Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico is a representative painter of the early Italian Renaissance of the 15th century. A Dominican friar (fra), he is known for his pure and luminous religious paintings, born from his devout faith. He combined the elegance of the Gothic style with the new realism of the Renaissance to portray sacred subjects with exquisite tranquility and beauty.

Fra Angelico Biography

• circa 1400 : Born Guido di Pietro in Vicchio di Mugello, near Florence.

• Around 1418 : There are records of him working as a manuscript engraver.

• Around 1420-22 : He entered the Dominican monastery in Fiesole, became a monk and took the name "Fra Giovanni."

• 1436 : The Convent of San Marco in Florence is given to his Dominican order, and he moves there.

• 1438-47 : He created a number of moving frescoes, including the Annunciation and scenes from the life of Christ, for the altarpiece of the San Marco Monastery and for the walls of the monks' meditation cells.

• 1445 : Invited to Rome, he was commissioned by Pope Eugene IV to decorate a chapel in the Vatican (no longer extant).

• 1452 : Elected abbot of Fiesole.

• February 18, 1455 : Died at the Dominican convent in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.

• 1982 : Beatified by Pope John Paul II. The nickname "Angelico" (Angelic) comes from his personality and works.

Representative works

• The Linaiuoli Altarpiece (1433)

• "Annunciation" (Prado Museum) (c. 1425-28)

• Frescoes from the Convent of San Marco (c. 1438-47)

  • "Annunciation" (on the stairs)

  • "Coronation of the Virgin Mary"

  • "Noli Me Tangere (Don't Touch Me)"

• The Descent from the Cross (c. 1432-34)

• Frescoes in the Chapel of Nicholas V in the Vatican (c. 1447-49)

Fra Angelico's art inherited the decorative qualities, heavy use of gold leaf, and graceful depictions of human figures seen in the International Gothic style of the late Middle Ages, while incorporating the new spatial expression and human depiction pioneered by Masaccio and others in the Renaissance. His works are most notably characterized by their bright, clear colors and the soft light that seems to pour down from heaven.

His figures are noble and serene, and filled with deep spirituality. In particular, his frescoes in the monasteries of San Marco are free of extravagant decoration and are painted with tranquil and simple compositions to aid the monks in prayer and meditation. His works directly embody the artist's devout faith, and inspire deep emotion and peace in the viewer. His style, regarded as one of the ideal forms of religious painting in the Renaissance, had a great influence on later painters.