}18 February 1455) was a [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar and [[Italian Renaissance painting|Italian Renaissance painter]] of the [[Early Renaissance]], described by [[Giorgio Vasari]] in his ''[[Lives of the Artists]]'' as having "a rare and perfect talent".<ref name=Vasari>[[Giorgio Vasari]], ''Lives of the Artists''. Penguin Classics, 1965.</ref> He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]], in [[Florence]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|title=Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-19-869137-2|location=USA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw/page/16 16]}}</ref> then worked in Rome and other cities. All his known work is of religious subjects.
'''Fra Giovanni da Fiesole''' (born '''Guido di Pietro'''; {{Circa|1395}} – 18 February 1455), known posthumously as '''Fra Angelico''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|r|ɑː|_|æ|n|ˈ|dʒ|ɛ|l|ɪ|k|oʊ}} {{respell|FRAH|_|an|JEL|ik|oh}}, {{IPA|it|ˈfra anˈdʒɛːliko|lang}}), was an Italian [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar and painter active during the early [[Florentine Renaissance art|Florentine Renaissance]].
 
He was known to contemporaries as '''Fra Giovanni da Fiesole''' ("Friar John of [[Fiesole]]") and '''Fra Giovanni Angelico''' ("Angelic Brother John"). In modern Italian, he is called '''Beato Angelico''' ("Blessed Angelic One");<ref>Andrea del Sarto, Raphael and Michelangelo were all called "Beato" by their contemporaries because their skills were seen as a special gift from God</ref> the common English name Fra Angelico means the "Angelic Friar".


In 1982, [[Pope John Paul II]] beatified him<ref name="blessed">{{cite book | last1 = Bunson | first1 = Matthew | last2 = Bunson | first2 = Margaret | title = John Paul II's Book of Saints | publisher = Our Sunday Visitor | year = 1999 | pages = 156 | isbn = 0-87973-934-7 }}</ref> 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 town where he had taken his vows as a [[Dominican friar]],{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=6}} and would have been used by contemporaries to distinguish him from others with the same forename, Giovanni. He is commemorated by the current Roman Martyrology on 18 February,<ref>''[[Martyrologium Romanum]], ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Ioannis Pauli Pp. II promulgatum, editio [typica] altera, Typis Vaticanis, A.D. MMIV'' (2004), p. 155 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}</ref> the date of his death in 1455. There the Latin text reads ''Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus''—"Blessed John of Fiesole, surnamed 'the Angelic'".
Angelico created a series of [[fresco]]es for the Dominican [[convent]] of [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]] in [[Florence]], where he received the [[patronage]] of [[Cosimo de' Medici]]. His works include the ''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'' and the [[Deposition of Christ (Fra Angelico)|''Deposition of Christ'']], both made for the convent of San Marco. Painting exclusively religious subjects throughout his career, Angelico completed [[commission (art)|commission]]s in Rome under the patronage of Popes [[Pope Eugene IV|Eugene IV]] and [[Pope Nicholas V|Nicholas V]]. Angelico was a pioneer of the artistic trends that came to distinguish the early Renaissance, namely [[linear perspective]] and a greater attention to [[depth perception#In art|depth]] and [[form (art)|form]] than had been practised [[Medieval art|in the late Medieval period]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finocchio |first=Ross |date=2006-10-01 |title=Fra Angelico (ca. 1395–1455) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/fra-angelico-guido-di-pietro-ca-1395-1455 |access-date=2026-01-08 |website=www.metmuseum.org |language=en}}</ref>


Vasari wrote of Fra Angelico that "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."<ref name=Vasari/>
Angelico was [[beatification|beatified]] by [[Pope John Paul II]] in 1982. In 1984, John Paul declared him the [[patron saint|patron]] of Catholic artists.


==Biography==
==Biography==
He was known to his contemporaries as {{Lang|it|Fra Giovanni da Fiesole}} ("[[Friar]] John of [[Fiesole]]"), reflecting the town where he joined the [[Dominican Order]], and {{Lang|it|Fra Giovanni Angelico}} ("Angelic Brother John"). In modern Italian, he is referred to as {{Lang|it|Beato Angelico}} ("Blessed Angelic One") following his beatification by Pope John Paul II.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who was Fra Angelico? {{!}} USCCB |url=https://www.usccb.org/resources/who-was-fra-angelico |access-date=2026-03-16 |website=www.usccb.org |language=en}}</ref>


===Early life, 1395–1436===
===Early life, 1395–1436===
Fra Angelico was born Guido di Pietro in the hamlet of [[Vicchio di Mugello|Rupecanina]]<!--THIS IS THE CORRECT PLACE, A FRAZIONE OF VICCHIO--><ref>{{cite web
Fra Angelico was born around 1395<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_fang.htm|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080122153904/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_fang.htm|archive-date=2008-01-22}}</ref> in [[Mugello]], near [[Fiesole]] in [[Tuscany]]. He was [[baptism|baptised]] Guido di Pietro and had a younger brother named [[Benedetto da Fiesole|Benedetto]]. The earliest known record of him is dated 17 October 1417, when he attended a religious [[confraternity]] or [[guild]] at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel under the name Guido di Pietro. Payments made to Guido di Pietro in January and February 1418 for work at the church of [[Santo Stefano al Ponte|Santo Stefano del Ponte]] in [[Florence]] indicate that he was already working as a painter.<ref>Werner Cohn, ''Il Beato Angelico e Battista di Biagio Sanguigni.'' Revista d'Arte, V, (1955): 207–221.</ref>
  | title =Comune di Vicchio (Firenze), La terra natale di Giotto e del Beato Angelico
  | publisher = zoomedia
  | url =http://www.zoomedia.it/Vicchio/HistoryVic.html
  | access-date = 2007-09-28 }}</ref> in the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] area of [[Mugello region|Mugello]] near [[Fiesole]], not far from [[Florence]], towards the end of the 14th century. Nothing is known of his parents. He was baptised Guido. The earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from 17 October 1417, when he joined a religious confraternity or guild at the [[Our Lady of Mount Carmel|Carmine]] Church, still under the name Guido di Pietro. This record indicates that he was already a painter, as is evident from two records of payment to Guido di Pietro in January and February 1418, for work done in the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte.<ref>Werner Cohn, ''Il Beato Angelico e Battista di Biagio Sanguigni.'' Revista d'Arte, V, (1955): 207–221.</ref> The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, the first reference to Fra Giovanni (Friar John), following the custom of those entering one of the older [[religious order (Catholic)|religious order]]s of taking a new name.<ref>Stefano Orlandi,  ''Beato Angelico; Monographia Storica della Vita e delle Opere con Un'Appendice di Nuovi Documenti Inediti.''  Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1964.</ref>  He was a member of the [[Convent of San Domenico, Fiesole|convent of Fiesole]]. The [[Dominican Order]] is one of the medieval [[mendicant Orders]]. Mendicants generally lived not from the income of estates but from begging or donations. [[Fra]], a contraction of ''frater'' (Latin for 'brother'), is a conventional title for a mendicant friar.


According to Vasari, Fra Angelico's initial training was as an [[Illuminated manuscripts|illuminator]], possibly working with his older brother [[Benedetto da Fiesole|Benedetto]], also a Dominican and an illuminator. The former Dominican convent of [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]] in Florence, now a state museum, holds several manuscripts thought to be entirely or partly by his hand.<ref name=Vasari/> The painter [[Lorenzo Monaco]] may have contributed to his art training; the influence of the [[Sienese school]] is discernible in his work. He trained also with master Varricho in Milan{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|pp=6–7}} Despite quite a few moves of the [[convent]]s where he lived, this did little to constrain his artistic output, which rapidly acquired a reputation.  According to [[Vasari]], his first paintings were an [[altarpiece]] and a painted screen for the [[Carthusians|Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery)]] of [[Florence Charterhouse|Florence]]. Nothing remains of these today.<ref name=Vasari/>
By 1423, Angelico had joined the [[convent of San Domenico, Fiesole|convent of San Domenico in Fiesole]]. Following the custom of adopting a new name upon entering a [[religious order (Catholic)|religious order]], he adopted the name Fra Giovanni (Friar John).<ref>Stefano Orlandi,  ''Beato Angelico; Monographia Storica della Vita e delle Opere con Un'Appendice di Nuovi Documenti Inediti.''  Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1964.</ref> As a Dominican, he relied on [[alms]] and donations for his livelihood. Angelico initially trained as a [[manuscript illuminator]] and may have collaborated with his brother Benedetto, who also joined the Dominican Order. Some illuminated manuscripts have been attributed to him or his workshop, though these attributions remain debated.<ref name="Vasari">[[Giorgio Vasari]], ''Lives of the Artists''. Penguin Classics, 1965.</ref> He may have been influenced by [[Lorenzo Monaco]], though direct training is not documented, and influences from the [[Sienese school]] are evident in his work.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williamson |first=Beth |title=Fra Angelico: Heaven On Earth |publisher=Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Paul Holberton Publishing |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-911300-39-7 |location=Boston |pages=41}}</ref> Angelico trained with [[Master Varricho]] in [[Milan]].{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|pp=6–7}} According to [[Giorgio Vasari]], Angelico's first major work was an [[altarpiece]] and a painted screen for the [[Florence Charterhouse|Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) of Florence]], though nothing remains of these today.<ref name="Vasari" />


From 1408 to 1418, Fra Angelico was at the [[San Domenico, Cortona|Dominican friary of Cortona]], where he painted frescoes, mostly now destroyed, in the Dominican Church, and may have been assistant to [[Gherardo Starnina]] or a follower of his.<ref>{{cite web
From 1408 to 1418, Angelico painted [[fresco|frescoes]], many of which have now been lost, at the [[San Domenico, Cortona|Dominican friary of Cortona]] as an assistant to [[Gherardo Starnina]] or one of his followers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gherardo Starnina |work=Artists |publisher=[[Getty Center]] |url=http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1188 |access-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926215032/http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1188 |archive-date=2007-09-26}}Getty Education[]</ref> By 1418, he had returned to Fiesole, where he painted a number of works for the monastery, including the [[Fiesole Altarpiece]]. A [[predella]] of the altarpiece depicting [[Christ in Majesty|Christ in Glory]] alongside over 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans, is conserved in the [[National Gallery]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gordon |first=Dillian |last2=Wyld |first2=Martin |last3=Roy |first3=Ashok |year=2002 |title=Fra Angelico's Predella for the High Altarpiece of San Domenico, Fiesole |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/media/15495/gordon_wyld_roy2002.pdf |access-date=9 December 2025 |website=National Gallery Technical Bulletin |publisher=National Gallery Company |format=PDF |publication-place=London |isbn=1-85709-941-9 |issn=0140-7430}}</ref> Around 1427, Angelico produced an altarpiece depicting the [[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Louvre)|''Coronation of the Virgin'']], which remained at San Domenico until 1812 when artist and collector [[Vivant Denon]] acquired it for the [[Louvre]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rubin |first=Patricia |date=2004 |title=Hierarchies of Vision: Fra Angelico's "Coronation of the Virgin" from San Domenico, Fiesole |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20107973 |journal=Oxford Art Journal |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=137–153 |issn=0142-6540}}</ref> Angelico also produced a ''[[Madonna of Humility (Fra Angelico)|Madonna of Humility]]'' now kept in the [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]]. Also completed at this time were an [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, Madrid)|''Annunciation'']] and a ''[[Madonna of the Pomegranate]]'', both of which are now in the [[Museo del Prado|Prado Museum]].
|title       = Gherardo Starnina
|work       = Artists
|publisher   = [[Getty Center]]
|url         = http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1188
|access-date = 2007-09-28
|url-status     = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926215032/http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1188
|archive-date = 2007-09-26
}}Getty Education[]</ref> Between 1418 and 1436 he was back in Fiesole, where he executed a number of frescoes for the church and the [[Fiesole Altarpiece]]. This was allowed to deteriorate, but has since been restored. A predella of the altarpiece remains intact and is conserved in the [[National Gallery, London]]; a great example of Fra Angelico's genius. It shows Christ in Glory surrounded by more than 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans. This period saw the painting of some of his masterpieces, including a version of  ''[[Madonna of Humility (Fra Angelico)|The Madonna of Humility]]''. This is well preserved and the property of the [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]], on loan to the [[Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya|MNAC]] of Barcelona. Also completed at this time were an [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, Madrid)|''Annunciation'']] and a ''Madonna of the Pomegranate'', at the [[Museo del Prado|Prado Museum]].


