Fra Angelico Wor's of Fra Angelico
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N LONDON GEO RGE BE L L SONEJ 1 90 1 TABL E O F CO NTENTS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE LIFE O F FRA ANGELICO WOR'S OF FRA ANGELICO SAN MARCO THE ART O F FRA ANGELICO OU R ILLUSTRATI ONS CHIEF WOR'S B' THE ARTIST SUGGESTED CHRONOLOG' OF THE WOR'S CHIEF BOO'S ON FRA ANGELICO L IS T OF IL LU STRATIO NS PAGE THE MADONNA AND CHILD THE DANCE OF THE AN GELS ’ a F o Aeeaden n , l rence RIST As A PI LGRIM San M areo Florenee CH , THE TRANSFIGURATION an arco F lore e S M , nc E IRST C ARIST S an M arco F lo rence TH F EU H , THE ANNUNCIATION E R CI FI X IO N S an M arco Florence TH C U , SAN LOREN'O D ISTRI BUTING ALM S Tlee R om e C HRO N OLOG I CAL TABLE 1 8 . B rt 3 7 i h of Fra Angelico . 0 1 4 7 . He so ught admission to the Order o f a n . Dominic ns, and was se t to Cortona 1 08 . 4 He returned to Fiesole . 1 0 l 4 9 . He probably again left Fieso e and went to r Cortona o Foligno . 1 1 8 H . 4 . e was again at Fiesole 1 H Fi s l 435 . e left e o e and took up his quarters Florence in , first at San Giorgio , and then at San Marco . 1 44 7 . He went to Rom e to work for Pope Eugenius IV . 1 447 . He went to Orvieto for a Short time and then returned to Rom e . - 1 r . 45 0 . He e visited Cortona 1 R m his 45 0 . He returned to o e and continued work fo r Pope Nicholas V . 2 H w 1 45 . e as invited to paint the choir and was chapel at Prato, but unable to accept the v in itation . 1 m 455 . He died in Ro e and was buried in the - - Church o f Santa Maria sopra Minerva . VII FRA ANGELICO H IS L I FE RA ANGELICO, the Dominican Friar, was 1 8 born in the year 3 7 at Vicchio, near to Florence . is H name was Guido, and he was originally f . O known as Guido da Vicchio his early life, save for three facts, we know nothing. His o f his o f home, the date birth, and the name his father, Pietro, complete the entire history o f that we possess the early days of the artist, and from the date o f his birth to our next de tached ieso le fact, that of his postulancy at F , i f there s a gap o twenty years . It has been surmised that his early inclinations had were towards the life of an artist, and that he been intended for a religious life he would have taken the vows at an earlier age than that f o twenty . Other surmises have dwelt upon the o f his possible name master, and have debated his into whose studio he could have found way, B 2 FRA ANGELICO and whose is the influenc e which is to be seen m n n in his works, but all such sur isi gs are vai , be although they may interesting, and we have no facts whatever to guide us until we s ee the youthful Guido presenting himself at the portals o f the Do m InIcan ho use in Fiesole in the year 1 0 4 7 . We do not know under whose influence this step was taken, but there is great probability that it was the result of the preaching of one Giovanni was Dominici , a great Dominican preacher, who himself an artist of no mean ability, and who had founded in 1 400 the convent whither Guido bent his steps . We learn now that he had a brother, Benedetto, who accompanied Guido to the convent, and that both were admitted within its walls ' and we are also told that this brother retained his n own ame in the new religious life, but that the ordinary name of Guido gave place to the o f more religious one Giovanni, and that the youthful postulant was thenceforward known as Fra Gio vanni . The novitiate of the Order was not, however, in Fiesole but at Cortona, and thither were the two postulants sent at onc e . With them prob ably went another postulant destined to be H IS LIFE 3 Of the future Archbishop of Florence, Prior San Marco, and a Saint, one Antonino, who always remained a great friend of the youthful artist . The times were tempestuous , as there were v ri al Popes, and the Republic of Florence was extremely anxious that the terrible schism Should be brought to an end . With that View the great preacher Giovanni Dominici had been sent to Rome to delay the election of the successor VI I . to Innocent , but he arrived too late, and X Gregory II . had been selected . It was then proposed that each Pontiff should suspend his functions, and a Council was summoned at Pisa to consider this very grave matter, but in the end the confusion grew greater, and each of the V. Popes was deposed , and a third, Alexander , was elected instead . The city of Florence c s at on e e poused the cause of this latest Pope, while the Dominicans of Fiesole were content X I I . to take their rule from Gregory , and as f o ne the di ficulty was an acute , the friars had to fly from Florence to escape harm at the hands 1 0 of the Florentines, and in 4 9 they went to i Fo l gno . Between this town and the hill town o r 1 1 8 Cortona the friars passed their time till 4 , when the schism in the Church was healed by 4 FRA ANGEL ICO o f the Council Constance, and the friars were able to return home to their beloved Fiesole . 1 f Here Fra Giovanni remained till 435 , full o artistic work both for his own convent and for outside patrons in the form of other religious e o r hous s, churches, great guilds, and at the same time constant in his attendance upon his r m . e eligious duties During this ti e, as has be n o ut pointed by his latest chronicler, Professor his a e Douglas, work s an artist underwent a gr at change : the last three years o f his residence at Flesole marking a vast improvement in his style and technique . It was in the summer o f 1 485 that the long ieso le a residence at F came to n end, and the friars moved nearer the city, and then, in the following year, they made a solemn entrance o f into Florence, and took possession their new home in San Marco . The Friars o f San Sylvestro had previously o f been in possession this church and convent, but the laxity o f their rule had caused some ’ C who scandal in the ity, and Cosimo de Medici, was at that time in full and undisputed sway in E IV . Florence, petitioned the Pope, ugenius , to transfer the buildings to the Dominicans . The Pope, who was deeply anxious to reform 6 FRA ANGELICO C rangle with its loister walk, and all the buildings that were needed for the lay brothers and the f o fices of the convent . Fra Angelico seems to have undertaken the decoration of the interior, and very much of it o ut o wn he carried by his unaided hand, whilst his brother, who was also a skilful artist, was set to work upon the illumination o f the service bo oks . This Monastery o f San Marco is so completely a treasure-house o f the work of Fra Angelico that it is needful to devote a separate chapter to it. E IV ugenius . had, as is well known, been o f compelled by the families the Colonna, the V.