Fra Angelico. Stephan Beissel
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sculpture is more elaborate than the others, and is framed by twisted columns supporting an ogee arch ornamented with rich and elegant foliage. The gilded pedestal is decorated with ornamentation reminiscent of filigree, and the half-figures of Saint Dominic, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Saint Peter Martyr. These saints are probably pictured because Giovanni Masi had placed their relics in this reliquary. The upper part of the reliquary shows Mary, filled with devotion, love and tenderness. She holds the Christ Child, who is covered in a long robe, in her right arm, pressing his small face against her cheek. In the lower part of the frame are vases of flowers between two angel musicians. Above them are two angels with censers, and above these, four cherubs in adoration before the Infant Jesus. The bust of the celestial Father surrounded by clouds is painted in the peak of the arch. The second two reliquaries are superior to the first, and are ravishing in their tiny proportions. They have been remarkably conserved, which has spared them from being retouched. They are examples of a consummate art, the work of a master capable of filling the smallest frame with scenes composed of many characters, with grandiose and celestial imagery.
A decorated Easter candle painted by Fra Giovanni for Fra Masi, perhaps depicting the Resurrection, has been lost. His frescoes at Santa Maria Novella showing Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Peter Martyr, as well as the smaller works painted in the Chapel of the Coronation of the Holy Virgin, were destroyed during the course of alterations to the church’s structure. Many paintings created by Giotto’s students were also lost during this period.
In 1433, Fra Giovanni painted the renowned Madonna with angel musicians (Linaiuoli triptych, pp.58, 198) for the hemp merchants’ guild. During the same period, he finished three paintings for the Carthusian monks in Florence: an Enthroned Madonna Surrounded by Saints Lawrence, Mary Magdalene, Zenobius, Benedict, and a Choir of Angels; another Madonna with Two Saints, singled out by Vasari for the beauty of the ultramarine blue which Angelico used painting it; and a Coronation of the Virgin.
The painting for the monks of San Pietro, today found in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, must be dated before 1436, along with the banner of the Compagnia di Santa Maria della Croce al Tempio, the tertiary order of the Dominicans. The principal subject of this work is the Deploration of Christ. In 1786, it was placed in the Accademia delle Belle Arti, today known as the Galleria Antica e Moderna. The same gallery owns an important work from this period, The Santa Trinità Altarpiece. This painting comes from the church of Santa Trinità in Florence, which belongs to the Vallumbrosan Order. Since it was Don Lorenzo Monaco († 1425) who painted the three scenes in the tympanums (the Resurrection, The Three Marys’ at Christ’s Tomb, and Christ’s Apparition Before Mary Magdalene) the date of Fra Angelico’s admirable panel must be pushed forward to 1425 at the latest. This work was not finished just before 1445, as Rio and Förster assure. Rio’s claim of seeing the portrait of the architect Michelozzo in this painting is completely discredited by this revised date.
Three inscriptions on the lower edge of the frame declare the painter’s intentions. The middle section reads, “Estimatus sum cum descendentibus in lacum,” “I was among those who descended into the pit.” (Psalms 87:5)
According to the most competent critics, the body of Christ is admirably rendered and still shows the signs of his suffering and cruel treatment, while conserving all of its beauty. Thanks to the hands supporting him, he almost escapes death’s rigidity. He forms a diagonal line in front of the cross. Nicodemus holds him in his hands, and his feet descend to Mary Magdalene. Kneeling on the earth, she stretches to receive them, devotedly lifting her head to kiss Christ’s feet, her hands covered by a transparent veil. A second diagonal line is formed by the arms of the holy body and the placement of Joseph of Arimathea, who stands on a ladder facing Nicodemus. He still holds Christ’s arms, but is about to let them go. Saint John holds Christ’s sacred body. In the foreground below kneels a young man wearing a crown. He beats his chest and seems to say, “He died for me, for my sins.” Two men, visible between Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea, hold the body of Christ from behind to help Nicodemus and Saint John, letting their precious burden gently slide to the ground. Though the viewer is conscious of the weight and inertia of the dead body, it does not lose any of its dignity. It is not the laws of gravity, of push and pull that prevail in this ensemble, but rather the tender care attending to the sanctuary of divinity. The ground is not a sterile wasteland, littered with the abandoned bones of corruption, but is covered by buds and flowers, for the blood of Jesus Christ has atoned the Earth of its sins. Only the mountains in the background are still arid and denuded, for the good news has not yet spread across the land.
28. The Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian, c.1440. Tempera on wood panel, 37.3 × 41.6 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
29. Saint Stephen Preaching and Saint Stephen Addressing the Sanhedrins, 1447–1449. Fresco. Cappella Niccolina, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican.
30. The Death of Saint Francis (predella), 1428–1429. Oil on poplar panel, 29 × 70 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
The choice of colours, their hues and distribution is implemented with great care. Mary Magdalene and the man kneeling across from her wear red. The body of Christ, in amber highlights bordering on brown, harmonises perfectly with the cinnabar of Mary Magdalene’s gown. Saint John, as well as the two men visible between Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea, wear blue. The clothing of Nicodemus, as well as the tunic beneath Joseph’s robe across from him, is a pure purple. Joseph’s outer robe is a somber green, and completes the symphony of colours in the upper part of the painting, echoing the jewel-like flowers in the grass below the cross. It should be kept in mind that the general appearance of the painting lost some of its intensity after a restoration undertaken by Francesco Acciai in 1841. Nevertheless, the harmony of the whole remains excellent.
The female saints are grouped together to the right. Mary raises her almost contorted hands, her expression veiled with sadness, waiting for the mortal body of her son to be placed in her lap. She kneels near Magdalene who respectfully touches the Savior’s holy feet. As can be seen in the illustration, the group occupied in taking Jesus from the cross creates a downward movement towards Mary. The fact that the place she is seated is slightly elevated and that the other women saints, divided into two groups, are standing, creates a difference of level between the Holy Mother and the other saints, and clearly marks the movement toward Mary. Two women hold out the shroud destined to receive the holy, Crucified body. One of them, seen standing in a corner enveloped in an ample violet cloak that exposes only her profile, seems particularly beautiful and expressive. The inscription on this side perfectly expresses the sadness that fills the women, “Plangent eum quasi unigenitum, quia inocens,” “They mourn him like a firstborn, for, innocent, he was immolated.” (Zacharias, 12:10)
31. Masolino da Panicale, Death of the Virgin, 1428. Tempera on wood panel, 19.7 × 48.4 cm. Pinacoteca, Vatican.
The inscription to the left reads, “Ecce quomodo moritur justus, et nemo percepit corde.” (Isaiah 57:1) The words, “See how the just dies,” seem to come from the character, clearly of high standing, who raises the crown of thorns in his right hand, and shows two long and sharp nails to an old man with his left hand. Two spectators in the depths of the painting contemplate the body of the holy Victim with sadness.
The background of the landscape, trees and buildings, are treated summarily, naively perhaps, but with the necessary care and detail. The fading of the tints in the distance could have been better graduated, more shrouded in shadow, but as they are, the distant planes of the landscape throw the principal groups of the composition into harmonious relief. The sense of unity is emphasized by the groups of three angels to each side who hover above the men and women, weeping and relating to their pain. In this painting, as in his other works, Fra Angelico conforms to the Italian tastes of his time by decorating each side of the frame with three full length figures and the busts of two saints, among them Saint Michael, Saint Peter, and Saint Louis of Toulouse. Saint Dominic and Saint John Gualbert, represent the two Orders (Dominican and Vallumbrosan) who worked in brotherhood in the service of the same Master.