===San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445===
===San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445===
[[File:Fra_Angelico_-_Annunciation.jpg|thumb|''[[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|Annunciation]]'', {{Circa|1440–1445}}]]
[[File:Fra_Angelico_-_Annunciation.jpg|thumb|''[[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|Annunciation]]'', {{Circa|1440–1445}}|262x262px]]
In 1436, Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built [[San Marco, Florence|convent or friary of San Marco]] in Florence. This propitious move, placing him at the heart of artistic life of the region, attracted the backing of [[Cosimo de' Medici]]. He was one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority (or "Signoria"), and founder of the dynasty that was set to dominate Florentine politics for much of the Renaissance. Cosimo had a [[Cosimo de' Medici's cell|cell reserved for himself]] at the friary so that he might ''retreat from the world''.  
In 1436, Angelico was one of a number of friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built [[convent of San Marco]] in Florence. This move placed him at the heart of the artistic life of the region. During these years in Florence, he was certainly in contact with the three artistic circles in the city in the early 15th century: the school of miniaturists, the workshops of the last Giottesque students (followers of [[Giotto]]), and a group of young sculptors and architects destined for great fame: [[Jacopo della Quercia]], [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], [[Filippo Brunelleschi]] and [[Donatello]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Papini |first=Roberto |title=ANGELICO, il Beato (Enciclopedia Italiana – 1929) |trans-title=Angelico, The Blessed |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/il-beato-angelico_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/ |access-date=9 December 2025 |website=Trecannioo |language=it}}</ref>
It was, writes Vasari, at Cosimo's urging that Fra Angelico set about the task of decorating the convent, including the magnificent fresco of the Chapter House, the much reproduced [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|Annunciation]] at the top of the stairs leading to the cells, the Maesta (or Coronation of the Madonna) with Saints (cell 9), and many other devotional frescoes, smaller in format but of a remarkable luminous quality, depicting aspects of the Life of Christ that adorn the walls of each cell.<ref name=Vasari/>
 
Angelico soon attracted the patronage of [[Cosimo de' Medici]], one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority, the [[Signoria of Florence|Signoria]], and the founder of the [[House of Medici|Medici Dynasty]] that was to dominate Florentine politics for much of the Renaissance. Cosimo had [[Cosimo de' Medici's cell|a cell reserved for himself]] at the convent as a retreat from the world. Vasari reports that Cosimo commissioned Angelico to decorate the convent with frescoes, which were greatly admired at the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norwich |first=John Julius |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw |title=Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-19-869137-2 |location=USA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw/page/16 16] |url-access=limited}}</ref> They include the magnificent fresco of the [[chapter house]], the much-reproduced [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|''Annunciation'']] at the top of the stairs leading to the cells, the [[Maestà]] (or Coronation of the Madonna) with Saints (cell 9), and many other smaller [[Catholic devotions to Jesus|devotional]] frescoes in the cells depicting stories of the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]] and [[Passion of Jesus|Passion]] of Jesus.<ref name="Vasari" />


In 1439 Fra Angelico completed one of his most famous works, the ''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'' at Florence. It broke new ground. Not unusual had been images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints, the custom was that the setting looked heaven-like, saints and angels hovering as ethereal presences rather than earthly substance. But in the ''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'', the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if conversing about their shared witness of the Virgin in glory. This fresh genre, [[Sacred Conversation]]s, was to underlie major commissions of [[Giovanni Bellini]], [[Perugino]] and [[Raphael]].<ref name=Hartt>Frederick Hartt, ''A History of Italian Renaissance Art'', (1970) Thames & Hudson, {{ISBN|0-500-23136-2}}</ref>
In his early works, Angelico retained a [[Gothic art|Gothic style]]. In the small [[church tabernacle|tabernacle]]s of San Marco, however, the simplicity of his [[composition (visual arts)|composition]]s and colours shows traces of the mature style that was to characterise his works. In his [[Deposition of Christ (Fra Angelico)|''Deposition of Christ'']], produced for the Strozzi Chapel in [[Santa Trinita]], he reached the full expression of this style. In this painting, the naturalistic spirit of the 15th century is affirmed by the lifelike figures, who possess a variety of expressions and gestures, as well as in the representation of a naturalistic landscape, which replaced the traditional [[gold ground]] typical of the Gothic period.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fra Angelico Paintings, Bio, Ideas |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/fra-angelico/ |access-date=2026-03-16 |website=The Art Story}}</ref>
[[File:Fra Angelico — San Marco Altarpiece.jpg|left|thumb|''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'']]
 
[[File:Fra Angelico — San Marco Altarpiece.jpg|thumb|''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]''|270x270px]]In 1439, Angelico completed one of his most famous and influential works: the ''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]''. It created a new religious genre, [[Sacra conversazione|''sacra conversazione'']] (sacred conversation), later used by artists including [[Giovanni Bellini]], [[Titian]], [[Perugino]] and [[Raphael]].<ref name="Hartt">Frederick Hartt, ''A History of Italian Renaissance Art'', (1970) Thames & Hudson, {{ISBN|0-500-23136-2}}</ref> Although representations of the enthroned [[Madonna and Child with Saints|Madonna and Child surrounded by saints]] were common, they were depicted in a heaven-like setting, hovering as spiritual presences rather than with earthly substance. In the ''San Marco Altarpiece'', the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if conversing about their shared witness of the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]].[[File:Fra Angelico 012.jpg|thumb|355x355px|right|''The Crucified Christ'' (detail)]]


===The Vatican, 1445–1455===
===The Vatican, 1445–1455===
[[File:Fra Angelico 012.jpg|thumb|180px|right|''The Crucified Christ'' (detail)]]
In 1445, [[Pope Eugene IV]] summoned Angelico to [[Rome]] to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at [[St. Peter's Basilica|St Peter's]], later demolished by [[Pope Paul III]]. [[Giorgio Vasari|Vasari]] suggests that at this time Angelico was offered the [[Archbishopric of Florence]] by [[Pope Nicholas V]], which he rejected, recommending another friar in his place. However, the story does not align with the historical facts. In 1445 the Pope was Eugene IV and Nicholas was not to be elected until two years later in March 1447. The [[archbishop]] in question during 1446–1459 was the Dominican [[Antoninus of Florence]] (Antonio Pierozzi), who was canonised by [[Pope Adrian VI]] in 1523.{{Original research inline|date=January 2026}}


In 1445 [[Pope Eugene IV]] summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the [[Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church|Holy Sacrament]] at [[St Peter's Basilica|St Peter's]], later demolished by [[Pope Paul III]]. Vasari suggests this might have been when Fra Angelico was offered the [[Archbishopric of Florence]] by [[Pope Nicholas V]], to turn it down, recommending instead another friar. The story seems possible, and even likely. However, the detail does not tally. In 1445 the pope was [[Pope Eugene IV|Eugene IV]]. [[Pope Nicholas V|Nicholas]] was not to be elected until 6 March 1447. The archbishop in question during 1446–1459 was the Dominican [[Antoninus of Florence]] (Antonio Pierozzi), canonised by [[Pope Adrian VI]] in 1523. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in [[Orvieto]] with his pupil, [[Benozzo Gozzoli]], executing works for the [[Duomo di Orvieto|Cathedral]]. Among his other pupils were [[Zanobi Strozzi]].<ref>{{cite web
In 1447, Angelico and his pupil, [[Benozzo Gozzoli]], travelled to [[Orvieto]] to produce works for the [[Orvieto Cathedral|Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary]]. Among his other pupils was [[Zanobi Strozzi]].<ref>{{cite web
   | title =Strozzi, Zanobi
   | title =Strozzi, Zanobi
   | publisher =[[The National Gallery, London]]
   | publisher =[[The National Gallery, London]]
Line 96: Line 86:
   }}</ref>
   }}</ref>


From 1447 to 1449 Fra Angelico was back at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the [[Niccoline Chapel]] for Nicholas V. The scenes from the lives of the two martyred [[deacon]]s 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.<ref name=Vasari/><ref name=WMR/>
From 1447 to 1449, Angelico was again at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the [[Niccoline Chapel]] for Nicholas V. The scenes from the lives of the two martyred [[deacon|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, Angelico returned to the convent in Fiesole, where he became [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]].<ref name="Vasari" /><ref name="WMR" />


===Death and beatification===
===Death and beatification===
[[File:Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' is a [[Tondo (art)|tondo]] of the [[Adoration of the Magi|scene when wise men from the east arrived]]. It is credited to Fra Angelico and [[Filippo Lippi]] and dates to c. 1440/1460.]]
[[File:Tomba di beato angelico 02.JPG|thumb|348x348px|Fra Angelico's tomb in [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], Rome]]
In 1455, Fra Angelico died while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, perhaps on an order to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. He was buried in the church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]].<ref name=Vasari/><ref name=WMR/><ref>The tomb has been given greater visibility since the beatification.</ref>  
Fra Angelico died in 1455 while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, possibly on an order to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. He was buried in the church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], in Rome.<ref name="Vasari" /><ref name="WMR" /><ref>The tomb has been given greater visibility since the beatification.</ref> Angelico was interred in a [[niche (architecture)|niche]] near the altar in a marble tomb. The tombstone is an [[tomb effigy#Renaissance|effigy]] carved in [[relief]] depicting Angelico in a Dominican habit. Above the tomb are two [[epitaph|epitaphs]], probably by [[Lorenzo Valla]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Nicola |first=G. |title=Iscrizioni romane relative ad artisti o ad opere d’arte |journal=Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria |issue=31 |pages=219–128, esp. 222}}</ref> The first reads:
{{Blockquote|When singing my praise, don't liken my talents to those of [[Apelles]]. <br/> Say, rather, that, in the name of Christ, I gave all I had to the poor.<br/>
{{Blockquote|Give me not praise for being another [[Apelles]],<br/>But say, rather, that in the name of Christ, that I gave all I had to the poor.<br/>The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.<br/>That city which is the flower of [[Etruria]] bore me, Giovanni.<ref name=Vasari/>}}
The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.<br/>
I, Giovanni, am the flower of Tuscany.|Translation of epitaph<ref name=Vasari/>}}
''Apelles (see main article) was a highly renowned painter of [[Ancient Greece]], whose output, now completely lost, is thought to have centred chronologically around 330 BCE.''


