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.
Early life, 1395–1436 Fra Angelico was born around 1395 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
Carmine Church 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. 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). 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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 '', |262x262px 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. Angelico soon attracted the patronage of
Cosimo de' Medici, one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority (or "
Signoria"), and 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. They include the magnificent fresco of the Chapter House, the much-reproduced
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 smaller devotional frescoes in the cells depicting stories of the
Nativity and
Passion of Jesus.
|270x270pxIn 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. 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.
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. In 1447, Angelico was in
Orvieto with his pupil,
Benozzo Gozzoli, painting works for the
Cathedral. Among his other pupils was
Zanobi Strozzi. 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 the
Prior. 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. The first reads: Below this is inscribed: The English writer and critic
William Michael Rossetti wrote of the friar:
Pope John Paul II beatified Angelico on 3 October 1982 and in 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists. John Paul II noted that: He is commemorated by the current Roman
Martyrology on 18 February, 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==