Fra Angelico

Lore & Background

He was known to his contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, reflecting the town where he joined the Dominican Order, and Fra Giovanni Angelico. In modern Italian, he is referred to as Beato Angelico following his beatification by Pope John Paul II. Fra Angelico was born around 1395 in the Tuscan region of Mugello, specifically in the town of Vicchio near Fiesole. 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. 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. 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. 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. Angelico trained with Master Varricho in Milan. From 1408 to 1418, Angelico painted frescoes at the Dominican friary of Cortona as an assistant to Gherardo Starnina or one of his followers. By 1418, he had returned to Fiesole, where he painted a number of works for the monastery, including the Fiesole Altarpiece. Around 1427, Angelico produced an altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, which remained at San Domenico until 1812. In 1436, Angelico was one of a number of friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built convent of San Marco in Florence. He soon attracted the patronage of Cosimo de' Medici. In 1439, Angelico completed the San Marco Altarpiece. In 1445, Pope Eugene IV summoned Angelico to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's. In 1447, Angelico and his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, travelled to Orvieto to produce works for the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary. From 1447 to 1449, Angelico was again at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the Niccoline Chapel for Nicholas V. From 1449 until 1452, Angelico returned to the convent in Fiesole, where he became Prior. Fra Angelico died in 1455 while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome. He was buried

Reader's Guide

Fra Angelico's works include the San Marco Altarpiece and the Deposition of Christ, both made for the convent of San Marco. He also produced the Fiesole Altarpiece, a Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece, a Madonna of Humility, an Annunciation, and a Madonna of the Pomegranate. His frescoes at San Marco include the fresco of the chapter house, the Annunciation at the top of the stairs leading to the cells, the Maestà with Saints (cell 9), and many other smaller devotional frescoes in the cells. In the Vatican, he painted frescoes for the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's (now lost) and the Niccoline Chapel.

Did You Know?

• Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982 and declared patron of Catholic artists in 1984.
• He 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.
• His San Marco Altarpiece created a new religious genre, sacra conversazione (sacred conversation).
• He trained with Master Varricho in Milan.