On display near the main altar is a marble tombstone, an exceptional honour for an artist at that time. Two epitaphs were written, probably by [[Lorenzo Valla]]. The first reads:
Below this is inscribed:{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}}
'''"In this place is enshrined the glory, the mirror, and the ornament of painters, John the Florentine. A religious and a true servant of God, he was a brother of the holy Order of Saint Dominic. His disciples mourn the death of such a great master, for who will find another brush like his? His homeland and his order mourn the death of a distinguished painter, who had no equal in his art."''' Inside a Renaissance style niche is the painter's relief in Dominican habit. A second epitaph reads:
 
'''"Here lies the venerable painter Brother John of the Order of Preachers. May I be praised not because I looked like another Apelles, but because I have offered to you, O Christ, all my wealth. For some, their works survive on earth; for others in heaven. The city of Florence gave birth to me, John."'''
{{Blockquote|In this place is enshrined the glory, the mirror, and the ornament of painters, John the Florentine. A religious and a true servant of God, he was a brother of the holy Order of Saint Dominic. His disciples mourn the death of such a great master, for who will find another brush like his? His homeland and his order mourn the death of a distinguished painter, who had no equal in his art.}}


The English writer and critic [[William Michael Rossetti]] wrote of the friar:
The English writer and critic [[William Michael Rossetti]] wrote of the friar:
{{Blockquote|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 (Angelico)|The Last Judgment]] and the Annunciation were two of the subjects he most frequently treated.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=7}}<ref name=WMR>{{cite web |url=https://orderofpreachersindependent.org/2016/03/18/fra-angelico-2/ |title=Fra Angelico |access-date=1 May 2016 |author=Rossetti, William Michael (as attributed) |date=18 March 2016 |publisher=orderofpreachersindependent.org}}</ref>}}
{{Blockquote|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 (Angelico)|The Last Judgment]] and the Annunciation were two of the subjects he most frequently treated.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=7}}<ref name=WMR>{{cite web |url=https://orderofpreachersindependent.org/2016/03/18/fra-angelico-2/ |title=Fra Angelico |access-date=1 May 2016 |author=Rossetti, William Michael (as attributed) |date=18 March 2016 |publisher=orderofpreachersindependent.org}}</ref>}}


Pope John Paul II beatified Fra Angelico on 3 October 1982, and in 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists.<ref name="blessed"/>{{blockquote|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]]}}
Pope John Paul II [[beatified]] Angelico on 3 October 1982 and in 1984 declared him [[patron saint|patron]] of Catholic artists.<ref name="blessed">{{cite book |last1=Bunson |first1=Matthew |title=John Paul II's Book of Saints |last2=Bunson |first2=Margaret |publisher=Our Sunday Visitor |year=1999 |isbn=0-87973-934-7 |pages=156}}</ref> [[Pope John Paul II|John Paul II]] noted that:
 
{{blockquote|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.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}}|author=}}
 
He is commemorated by the current Roman [[Martyrology]] on 18 February,<ref>''[[Martyrologium Romanum]], ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Ioannis Pauli Pp. II promulgatum, editio [typica] altera, Typis Vaticanis, A.D. MMIV'' (2004), p. 155 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}</ref> the date of his death in 1455. There the Latin text reads ''Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus'' ("Blessed John of Fiesole, known as the Angelic").


==Evaluation==
==Evaluation==
[[File:Fra_Angelico_—_The_Last_Judgment.jpg|thumb|388px|right|[[San Marco, Florence]],''[[The Last Judgment (Angelico)|The Day of Judgement]]'', upper panel of an altarpiece. It shows the precision, detail and colour required in a commissioned work.]]
[[File:Fra Angelico — The Last Judgment.jpg|thumb|388px|right|''[[The Last Judgment (Fra Angelico, Florence)|The Day of Judgement]]'', upper panel of an [[altarpiece]] in the convent of [[San Marco, Florence]]. (1425–1430) ]]
[[File:Fra Angelico - Thebaid.jpg|thumb|388x388px|A [[Thebaide]], showing the activities in the lives of the saints, 1420]]
[[File:Fra Angelico - Thebaid.jpg|thumb|388x388px|A Thebaide, showing the activities in the lives of the saints, 1420]]
===Background===
Angelico worked during a period of significant change in [[Art of Europe|European artistic style]], marked by the transition from the [[Medieval art|Medieval]] tradition to the [[Italian Renaissance painting|Early Renaissance]]. This shift began in the fourteenth century with artists such as [[Giotto]] and [[Giusto de' Menabuoi]]. Both Angelico and de' Menabuoi produced major works in [[Padua]], while Giotto had earlier trained in [[Florence]] under the Gothic painter [[Cimabue]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Giotto {{!}} National Gallery of Art|url=https://www.nga.gov/artists/1342-giotto|access-date=2026-02-21 |website=www.nga.gov |language=en}}</ref>


===Background===
Giotto's fresco cycle depicting the life of [[Francis of Assisi|Saint Francis]] at [[Santa Croce, Florence|the Basilica of Santa Croce]] represented a departure from earlier conventions through its emphasis on [[naturalism (art)|naturalism]], spatial coherence, and emotional expression. His approach influenced a number of later painters who adopted and expanded upon his techniques, such as the brothers [[Pietro Lorenzetti|Pietro]] and [[Ambrogio Lorenzetti|Ambrogio]] Lorenzetti and their developments towards narrative clarity and [[realism (arts)|realism]].<ref name="Hartt" />
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, Italy|Padua]], though Giotto had been trained in [[Florence]] by the great Gothic artist, [[Cimabue]]. He had painted a fresco cycle of [[Francis of Assisi|St Francis]] in the Bardi Chapel in the [[Basilica di Santa Croce]]. Giotto had many enthusiastic followers, imitating his style in [[fresco]]. Some of them, notably the [[Pietro Lorenzetti|Lorenzetti]], achieved great success.<ref name=Hartt/>
[[File:Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi.jpg|thumb|300px|The ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' is a [[tondo (art)|tondo]] depicting the [[Adoration of the Magi|arrival of the Magi during the Nativity of Christ]]. It is credited to Fra Angelico and [[Filippo Lippi]] and dates to c. 1440/1460.]]


===Patronage===
===Altarpieces===
The works of Angelico combine elements of the late [[Gothic art|Gothic]] tradition with emerging [[Renaissance]] principles. In his ''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', an [[altarpiece]] painted for the Florentine church of [[Santa Maria Novella]], Angelico employed features typical of prestigious fourteenth-century altarpieces, including a finely worked [[gold ground]] and extensive use of [[azurite (pigment)|azurite]] and [[vermilion]] pigments. The gilded [[halo (religious iconography)|halo]]es and gold-edged garments reflect the refined decorative conventions of Gothic painting.


If not a monastic establishment, the [[Patronage|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, compared with a freer and more nuanced style then in vogue. Underpinning this was that a commissioned painting said something about its sponsor: the more [[gold leaf]], the more prestige accrued. Other precious materials in the paint-box were [[lapis lazuli]] and [[vermilion]]. Paints from these colours lent themselves poorly to a tonal treatment. The azure blue made of powdered lapis lazuli had to be applied flat. As with gold leaf, it was left to the depth and brilliance of colour to announce the patron's importance. This, however, constrained the overall style to that of an earlier generation. Thus, the impression left by altarpieces was more conservative than that achieved by frescoes. These, in contrast, were frequently of almost life-sized figures. To gain effect, they could capitalise on an up-to-date stage-set quality rather than having to fall back upon a lavish, but dated, display.<ref>Michael Baxandall, ''Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy'',(1974) Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-881329-5}}</ref>
The work also demonstrates characteristics associated with the Renaissance. In contrast to earlier Gothic examples, such as altarpieces by [[Gentile da Fabriano]], Angelico's figures are rendered with greater solidity, three-dimensional form, and naturalism. The drapery of the garments follows the structure of the bodies beneath, and the figures convey a sense of physical weight, despite being depicted standing on clouds rather than on solid ground.


===Contemporaries===
[[File:Fra Angelico 042 adjusted.jpg|220px|thumb|''The [[Transfiguration of Jesus|Transfiguration]]'' shows the directness, simplicity and restrained palette typical of these frescoes. Located in a [[monastic cell|monk's cell]] at the [[San Marco, Florence|Convent San' Marco]], its apparent purpose is to encourage private [[Catholic devotions|devotion]].]]
Fra Angelico was the contemporary of [[Gentile da Fabriano]]. Gentile's altarpiece of the ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Gentile da Fabriano)|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.<ref name=Hartt/>


===Altarpieces===
===Frescoes===
The works of Fra Angelico reveal elements that are both conservatively [[Gothic art|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 ground]], much azure, and much vermilion. The workmanship of the gilded haloes and gold-edged robes is exquisite and all very Gothic. What makes this a Renaissance painting, as against Gentile da Fabriano's masterpiece, is the solidity, 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.<ref name=Hartt/>
{{Cleanup|date=January 2026|reason=Tone is overly subjective, contains original research, requires citations|section}}


[[File:Fra Angelico 042 adjusted.jpg|220px|thumb|left|''The [[Transfiguration of Jesus|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.]]
Angelico produced a series of [[fresco|frescoes]] for the [[monastic cell|cell]]s of San Marco that built upon [[Masaccio]]'s work. The [[dormitory]] of San Marco consists of three corridors with thirty-eight internal cells, each decorated by Angelico with frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Jesus in a loose narrative sequence.


===Frescoes===
The fresoes are the same shape as the arched window and vaulted ceiling of each cell. The decoration and style reflects the Dominican Rule's focus on [[charity (Christian virtue)|charity]], and the cells contain no other decorations to distract from the fresco scenes. [[Giorgio Vasari|Vasari]] explains that Angelico was inspired to create a large crucifixion scene with many saints for the [[chapter house]] after [[Cosimo de' Medici]] saw the frescoes. As with the other frescoes, de' Medici's [[patronage]] did not influence Angelico's artistic expression with displays of wealth.<ref name="Vasari" />
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, and 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.<ref name=Hartt/>
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.<ref name=Vasari/>


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 [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]] created at San' Marco's and the square in front of it.<ref name=Hartt/>
Masaccio ventured into [[perspective (graphical)|perspective]] with his creation of a realistically painted niche at [[Santa Maria Novella]]. Subsequently, Angelico demonstrated an understanding of linear perspective, particularly in his [[annunciation]] paintings set inside the sort of [[arcade (architecture)|arcade]]s that [[Michelozzo]] and [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]] created at San Marco and the square in front of it.<ref name=Hartt/>


===Lives of the Saints===
===Lives of the Saints===
[[File:Angelico, niccolina 12.jpg|250px|thumb|''[[Saint Lawrence]] distributing alms'' 1447–1450, fresco, Chapel of Nicholas V, [[Vatican City]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zuffi |first=Stefano |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm53441832 |title=The Renaissance: 1401-1610: the splendor of European art |last2=Hyams |first2=Jay |last3=Seppi |first3=Giorgio |last4=Pauli |first4=Tatjana |last5=Scardoni |first5=Sergio |date=2003 |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books |isbn=978-0-7607-4200-6 |location=New York |oclc=ocm53441832}}</ref> This painting incorporates the expensive pigments, gold leaf and elaborate design typical of Vatican commissions.]]
[[File:Angelico, niccolina 12.jpg|250px|thumb|''[[Saint Lawrence]] distributing [[alms]]'' 1447–1450, fresco, [[Niccoline Chapel|Chapel of Nicholas V]], Vatican City.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zuffi |first=Stefano |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm53441832 |title=The Renaissance: 1401-1610: the splendor of European art |last2=Hyams |first2=Jay |last3=Seppi |first3=Giorgio |last4=Pauli |first4=Tatjana |last5=Scardoni |first5=Sergio |date=2003 |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books |isbn=978-0-7607-4200-6 |location=New York |oclc=ocm53441832}}</ref> This painting incorporates the expensive [[pigment]]s, [[gold leaf]] and elaborate design typical of Vatican [[commission (art)|commission]]s.]]


When Fra Angelico and his assistants went to the [[Vatican City|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 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:
When Fra Angelico went to the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] to decorate [[Niccoline Chapel|the chapel of Pope Nicholas]], he was again confronted with the need to please the very wealthiest of clients. The walls are decked with the brilliance of colour and gold that are found 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 Angelico created designs that reveal his own preoccupation with [[humanity (virtue)|humanity]], [[humility]], and [[piety]]. According to Vasari, "in their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist."<ref name="Vasari2" />
{{blockquote|In their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Fra Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist.<ref name=Vasari/>}}


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 [[Magi Chapel#Gozzoli's Journey of the Magi|Journey of the Magi]], painted in the [[Medici]]'s private chapel at their [[palazzo]].<ref>Paolo Morachiello, ''Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes''. Thames and Hudson, 1990. {{ISBN|0-500-23729-8}}</ref>
It is probable that much of the actual painting was done by his assistants to his design. [[Benozzo Gozzoli]] was a highly accomplished painter but took his art further towards the fully developed Renaissance style with his expressive and lifelike portraits in [[Magi Chapel#Journey of the Magi|his masterpiece depicting the Journey of the Magi]], painted in the Medici's private chapel at [[Palazzo Medici Riccardi|their palazzo]].<ref>Paolo Morachiello, ''Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes''. Thames and Hudson, 1990. {{ISBN|0-500-23729-8}}</ref>


[[File:Blessing Redeemer (1423); Fra Angelico1.jpg|thumb|left|''Blessing Redeemer'' (1423)]]
[[File:Blessing Redeemer (1423); Fra Angelico1.jpg|thumb|''Blessing Redeemer'' (1423)]]


===Artistic legacy===
===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.
Through Fra Angelico's pupil Benozzo Gozzoli's portraiture and technical style in the art of fresco we see a link to [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]], who was commissioned by the wealthy [[patronage|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 [[Virgin Mary|Madonnas]] and timeless [[Crucifixion of Christ|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 [[Sistine Chapel ceiling|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 in art|Life of Christ]]'' and ''[[Life of Moses (disambiguation)|Life of Moses]]'' were depicted by a range of artists including his teacher [[Domenico Ghirlandaio|Ghirlandaio]], [[Raphael]]'s teacher [[Pietro Perugino|Perugino]] and [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]].


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 [[Domenico Ghirlandaio|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 the 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.<ref name=Hartt/>
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#Renaissance through 18th century|blue]] and gold. In the use of the unadorned fresco technique, the clear, bright colours, the careful arrangement of a few significant figures and the skillful 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]].<ref name=Hartt/>


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 skillful 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]].<ref name=Hartt/>
[[Giorgio Vasari|Vasari]] praised Fra Angelico: "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."<ref name="Vasari" />


==Works==
==Works==
[[File:Angelico, pala di fiesole, full.jpg|thumb|right|''Virgin and Child with Saints'', detail, Fiesole (1428–1430)]]
[[File:Angelico, pala di fiesole, full.jpg|thumb|right|''Virgin and Child with Saints'', detail, [[Fiesole]] (1428–1430)]]
[[File:Fra Angelico — Coronation of the Virgin.jpg|thumb|right|''Coronation of the Virgin'' (c. 1432
[[File:Fra Angelico — Coronation of the Virgin.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'' (c. 1432)]]
)]]


===Early works, 1408–1436===
===Early works, 1408–1436===


'''Unknown'''
'''Unknown'''
*''[[Saint James and Saint Lucy Predella]]'', five panels, tempera, c. 1426 to 1428
*''[[Saint James and Saint Lucy Predella]]'', five [[panel painting|panels]], [[tempera]], c. 1426 to 1428
'''Rome'''
'''Rome'''
*''The Crucifixion'', panel, c. 1420–1423, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art|Metropolitan Museum, New York]].<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/43.98.5/ ''The Crucifixion''] in the online databank of the MET.</ref> Possibly Fra Angelico's only signed work.<ref>Ross Finocchio in an [https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fang/hd_fang.htm essay on Fra Angelico] at ''The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'' in 2006.</ref>  
*''The Crucifixion'', panel, c. 1420–1423, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art|Metropolitan Museum, New York]].<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/43.98.5/ ''The Crucifixion''] in the online databank of the MET.</ref> Possibly Fra Angelico's only signed work.<ref>Ross Finocchio in an [https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fang/hd_fang.htm essay on Fra Angelico] at ''The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'' in 2006.</ref>
'''[[Oxford]], England'''
* ''The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen''. early 1420s. [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford. Purchased from a [[private collection]] in November 2024.<ref>Cooper, Donal, [https://apollo-magazine.com/apollo-awards-2025-acquisition-winner/ "Acquisition of the Year"] ''Apollo'', December 2025, pp. 60-61.</ref>
'''[[Cortona]]'''
'''[[Cortona]]'''
*''[[Cortona Annunciation|Annunciation]]'', c. 1430, Diocesan Museum, Cortona
*''[[Annunciation of Cortona|Annunciation]]'', c. 1430, [[Diocesan Museum (Cortona)|Diocesan Museum, Cortona]]
'''[[Fiesole]]'''
'''[[Fiesole]]'''
*''Coronation of the Virgin'', altarpiece with predellas of ''Miracles of [[St Dominic]]'', Church of San Domenico, [[Louvre, Paris]]
*''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', altarpiece with [[predella|predellas]] of ''Miracles of St Dominic'', [[San Domenico, Orvieto|Church of San Domenico]], [[Louvre]], Paris
*''[[Fiesole Altarpiece|Virgin and Child between Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr]]'', San Domenico, 1424
*''[[Fiesole Altarpiece|Virgin and Child between Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr]]'', altarpiece, [[Convent of San Domenico, Fiesole|San Domenico]], 1424
*''[[Day of Judgement|Christ in Majesty]]'', predella, [[National Gallery, London]].
*''Christ in Majesty'', predella, [[National Gallery]], London.
'''Florence, [[Basilica di San Marco (Florence)|Basilica di San Marco]]'''  
'''Florence: [[San Marco, Florence|Basilica di San Marco]]'''  
*''[[Dormition of the Virgin]]'', 1431<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.wikiart.org/en/fra-angelico/dormition-of-the-virgin-1432| title = ''Dormition of the Virgin''}} on [[WikiArt]].org</ref>
*''Dormition of the Virgin'', 1431<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.wikiart.org/en/fra-angelico/dormition-of-the-virgin-1432| title = ''Dormition of the Virgin''}} on [[WikiArt]].org</ref>
'''Florence, [[Santa Trinita]]'''  
'''Florence: [[Santa Trinita]]'''  
*''[[Deposition of Christ (Beato Angelico)|Deposition of Christ]]'', said by Vasari to have been "painted by a saint or an angel", [[San Marco, Florence|National Museum of San Marco]], Florence.
*[[Deposition of Christ (Fra Angelico)|''Deposition of Christ'']], altarpiece, [[Museo Nazionale di San Marco|National Museum of San Marco]], Florence.
*''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', c. 1432, [[Uffizi]], Florence
*''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', c. 1432, [[Uffizi]], Florence{{Contradictory inline|reason=Which church? The linked article says "Giorgio Vasari writes that it was located in the church of Sant'Egidio at Florence."|date=May 2026}}
*''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Louvre)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', c. 1434–1435, Louvre, Paris
*''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Louvre)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', c. 1434–1435, Louvre, Paris
'''Florence, [[Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence|Santa Maria degli Angeli]]'''  
'''Florence: [[Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence|Santa Maria degli Angeli]]'''  
*''[[Last Judgement]]'', [[Accademia, Florence]]
*''[[The Last Judgment (Fra Angelico, Florence)|Last Judgement]]'', [[Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze|Accademia]], Florence
'''Florence, [[Santa Maria Novella]]'''  
'''Florence: [[Santa Maria Novella]]'''  
*''Coronation of the Virgin'', altarpiece, Uffizi.
*''[[Coronation of the Virgin (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)|Coronation of the Virgin]]'', altarpiece, Uffizi.{{Contradictory inline|reason=Which church? The linked article says "Giorgio Vasari writes that it was located in the church of Sant'Egidio at Florence."|date=May 2026}}


===San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445===
===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.<ref>{{cite web
* Altarpiece for [[chancel]] – ''[[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin]] with Saints [[Cosmas and Damian]], attended by Saints Dominic, Peter, Francis, Mark, John Evangelist and Stephen''. Cosmas and Damian were [[patron saint|patron]]s 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.<ref>{{cite web
   | title =San Marco Altarpiece
   | title =San Marco Altarpiece
   | publisher =Web Gallery of Art
   | publisher =Web Gallery of Art
   | url =http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/a/angelico/07/index.html  
   | url =http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/a/angelico/07/index.html  
   | access-date =2014-05-29  }}</ref>  
   | access-date =2014-05-29  }}</ref>{{Additional citation needed|date=May 2026|reason=This source only seems to cover some of the information mentioned here. Do any of the "Comment"s on the pictures fill in more?}} Two missing side panels depicting Dominican saints [[#Discovery of lost works|were found in the 2000s]].
[[File:Fra Angelico 073.jpg|thumb|''The Deposition from the Cross'', Museo San Marco]]
[[File:Fra Angelico 073.jpg|thumb|''[[Deposition of Christ (Fra Angelico)|The Deposition from the Cross]]'', [[Museo Nazionale di San Marco|Museo San Marco]]]]
[[File:Beato angelico, madonna delle ombre.jpg|thumb|The Madonna enthroned with [[Saints Cosmas and Damian]], [[Mark the Evangelist|Saint Mark]] and [[John the Apostle|Saint John]], [[Lawrence of Rome|Saint Lawrence]] and three Dominicans, [[Saint Dominic]], Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]] and [[Peter of Verona|Saint Peter Martyr]]; [[San Marco di Firenze|San Marco]], Florence]]
[[File:Beato angelico, madonna delle ombre.jpg|thumb|The Madonna enthroned with [[Saints Cosmas and Damian]], [[Mark the Evangelist|Saint Mark]] and [[John the Apostle|Saint John]], [[Lawrence of Rome|Saint Lawrence]] and three Dominicans, [[Saint Dominic]], Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]] and [[Peter of Verona|Saint Peter Martyr]]; [[San Marco di Firenze|San Marco]], Florence]]
* Altarpiece ? – ''Madonna and Child with Twelve Angels'' (life sized); Uffizi.
* Altarpiece? – ''Madonna and Child with Twelve Angels'' (life sized); Uffizi.
* Altarpiece – ''The Annunciation''
* Altarpiece – ''[[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, Madrid)|The Annunciation]]''
* [[San Marco Altarpiece]]
* [[San Marco Altarpiece]]
* Two versions of the ''Crucifixion with St Dominic''; in the Cloister
* Two versions of the ''Crucifixion with St Dominic''; in the Cloister
Line 202: Line 194:
* [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|''The Annunciation'']]; at the top of the Dormitory stairs. This is probably the most reproduced of all Fra Angelico's paintings.
* [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|''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
*''Virgin Enthroned with Four Saints''; in the Dormitory passage
[[File:Fra_Angelico_—_Coronation_of_the_Virgin_medallion.jpg|thumb|''Coronation of the Virgin'' medallion, 1450s]]
[[File:Fra Angelico — Coronation of the Virgin medallion.jpg|thumb|''Coronation of the Virgin'' [[medallion]], 1450s]]
[[File:Fra Angelico 049.jpg|thumb|In ''The Annunciation'', the interior reproduces that of the cell in which it is located.]]
[[File:Fra Angelico 049.jpg|thumb|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 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 inner row of cells, some of the less inspiring quality and of the more repetitive subject, perhaps completed by assistants.<ref name=Hartt/> Many pictures include Dominican saints as witnesses of the scene each in one of the nine traditional prayer postures depicted in [[De Modo Orandi]]. The friar using the cell could place himself in the scene.
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 purposes. Many of Fra Angelico's finest and most reproduced works are among them. There are, particularly in the inner row of cells, some of the less inspiring quality and of the more repetitive subject, perhaps completed by assistants.<ref name=Hartt/> Many pictures include Dominican saints as witnesses of the scene each in one of the nine traditional prayer postures depicted in [[De Modo Orandi]]. The friar using the cell could place himself in the scene.


* ''The [[Adoration of the Magi]]''
* ''The [[Adoration of the Magi (Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]''
* ''The [[Transfiguration of Jesus|Transfiguration]]''
* ''The [[Transfiguration of Jesus|Transfiguration]]''
* ''[[Noli me tangere]]''
* ''[[Noli me tangere]]''
* ''The [[Three Marys]] at the Tomb''.
* ''[[The Three Marys#The three Marys at the tomb|The Three Marys at the Tomb]]''.
* ''The [[Supper at Emmaus|Road to Emmaus]]'', with two Dominicans as the disciples
* ''The [[Road to Emmaus appearance|Road to Emmaus]]'', with two Dominicans as the disciples
* ''The Mocking of Christ''
* ''The [[Mocking of Christ]]''
* There are many versions of ''the [[Crucifixion]]''
* There are many versions of ''the [[Crucifixion]]''


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'''[[Duomo di Orvieto|Orvieto Cathedral]]'''
'''[[Duomo di Orvieto|Orvieto Cathedral]]'''


Three segments of the ceiling in the Cappella Nuova, with the assistance of Benozzo Gozzoli.
Three segments of the ceiling in the Cappella Nuova, with the assistance of [[Benozzo Gozzoli]].
* ''Christ in Glory''
* ''Christ in Glory''
* ''The Virgin Mary''
* ''The Virgin Mary''
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'''[[Niccoline Chapel]]'''
'''[[Niccoline Chapel]]'''


The Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, at the [[Vatican City|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 Chapel of [[Pope Nicholas V]], at the [[Vatican City|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 Stephen]]''
* ''The Life of [[St Lawrence]]''
* ''The Life of [[St Lawrence]]''
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===Discovery of lost works===
===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.<ref name="Morris_20April_2007"/> Preston, an expert medievalist, recognised them as being high-quality Florentine renaissance, but did not realize that they were works by Fra Angelico until they were identified in 2005 by Michael Liversidge of Bristol University.<ref>{{cite news  
The [[San Marco Altarpiece]] had eight side panels.<ref name="Thompson 2008Mar05 Oxford Mail">{{Cite news |last=Thompson|first=Theresa|date=5 March 2008|title=Miss Preston’s hidden treasures|url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2095898.miss-prestons-hidden-treasures/|work=Oxford Mail}}</ref> During [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|Napoleon's Italian campaigns]], they were dispersed, with the whereabouts of two remaining unknown for centuries.<ref name="Hegstad 2006Nov14 AP">{{Cite news |last=Hegstad |first=Maria |date=14 November 2006 <!-- ET: 13:33 --> |title=Fra Angelico paintings missing since Napoleonic wars up for auction in Britain |id={{Factiva|APRS000020061114e2be003qh}} (<nowiki>RF: "7", IPC: "tagdsa | sel----- | cate", IPD: "AP National News | Entertainment | Britain Paintings Discovered | D8LD0O280"</nowiki>). {{NewsBank|115B632991216040}}. |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref name="Hodgson 2008Jan29 Guardian">{{Cite news |last=Hodgson |first=Martin |date=29 January 2008 |title=Saved: the hidden Oxford treasures: Former curator's house held an unknown collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings and books worth millions |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/jan/29/artnews.art1 |work=The Guardian |department=National : Art |page=[E]9 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |id={{Factiva|GRDN000020080129e41t0002j}}. {{NewsBank|11E8085698A68FE8}}. [[Newspapers.com]] [https://theguardian.newspapers.com/image/1219053567/?match=1&terms=%22Two%20Pre-Raphaelite%20masterpieces%20found%20in%20the%20kitchen%22 1219053567].}}</ref> Around 2005, those two were discovered in [[Oxford]] in the home of Jean Preston, a curator of medieval manuscripts at the [[Huntington Library]] and [[Princeton University Library]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=McTarsney |first=Regan |date=29 January 2008 |title=Hidden masterpieces found in Oxford home to go on display / Curator's Hidden Art Will Be Displayed |id=<small>{{Factiva|APRS000020080129e41t003ig}}, {{Factiva|plainlink=yes|APRS000020080129e41t003no}}, {{Factiva|plainlink=yes|APRS000020080129e41t0041n}}. {{NewsBank|11ECBCA2F62AF568}}, <small>{{NewsBank|plainlink=yes|11ECBCA59C1CE640}}, {{NewsBank|plainlink=yes|1415D1D0B5BA2298}}, {{NewsBank|plainlink=yes|14140FB3AAC75310}}</small></small>. |agency=Associated Press}} Syndicated as: {{Cite news |date=30 January 2008 |title=Masterpieces In a Modest English Home |work=The Washington Post |page=C2 |id={{ProQuest|1945705425|3053344871|410211078}} |mode=cs2}} (except last 3 paragraphs); {{Cite news |date=1 February 2008 |title=Retiree kept art hidden to the end: A former curator for Huntington Library had works worth $8 million in her London cottage. |work=The Los Angeles Times |page=E30 |id={{ProQuest|1970719627}} |mode=cs2}}.</ref> Preston and her amateur collector father, Kerrison Preston, had purchased them in California in 1965 for around $200–400<!-- sources disagree: --><ref name="Thompson 2008Mar05 Oxford Mail" /><ref name="Hegstad 2006Nov14 AP" /><ref name="Hodgson 2008Jan29 Guardian" /><ref name="Savage CtV webpage">{{Cite web |last=Savage |first=David |title=Fra Angelico |url=https://www.cavallinitoveronese.co.uk/fra-angelico/ |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=Cavallini to Veronese |at=See subheading "Two Dominican Saints. Wood, each 38 x 13." under heading "Florence. Uffizi." |language=en-GB |publication-place=Norfolk, UK}}</ref><ref name="ANSA 2007Oct22">{{Cite news |last=Y6G-GAR |date=22 October 2007 <!-- ET: 16:07 --> |title=ARTE: RUTELLI, ACQUISTATE DUE TAVOLE DEL BEATO ANGELICO. |work=ANSA-Regional Service |id={{Factiva|ANSARE0020071022e3am00602}} (RF: "2007-10-22_122123626 YFI19195"). |agency=Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata}}</ref><ref name="Morris 2007Apr20 Guardian" />, where they were described as "panel paintings of Dominican Saints, 15th Century, Italian". The panels had been inherited by an American widow after her husband had died in Switzerland c. 1924–1925.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.dukes-auctions.com/images/Fra%20Angelico%20Final%20Catalogue.pdf |title=Fra Angelico: The San Marco Panels |publisher=Duke's, auctioneers since 1823 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070508071444/http://www.dukes-auctions.com/images/Fra%20Angelico%20Final%20Catalogue.pdf |archive-date=2007-05-08 |url-status=dead}} Partially reproduced in: {{Cite web |title=PF190407 Lot:100-150 |url=http://www.dukes-auctions.com/Catalogues/PF190407/page4.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502060628/http://www.dukes-auctions.com/Catalogues/PF190407/page4.htm |archive-date=2007-05-02 |publisher=Hy Duke & Son Fine Art Auctioneers, Dorchester, Dorset, England |at=See lot 150}}</ref><ref>{{Cite interview |last=Liversidge|first=Michael|interviewer=Darrelyn Gunzburg|title=Two Saints – Home At Last|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8357.2008.00902.x|work=|issue=1|date=June 2007<!-- "Darrelyn Gunzburg spoke with Michael Liversidge in Bristol in June 2007 about their identification." -->|pages=27–28|volume=15|series=<!-- using `work` (or `journal`) would put "(Inteview)" after it rather than the article title -->''The Art Book''|issn=1368-6267|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8357.2008.00902.x|id=[[Academia.edu]] [https://www.academia.edu/1342288/Two_Saints_Home_at_Last 1342288]. {{EBSCOhost|29383807}}.|publication-date=February 2008<!-- the date of the journal issue -->|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Michael Liversidge, a former dean of art history at the [[University of Bristol]], evaluated the panels at Preston's house, describing them as a "once in a lifetime" find.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Steven |date=14 November 2006 |title=A £1m art find behind the spare room door: 'Breathtaking' discovery of long-lost works by Florentine master |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/nov/14/topstories3.arts |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> After her death in 2006, the collection in her estate was auctioned off by Duke's, an auction house in [[Dorset]].<ref name="Morris 2007Apr20 Guardian">{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Steven |date=20 April 2007 |title=Lost altar masterpieces found in spare bedroom fetch £1.7m: Italian ministry outbid by private buyer in Dorset sale of Fra Angelico saints |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/apr/20/artnews.topstories3 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In April 2007, Florentine antiquarian [[Fabrizio Moretti (art dealer)|Fabrizio Moretti]]<ref name="Savage CtV webpage" /> anonymously outbid the [[Ministry of Culture (Italy)|Italian ministry of art and culture]] to purchase the two panels for £1.7 million.<ref name="Morris 2007Apr20 Guardian" /> Later that year, the Polo Museale Fiorentino and the [[Banca CR Firenze|Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze]] each purchased one of them for a total of €3.6 million, subsequently entrusting them to San Marco Museum.<ref name="Savage CtV webpage" /><ref name="ANSA 2007Oct22" /> In 2025, the altarpiece was temporarily displayed alongside 17 of the 18 total known predellas and panels at [[Palazzo Strozzi]] as part of the ''Beato Angelico'' exhibition.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Povoledo |first=Elisabetta |date=24 September 2025 <!-- "Published Sept. 22, 2025  Updated Sept. 24, 2025", "A correction was made on Sept. 24, 2025: An earlier version of this article misidentified the religious community of which Fra Angelico was a part. He entered an order of Dominican friars, not monks.", "A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 24, 2025, Section C, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Putting the Spotlight on a Patron Saint." --> |title=Putting the Spotlight on a Patron Saint<!-- print --> / Reuniting the Great Works of the Patron Saint of Artists: A new exhibition in Italy puts the spotlight on Fra Angelico, whose reputation for piety vied with his undeniable artistic talents.<!-- online --> |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/arts/design/fra-angelico-florence-italy.html |work=The New York Times |page=C1 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
  | last =Morris
  | first =Steven
  | title =A £1m art find behind the spare room door
  | newspaper =[[The Guardian]]
  | date = 14 November 2006
  | url =http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1947030,00.html
  | access-date =2007-09-28  }}</ref> 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. The paintings are two of eight side panels of a large altarpiece painted in 1439 for Fra Angelico's monastery at San Marco, which was later split up by [[Napoleon]]'s army. 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.<ref name="Morris_20April_2007">{{cite news  
  | last =Morris
  | first =Steven  
  | title =Lost altar masterpieces found in spare bedroom fetch £1.7m
  | newspaper =[[The Guardian]]
  | date = 20 April 2007
  | url =http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2061644,00.html
  | access-date =2007-09-28  }}</ref> Both panels are now restored and exhibited in the San Marco Museum in Florence.


==See also==
==See also==
Line 271: Line 249:


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Nathaniel Silver (ed.), ''Fra Angelico: Heaven of Earth'', Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston 2018
* Nathaniel Silver (ed.), ''Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth'', Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston 2018
* Gerardo de Simone, ''Il Beato Angelico a Roma. Rinascita delle arti e Umanesimo cristiano nell'Urbe di Niccolò V e Leon Battista Alberti'', Fondazione Carlo Marchi, Studi, vol. 34, Olschki, Firenze 2017
* Gerardo de Simone, ''Il Beato Angelico a Roma. Rinascita delle arti e Umanesimo cristiano nell'Urbe di Niccolò V e Leon Battista Alberti'', Fondazione Carlo Marchi, Studi, vol. 34, Olschki, Firenze 2017
* Cyril Gerbron, ''Fra Angelico. Liturgie et mémoire'' (= ''Études Renaissantes'', 18), Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2016. {{ISBN|978-2-503-56769-3}};
* Cyril Gerbron, ''Fra Angelico. Liturgie et mémoire'' (= ''Études Renaissantes'', 18), Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2016. {{ISBN|978-2-503-56769-3}};
* Gerardo de Simone, "La bottega di un frate pittore: il Beato Angelico tra Fiesole, Firenze e Roma", in ''Revista Diálogos Mediterrânicos'', n. 8, Curitiba (Brasil) 2015, ISSN 2237-6585, pp.&nbsp;48–85 – http://www.dialogosmediterranicos.com.br/index.php/RevistaDM
* Gerardo de Simone, "La bottega di un frate pittore: il Beato Angelico tra Fiesole, Firenze e Roma", in ''Revista Diálogos Mediterrânicos'', n. 8, Curitiba (Brasil) 2015, ISSN 2237-6585, pp.&nbsp;48–85 – http://www.dialogosmediterranicos.com.br/index.php/RevistaDM
* Gerardo de Simone, "Fra Angelico: perspectives de recherche, passées et futures", in ''Perspective, la revue de l'INHA. Actualités de la recherche en histoire de l'art'', 1/2013, pp.&nbsp;25–42
* Gerardo de Simone, "Fra Angelico: perspectives de recherche, passées et futures", in ''Perspective, la revue de l'INHA. Actualités de la recherche en histoire de l'art'', 1/2013, pp.&nbsp;25–42
* Gerardo de Simone, "Velut alter Iottus. Il Beato Angelico e i suoi 'profeti trecenteschi'", in ''1492. Rivista della Fondazione Piero della Francesca'', 2, 2009 (2010), pp.&nbsp;41–66
* Gerardo de Simone, "Velut alter Iottus. Il Beato Angelico e i suoi 'profeti trecenteschi'", in ''1492. Rivista della Fondazione Piero della Francesca'', 2, 2009 (2010), pp.&nbsp;41–66
* Gerardo de Simone, "L'Angelico di Pisa. Ricerche e ipotesi intorno al Redentore benedicente del Museo Nazionale di San Matteo", in ''Polittico'', Edizioni Plus – Pisa University Press, 5, Pisa 2008, pp.&nbsp;5–35
* Gerardo de Simone, "L'Angelico di Pisa. Ricerche e ipotesi intorno al Redentore benedicente del Museo Nazionale di San Matteo", in ''Polittico'', Edizioni Plus – Pisa University Press, 5, Pisa 2008, pp.&nbsp;5–35
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* [[Georges Didi-Huberman]], ''Fra Angelico: Dissemblance and Figuration''. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1995. {{ISBN|0-226-14813-0}} ''Discussion of how Fra Angelico challenged Renaissance naturalism and developed a technique to portray "unfigurable" theological ideas.''
* [[Georges Didi-Huberman]], ''Fra Angelico: Dissemblance and Figuration''. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1995. {{ISBN|0-226-14813-0}} ''Discussion of how Fra Angelico challenged Renaissance naturalism and developed a technique to portray "unfigurable" theological ideas.''
* J. B. Supino, ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21561 Fra Angelico]'', Alinari Brothers, Florence, undated, from [[Project Gutenberg]]
* J. B. Supino, ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21561 Fra Angelico]'', Alinari Brothers, Florence, undated, from [[Project Gutenberg]]
* Povoledo, Elisabetta, [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/arts/design/fra-angelico-florence-italy.html "Reuniting the Great Works of the Patron Saint of Artists: A new exhibition in Italy puts the spotlight on Fra Angelico, whose reputation for piety vied with his undeniable artistic talents."] ''The New York Times'', September 22, 2025. Article about Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit.
* Farago, Jason, [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/arts/design/fra-angelico-florence-palazzo-strozzi.html "Fra Angelico and the Miracle of Faith Made Visible"] ''The New York Times'', October 8, 2025. Review of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit.
* [[Ingrid D. Rowland|Rowland, Ingrid D.]] [https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/02/26/painted-sermons-fra-angelico/ "Painted Sermons"] ''New York Review of Books'', February 26, 2026. Review of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit and its catalog.
* Silver, Nathaniel, [https://apollo-magazine.com/fra-angelico-palazzo-strozzi-museo-san-marco-florence-review/ "Angels' delight"] ''Apollo'', January 2026, p.&nbsp;87. Review of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit.


==External links==
==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Angelico, Fra|Fra Angelico}}
{{EB1911 poster|Angelico, Fra|Fra Angelico}}
{{Commons category|Fra Angelico}}
{{Commons category|Fra Angelico}}
{{wikiquote}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014011415/http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fra-angelico-painter-early-renaissance.html Fra Angelico – Painter of the Early Renaissance]}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014011415/http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fra-angelico-painter-early-renaissance.html Fra Angelico – Painter of the Early Renaissance]}}
*[http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/fra_angelico1.html Fra Angelico in the "History of Art"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225045414/http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/fra_angelico1.html |date=2012-02-25 }}
*[http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/fra_angelico1.html Fra Angelico in the "History of Art"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225045414/http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/fra_angelico1.html |date=2012-02-25 }}
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*[https://books.google.com/books?id=7r6fAAAAMAAJ ''Fra Angelico''], Catherine Mary Phillimore, (Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1892)
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=7r6fAAAAMAAJ ''Fra Angelico''], Catherine Mary Phillimore, (Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1892)
*[http://1200artists.com/artist-fra_angelico.php Frescoes and paintings gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055301/http://1200artists.com/artist-fra_angelico.php |date=2016-03-04 }}
*[http://1200artists.com/artist-fra_angelico.php Frescoes and paintings gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055301/http://1200artists.com/artist-fra_angelico.php |date=2016-03-04 }}
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/187505 ''Italian Paintings: Florentine School''], a collection catalog containing information about the artist and his works (see pages: 77–82).
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/187505 ''Italian Paintings: Florentine School''], a collection catalog containing information about the artist and his works (see pages 77–82).
*[https://www.palazzostrozzi.org/en/archivio/exhibitions/angelico/ "From September 26, 2025, to January 25, 2026, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco present ''Fra Angelico''...."]


{{Paintings by Fra Angelico}}
{{Paintings by Fra Angelico|state=expanded}}
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{{Dominican Order}}
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[[Category:15th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Friars of San Marco, Florence]]
[[Category:Friars of San Marco, Florence]]
[[Category:Italian manuscript illuminators]]
[[Category:15th-century religious painters]]
[[category:Italian religious painters]]
[[Category:People from Fiesole]]

Latest revision as of 14:25, 25 May 2026

Template:Infobox artist Template:Infobox saint

Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (born Guido di Pietro; c. 1395 – 18 February 1455), known posthumously as Fra Angelico (/ˌfrɑː ænˈɛlɪk/ FRAH an-JEL-ik-oh, it), was an Italian Dominican friar and painter active during the early Florentine Renaissance.

Angelico created a series of frescoes for the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, where he received the patronage of Cosimo de' Medici. His works include the San Marco Altarpiece and the Deposition of Christ, both made for the convent of San Marco. Painting exclusively religious subjects throughout his career, Angelico completed commissions in Rome under the patronage of Popes Eugene IV and Nicholas V. Angelico was a pioneer of the artistic trends that came to distinguish the early Renaissance, namely linear perspective and a greater attention to depth and form than had been practised in the late Medieval period.[1]

Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982. In 1984, John Paul declared him the patron of Catholic artists.

Biography

He was known to his contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole ("Friar John of Fiesole"), reflecting the town where he joined the Dominican Order, and Fra Giovanni Angelico ("Angelic Brother John"). In modern Italian, he is referred to as Beato Angelico ("Blessed Angelic One") following his beatification by Pope John Paul II.[2]

Early life, 1395–1436

Fra Angelico was born around 1395[3] in Mugello, near Fiesole in Tuscany. He was baptised Guido di Pietro and had a younger brother named Benedetto. The earliest known record of him is dated 17 October 1417, when he attended a religious confraternity or guild at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel under the name Guido di Pietro. Payments made to Guido di Pietro in January and February 1418 for work at the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte in Florence indicate that he was already working as a painter.[4]

By 1423, Angelico had joined the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole. Following the custom of adopting a new name upon entering a religious order, he adopted the name Fra Giovanni (Friar John).[5] As a Dominican, he relied on alms and donations for his livelihood. Angelico initially trained as a manuscript illuminator and may have collaborated with his brother Benedetto, who also joined the Dominican Order. Some illuminated manuscripts have been attributed to him or his workshop, though these attributions remain debated.[6] He may have been influenced by Lorenzo Monaco, though direct training is not documented, and influences from the Sienese school are evident in his work.[7] Angelico trained with Master Varricho in Milan.[8] According to Giorgio Vasari, Angelico's first major work was an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) of Florence, though nothing remains of these today.[6]

From 1408 to 1418, Angelico painted frescoes, many of which have now been lost, at the Dominican friary of Cortona as an assistant to Gherardo Starnina or one of his followers.[9] By 1418, he had returned to Fiesole, where he painted a number of works for the monastery, including the Fiesole Altarpiece. A predella of the altarpiece depicting Christ in Glory alongside over 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans, is conserved in the National Gallery.[10] Around 1427, Angelico produced an altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, which remained at San Domenico until 1812 when artist and collector Vivant Denon acquired it for the Louvre.[11] Angelico also produced a Madonna of Humility now kept in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Also completed at this time were an Annunciation and a Madonna of the Pomegranate, both of which are now in the Prado Museum.

San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445

File:Fra Angelico - Annunciation.jpg
Annunciation, c. 1440–1445

In 1436, Angelico was one of a number of friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built convent of San Marco in Florence. This move placed him at the heart of the artistic life of the region. During these years in Florence, he was certainly in contact with the three artistic circles in the city in the early 15th century: the school of miniaturists, the workshops of the last Giottesque students (followers of Giotto), and a group of young sculptors and architects destined for great fame: Jacopo della Quercia, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi and Donatello.[12]

Angelico soon attracted the patronage of Cosimo de' Medici, one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority, the Signoria, and the founder of the Medici Dynasty that was to dominate Florentine politics for much of the Renaissance. Cosimo had a cell reserved for himself at the convent as a retreat from the world. Vasari reports that Cosimo commissioned Angelico to decorate the convent with frescoes, which were greatly admired at the time.[13] They include the magnificent fresco of the chapter house, the much-reproduced Annunciation at the top of the stairs leading to the cells, the Maestà (or Coronation of the Madonna) with Saints (cell 9), and many other smaller devotional frescoes in the cells depicting stories of the Nativity and Passion of Jesus.[6]

In his early works, Angelico retained a Gothic style. In the small tabernacles of San Marco, however, the simplicity of his compositions and colours shows traces of the mature style that was to characterise his works. In his Deposition of Christ, produced for the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Trinita, he reached the full expression of this style. In this painting, the naturalistic spirit of the 15th century is affirmed by the lifelike figures, who possess a variety of expressions and gestures, as well as in the representation of a naturalistic landscape, which replaced the traditional gold ground typical of the Gothic period.[14]

File:Fra Angelico — San Marco Altarpiece.jpg
San Marco Altarpiece

In 1439, Angelico completed one of his most famous and influential works: the San Marco Altarpiece. It created a new religious genre, sacra conversazione (sacred conversation), later used by artists including Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Perugino and Raphael.[15] Although representations of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints were common, they were depicted in a heaven-like setting, hovering as spiritual presences rather than with earthly substance. In the San Marco Altarpiece, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if conversing about their shared witness of the Virgin Mary.

File:Fra Angelico 012.jpg
The Crucified Christ (detail)

The Vatican, 1445–1455

In 1445, Pope Eugene IV summoned Angelico to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's, later demolished by Pope Paul III. Vasari suggests that at this time Angelico was offered the Archbishopric of Florence by Pope Nicholas V, which he rejected, recommending another friar in his place. However, the story does not align with the historical facts. In 1445 the Pope was Eugene IV and Nicholas was not to be elected until two years later in March 1447. The archbishop in question during 1446–1459 was the Dominican Antoninus of Florence (Antonio Pierozzi), who was canonised by Pope Adrian VI in 1523.[original research?]

In 1447, Angelico and his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, travelled to Orvieto to produce works for the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary. Among his other pupils was Zanobi Strozzi.[16]

From 1447 to 1449, Angelico was again 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, Angelico returned to the convent in Fiesole, where he became Prior.[6][17]

Death and beatification

File:Tomba di beato angelico 02.JPG
Fra Angelico's tomb in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome

Fra Angelico died in 1455 while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, possibly on an order to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Rome.[6][17][18] Angelico was interred in a niche near the altar in a marble tomb. The tombstone is an effigy carved in relief depicting Angelico in a Dominican habit. Above the tomb are two epitaphs, probably by Lorenzo Valla.[19] The first reads:

Give me not praise for being another Apelles,
But say, rather, that in the name of Christ, that I gave all I had to the poor.
The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.
That city which is the flower of Etruria bore me, Giovanni.[6]

Below this is inscribed:[citation needed]

In this place is enshrined the glory, the mirror, and the ornament of painters, John the Florentine. A religious and a true servant of God, he was a brother of the holy Order of Saint Dominic. His disciples mourn the death of such a great master, for who will find another brush like his? His homeland and his order mourn the death of a distinguished painter, who had no equal in his art.

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.[20][17]

Pope John Paul II beatified Angelico on 3 October 1982 and in 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists.[21] John Paul II noted that:

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.[citation needed]

He is commemorated by the current Roman Martyrology on 18 February,[22] the date of his death in 1455. There the Latin text reads Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus ("Blessed John of Fiesole, known as the Angelic").

Evaluation

File:Fra Angelico — The Last Judgment.jpg
The Day of Judgement, upper panel of an altarpiece in the convent of San Marco, Florence. (1425–1430)
File:Fra Angelico - Thebaid.jpg
A Thebaide, showing the activities in the lives of the saints, 1420

Background

Angelico worked during a period of significant change in European artistic style, marked by the transition from the Medieval tradition to the Early Renaissance. This shift began in the fourteenth century with artists such as Giotto and Giusto de' Menabuoi. Both Angelico and de' Menabuoi produced major works in Padua, while Giotto had earlier trained in Florence under the Gothic painter Cimabue.[23]

Giotto's fresco cycle depicting the life of Saint Francis at the Basilica of Santa Croce represented a departure from earlier conventions through its emphasis on naturalism, spatial coherence, and emotional expression. His approach influenced a number of later painters who adopted and expanded upon his techniques, such as the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti and their developments towards narrative clarity and realism.[15]

File:Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi.jpg
The Adoration of the Magi is a tondo depicting the arrival of the Magi during the Nativity of Christ. It is credited to Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi and dates to c. 1440/1460.

Altarpieces

The works of Angelico combine elements of the late Gothic tradition with emerging Renaissance principles. In his Coronation of the Virgin, an altarpiece painted for the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella, Angelico employed features typical of prestigious fourteenth-century altarpieces, including a finely worked gold ground and extensive use of azurite and vermilion pigments. The gilded haloes and gold-edged garments reflect the refined decorative conventions of Gothic painting.

The work also demonstrates characteristics associated with the Renaissance. In contrast to earlier Gothic examples, such as altarpieces by Gentile da Fabriano, Angelico's figures are rendered with greater solidity, three-dimensional form, and naturalism. The drapery of the garments follows the structure of the bodies beneath, and the figures convey a sense of physical weight, despite being depicted standing on clouds rather than on solid ground.

File:Fra Angelico 042 adjusted.jpg
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

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Angelico produced a series of frescoes for the cells of San Marco that built upon Masaccio's work. The dormitory of San Marco consists of three corridors with thirty-eight internal cells, each decorated by Angelico with frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Jesus in a loose narrative sequence.

The fresoes are the same shape as the arched window and vaulted ceiling of each cell. The decoration and style reflects the Dominican Rule's focus on charity, and the cells contain no other decorations to distract from the fresco scenes. Vasari explains that Angelico was inspired to create a large crucifixion scene with many saints for the chapter house after Cosimo de' Medici saw the frescoes. As with the other frescoes, de' Medici's patronage did not influence Angelico's artistic expression with displays of wealth.[6]

Masaccio ventured into perspective with his creation of a realistically painted niche at Santa Maria Novella. Subsequently, 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 and the square in front of it.[15]

Lives of the Saints

File:Angelico, niccolina 12.jpg
Saint Lawrence distributing alms 1447–1450, fresco, Chapel of Nicholas V, Vatican City.[24] This painting incorporates the expensive pigments, gold leaf and elaborate design typical of Vatican commissions.

When Fra Angelico went to the Vatican to decorate the chapel of Pope Nicholas, he was again confronted with the need to please the very wealthiest of clients. The walls are decked with the brilliance of colour and gold that are found 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 Angelico created designs that reveal his own preoccupation with humanity, humility, and piety. According to Vasari, "in their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist."[25]

It is probable that much of the actual painting was done by his assistants to his design. Benozzo Gozzoli was a highly accomplished painter but took his art further towards the fully developed Renaissance style with his expressive and lifelike portraits in his masterpiece depicting the Journey of the Magi, painted in the Medici's private chapel at their palazzo.[26]

File:Blessing Redeemer (1423); Fra Angelico1.jpg
Blessing Redeemer (1423)

Artistic legacy

Through Fra Angelico's pupil Benozzo Gozzoli's portraiture and technical style in the art of fresco we see a link to Domenico Ghirlandaio, who was commissioned by the wealthy patrons of Florence, and through Ghirlandaio to his pupil Michelangelo and the High Renaissance.

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.

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 colours, the careful arrangement of a few significant figures and the skillful 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.[15]

Vasari praised Fra Angelico: "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."[6]

Works

File:Angelico, pala di fiesole, full.jpg
Virgin and Child with Saints, detail, Fiesole (1428–1430)
File:Fra Angelico — Coronation of the Virgin.jpg
Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1432)

Early works, 1408–1436

Unknown

Rome

Oxford, England

Cortona

Fiesole

Florence: Basilica di San Marco

  • Dormition of the Virgin, 1431[30]

Florence: Santa Trinita

Florence: Santa Maria degli Angeli

Florence: Santa Maria Novella

San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445

  • Altarpiece for chancelVirgin 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.[31][additional citation(s) needed] Two missing side panels depicting Dominican saints were found in the 2000s.
File:Fra Angelico 073.jpg
The Deposition from the Cross, Museo San Marco
File:Beato angelico, madonna delle ombre.jpg
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
File:Fra Angelico — Coronation of the Virgin medallion.jpg
Coronation of the Virgin medallion, 1450s
File:Fra Angelico 049.jpg
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 purposes. Many of Fra Angelico's finest and most reproduced works are among them. There are, particularly in the inner row of cells, some of the less inspiring quality and of the more repetitive subject, perhaps completed by assistants.[15] Many pictures include Dominican saints as witnesses of the scene each in one of the nine traditional prayer postures depicted in De Modo Orandi. The friar using the cell could place himself in the scene.

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.

Discovery of lost works

The San Marco Altarpiece had eight side panels.[32] During Napoleon's Italian campaigns, they were dispersed, with the whereabouts of two remaining unknown for centuries.[33][34] Around 2005, those two were discovered in Oxford in the home of Jean Preston, a curator of medieval manuscripts at the Huntington Library and Princeton University Library.[35] Preston and her amateur collector father, Kerrison Preston, had purchased them in California in 1965 for around $200–400[32][33][34][36][37][38], where they were described as "panel paintings of Dominican Saints, 15th Century, Italian". The panels had been inherited by an American widow after her husband had died in Switzerland c. 1924–1925.[39][40] Michael Liversidge, a former dean of art history at the University of Bristol, evaluated the panels at Preston's house, describing them as a "once in a lifetime" find.[41] After her death in 2006, the collection in her estate was auctioned off by Duke's, an auction house in Dorset.[38] In April 2007, Florentine antiquarian Fabrizio Moretti[36] anonymously outbid the Italian ministry of art and culture to purchase the two panels for £1.7 million.[38] Later that year, the Polo Museale Fiorentino and the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze each purchased one of them for a total of €3.6 million, subsequently entrusting them to San Marco Museum.[36][37] In 2025, the altarpiece was temporarily displayed alongside 17 of the 18 total known predellas and panels at Palazzo Strozzi as part of the Beato Angelico exhibition.[42]

See also

Footnotes

  1. Finocchio, Ross (2006-10-01). "Fra Angelico (ca. 1395–1455) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  2. "Who was Fra Angelico? | USCCB". www.usccb.org. Retrieved 2026-03-16.
  3. "Metropolitan Museum of Art". Archived from the original on 2008-01-22.
  4. Werner Cohn, Il Beato Angelico e Battista di Biagio Sanguigni. Revista d'Arte, V, (1955): 207–221.
  5. Stefano Orlandi, Beato Angelico; Monographia Storica della Vita e delle Opere con Un'Appendice di Nuovi Documenti Inediti. Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1964.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists. Penguin Classics, 1965.
  7. Williamson, Beth (2018). Fra Angelico: Heaven On Earth. Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Paul Holberton Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-911300-39-7.
  8. Rossetti 1911, pp. 6–7.
  9. "Gherardo Starnina". Artists. Getty Center. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-09-28.Getty Education[]
  10. Gordon, Dillian; Wyld, Martin; Roy, Ashok (2002). "Fra Angelico's Predella for the High Altarpiece of San Domenico, Fiesole" (PDF). National Gallery Technical Bulletin. London: National Gallery Company. ISBN 1-85709-941-9. ISSN 0140-7430. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  11. Rubin, Patricia (2004). "Hierarchies of Vision: Fra Angelico's "Coronation of the Virgin" from San Domenico, Fiesole". Oxford Art Journal. 27 (2): 137–153. ISSN 0142-6540.
  12. Papini, Roberto. "ANGELICO, il Beato (Enciclopedia Italiana – 1929)" [Angelico, The Blessed]. Trecannioo (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  13. Norwich, John Julius (1990). Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts. USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 16. ISBN 978-0-19-869137-2.
  14. "Fra Angelico Paintings, Bio, Ideas". The Art Story. Retrieved 2026-03-16.
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Frederick Hartt, A History of Italian Renaissance Art, (1970) Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-23136-2
  16. "Strozzi, Zanobi". The National Gallery, London. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 Rossetti, William Michael (as attributed) (18 March 2016). "Fra Angelico". orderofpreachersindependent.org. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  18. The tomb has been given greater visibility since the beatification.
  19. De Nicola, G. "Iscrizioni romane relative ad artisti o ad opere d'arte". Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria (31): 219–128, esp. 222.
  20. Rossetti 1911, p. 7.
  21. Bunson, Matthew; Bunson, Margaret (1999). John Paul II's Book of Saints. Our Sunday Visitor. p. 156. ISBN 0-87973-934-7.
  22. Martyrologium Romanum, ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Ioannis Pauli Pp. II promulgatum, editio [typica] altera, Typis Vaticanis, A.D. MMIV (2004), p. 155 ISBN 88-209-7210-7
  23. "Giotto | National Gallery of Art". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  24. Zuffi, Stefano; Hyams, Jay; Seppi, Giorgio; Pauli, Tatjana; Scardoni, Sergio (2003). The Renaissance: 1401-1610: the splendor of European art. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 978-0-7607-4200-6. OCLC 53441832.
  25. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Vasari2
  26. Paolo Morachiello, Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes. Thames and Hudson, 1990. ISBN 0-500-23729-8
  27. The Crucifixion in the online databank of the MET.
  28. Ross Finocchio in an essay on Fra Angelico at The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History in 2006.
  29. Cooper, Donal, "Acquisition of the Year" Apollo, December 2025, pp. 60-61.
  30. "Dormition of the Virgin". on WikiArt.org
  31. "San Marco Altarpiece". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
  32. 32.0 32.1 Thompson, Theresa (5 March 2008). "Miss Preston's hidden treasures". Oxford Mail.
  33. 33.0 33.1 Hegstad, Maria (14 November 2006). "Fra Angelico paintings missing since Napoleonic wars up for auction in Britain". Associated Press. Template:Factiva (RF: "7", IPC: "tagdsa | sel----- | cate", IPD: "AP National News | Entertainment | Britain Paintings Discovered | D8LD0O280"). Template:NewsBank.
  34. 34.0 34.1 Hodgson, Martin (29 January 2008). "Saved: the hidden Oxford treasures: Former curator's house held an unknown collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings and books worth millions". National : Art. The Guardian. p. [E]9. ISSN 0261-3077. Template:Factiva. Template:NewsBank. Newspapers.com 1219053567.
  35. McTarsney, Regan (29 January 2008). "Hidden masterpieces found in Oxford home to go on display / Curator's Hidden Art Will Be Displayed". Associated Press. Template:Factiva, Template:Factiva, Template:Factiva. Template:NewsBank, Template:NewsBank, Template:NewsBank, Template:NewsBank. Syndicated as: "Masterpieces In a Modest English Home", The Washington Post, 30 January 2008, p. C2, Template:ProQuest (except last 3 paragraphs); "Retiree kept art hidden to the end: A former curator for Huntington Library had works worth $8 million in her London cottage.", The Los Angeles Times, 1 February 2008, p. E30, Template:ProQuest.
  36. 36.0 36.1 36.2 Savage, David. "Fra Angelico". Cavallini to Veronese. Norfolk, UK. See subheading "Two Dominican Saints. Wood, each 38 x 13." under heading "Florence. Uffizi.". Retrieved 2026-05-14.
  37. 37.0 37.1 Y6G-GAR (22 October 2007). "ARTE: RUTELLI, ACQUISTATE DUE TAVOLE DEL BEATO ANGELICO". ANSA-Regional Service. Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. Template:Factiva (RF: "2007-10-22_122123626 YFI19195").
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  39. Fra Angelico: The San Marco Panels (PDF). Duke's, auctioneers since 1823. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-05-08. Partially reproduced in: "PF190407 Lot:100-150". Hy Duke & Son Fine Art Auctioneers, Dorchester, Dorset, England. See lot 150. Archived from the original on 2007-05-02.
  40. Liversidge, Michael (June 2007). "Two Saints – Home At Last" (Interview). The Art Book. 15 (1). Interviewed by Darrelyn Gunzburg (published February 2008). pp. 27–28. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8357.2008.00902.x. ISSN 1368-6267. Academia.edu 1342288. Template:EBSCOhost.
  41. Morris, Steven (14 November 2006). "A £1m art find behind the spare room door: 'Breathtaking' discovery of long-lost works by Florentine master". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  42. Povoledo, Elisabetta (24 September 2025). "Putting the Spotlight on a Patron Saint / Reuniting the Great Works of the Patron Saint of Artists: A new exhibition in Italy puts the spotlight on Fra Angelico, whose reputation for piety vied with his undeniable artistic talents". The New York Times. p. C1. ISSN 0362-4331.

References

  • File:Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainRossetti, William Michael (1911). "Angelico, Fra". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–8. Rossetti's article includes an assessment of the body of work, from the pre-Raphaelite viewpoint.
  • Hood, William. Fra Angelico at San Marco. Yale University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-300-05734-8
  • 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

  • Nathaniel Silver (ed.), Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston 2018
  • Gerardo de Simone, Il Beato Angelico a Roma. Rinascita delle arti e Umanesimo cristiano nell'Urbe di Niccolò V e Leon Battista Alberti, Fondazione Carlo Marchi, Studi, vol. 34, Olschki, Firenze 2017
  • Cyril Gerbron, Fra Angelico. Liturgie et mémoire (= Études Renaissantes, 18), Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2016. ISBN 978-2-503-56769-3;
  • Gerardo de Simone, "La bottega di un frate pittore: il Beato Angelico tra Fiesole, Firenze e Roma", in Revista Diálogos Mediterrânicos, n. 8, Curitiba (Brasil) 2015, ISSN 2237-6585, pp. 48–85 – http://www.dialogosmediterranicos.com.br/index.php/RevistaDM
  • Gerardo de Simone, "Fra Angelico: perspectives de recherche, passées et futures", in Perspective, la revue de l'INHA. Actualités de la recherche en histoire de l'art, 1/2013, pp. 25–42
  • Gerardo de Simone, "Velut alter Iottus. Il Beato Angelico e i suoi 'profeti trecenteschi'", in 1492. Rivista della Fondazione Piero della Francesca, 2, 2009 (2010), pp. 41–66
  • Gerardo de Simone, "L'Angelico di Pisa. Ricerche e ipotesi intorno al Redentore benedicente del Museo Nazionale di San Matteo", in Polittico, Edizioni Plus – Pisa University Press, 5, Pisa 2008, pp. 5–35
  • Gerardo de Simone, "L'ultimo Angelico. Le "Meditationes" del cardinal Torquemada e il ciclo perduto nel chiostro di S. Maria sopra Minerva", in Ricerche di Storia dell'Arte, Carocci Editore, Roma 2002, pp. 41–87
  • Creighton Gilbert, How Fra Angelico and Signorelli Saw the End of the World, Penn State Press, 2002 ISBN 0-271-02140-3
  • John T. Spike, Angelico, New York 1997.
  • Georges Didi-Huberman, Fra Angelico: Dissemblance and Figuration. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1995. ISBN 0-226-14813-0 Discussion of how Fra Angelico challenged Renaissance naturalism and developed a technique to portray "unfigurable" theological ideas.
  • J. B. Supino, Fra Angelico, Alinari Brothers, Florence, undated, from Project Gutenberg
  • Povoledo, Elisabetta, "Reuniting the Great Works of the Patron Saint of Artists: A new exhibition in Italy puts the spotlight on Fra Angelico, whose reputation for piety vied with his undeniable artistic talents." The New York Times, September 22, 2025. Article about Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit.
  • Farago, Jason, "Fra Angelico and the Miracle of Faith Made Visible" The New York Times, October 8, 2025. Review of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit.
  • Rowland, Ingrid D. "Painted Sermons" New York Review of Books, February 26, 2026. Review of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit and its catalog.
  • Silver, Nathaniel, "Angels' delight" Apollo, January 2026, p. 87. Review of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco exhibit.

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