Editing Fra Angelico (section)

==Biography==

===Early life, 1395–1436===
Fra Angelico was born Guido di Pietro in the hamlet of [[Vicchio di Mugello|Rupecanina]]<!--THIS IS THE CORRECT PLACE, A FRAZIONE OF VICCHIO--><ref>{{cite web
  | title =Comune di Vicchio (Firenze), La terra natale di Giotto e del Beato Angelico 
  | publisher = zoomedia
  | url =http://www.zoomedia.it/Vicchio/HistoryVic.html
  | access-date = 2007-09-28 }}</ref> in the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] area of [[Mugello region|Mugello]] near [[Fiesole]], not far from [[Florence]], towards the end of the 14th century. Nothing is known of his parents. He was baptised Guido. The earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from 17 October 1417, when he joined a religious confraternity or guild at the [[Our Lady of Mount Carmel|Carmine]] Church, still under the name Guido di Pietro.  This record indicates that he was already a painter, as is evident from two records of payment to Guido di Pietro in January and February 1418, for work done in the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte.<ref>Werner Cohn, ''Il Beato Angelico e Battista di Biagio Sanguigni.'' Revista d'Arte, V, (1955): 207–221.</ref>  The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, the first reference to Fra Giovanni (Friar John), following the custom of those entering one of the older [[religious order (Catholic)|religious order]]s of taking a new name.<ref>Stefano Orlandi,  ''Beato Angelico; Monographia Storica della Vita e delle Opere con Un'Appendice di Nuovi Documenti Inediti.''  Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1964.</ref>  He was a member of the [[Convent of San Domenico, Fiesole|convent of Fiesole]]. The [[Dominican Order]] is one of the medieval [[mendicant Orders]]. Mendicants generally lived not from the income of estates but from begging or donations. [[Fra]], a contraction of ''frater'' (Latin for 'brother'), is a conventional title for a mendicant friar.

According to Vasari, Fra Angelico's initial training was as an [[Illuminated manuscripts|illuminator]], possibly working with his older brother [[Benedetto da Fiesole|Benedetto]], also a Dominican and an illuminator. The former Dominican convent of [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]] in Florence, now a state museum, holds several manuscripts thought to be entirely or partly by his hand.<ref name=Vasari/> The painter [[Lorenzo Monaco]] may have contributed to his art training; the influence of the [[Sienese school]] is discernible in his work. He trained also with master Varricho in Milan{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|pp=6–7}} Despite quite a few moves of the [[convent]]s where he lived, this did little to constrain his artistic output, which rapidly acquired a reputation.  According to [[Vasari]], his first paintings were an [[altarpiece]] and a painted screen for the [[Carthusians|Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery)]] of [[Florence Charterhouse|Florence]]. Nothing remains of these today.<ref name=Vasari/>

From 1408 to 1418, Fra Angelico was at the [[San Domenico, Cortona|Dominican friary of Cortona]], where he painted frescoes, mostly now destroyed, in the Dominican Church, and may have been assistant to [[Gherardo Starnina]] or a follower of his.<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Gherardo Starnina
 |work        = Artists
 |publisher   = [[Getty Center]]
 |url         = http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1188
 |access-date  = 2007-09-28
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926215032/http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1188
 |archive-date = 2007-09-26
}}Getty Education[]</ref> Between 1418 and 1436 he was back in Fiesole, where he executed a number of frescoes for the church and the [[Fiesole Altarpiece]]. This was allowed to deteriorate, but has since been restored. A predella of the altarpiece remains intact and is conserved in the [[National Gallery, London]]; a great example of Fra Angelico's genius. It shows Christ in Glory surrounded by more than 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans. This period saw the painting of some of his masterpieces, including a version of  ''[[Madonna of Humility (Fra Angelico)|The Madonna of Humility]]''. This is well preserved and the property of the [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]], on loan to the [[Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya|MNAC]] of Barcelona. Also completed at this time were an [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, Madrid)|''Annunciation'']] and a ''Madonna of the Pomegranate'', at the [[Museo del Prado|Prado Museum]].

===San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445===
[[File:Fra_Angelico_-_Annunciation.jpg|thumb|''[[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|Annunciation]]'', {{Circa|1440–1445}}]]
In 1436, Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built [[San Marco, Florence|convent or friary of San Marco]] in Florence. This propitious move, placing him at the heart of artistic life of the region, attracted the backing of [[Cosimo de' Medici]]. He was one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's governing authority (or "Signoria"), and founder of the dynasty that was set to dominate Florentine politics for much of the Renaissance. Cosimo had a [[Cosimo de' Medici's cell|cell reserved for himself]] at the friary so that he might ''retreat from the world''. 
It was, writes Vasari, at Cosimo's urging that Fra Angelico set about the task of decorating the convent, including the magnificent fresco of the Chapter House, the much reproduced [[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|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 devotional frescoes, smaller in format but of a remarkable luminous quality, depicting aspects of the Life of Christ that adorn the walls of each cell.<ref name=Vasari/>

In 1439 Fra Angelico completed one of his most famous works, the ''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'' at Florence. It broke new ground. Not unusual had been images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints, the custom was that the setting looked heaven-like, saints and angels hovering as ethereal presences rather than earthly substance. But 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 in glory. This fresh genre, [[Sacred Conversation]]s, was to underlie major commissions of [[Giovanni Bellini]], [[Perugino]] and [[Raphael]].<ref name=Hartt>Frederick Hartt, ''A History of Italian Renaissance Art'', (1970) Thames & Hudson, {{ISBN|0-500-23136-2}}</ref>

[[File:Fra Angelico - San Marco Altarpiece - WGA00509 02.jpg|thumb|left|''[[San Marco Altarpiece]]'']]

===The Vatican, 1445–1455===
[[File:Fra Angelico 012.jpg|thumb|180px|right|''The Crucified Christ'' (detail)]]

In 1445 [[Pope Eugene IV]] summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the [[Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church|Holy Sacrament]] at [[St Peter's Basilica|St Peter's]], later demolished by [[Pope Paul III]]. Vasari suggests this might have been when Fra Angelico was offered the [[Archbishopric of Florence]] by [[Pope Nicholas V]], to turn it down, recommending instead another friar. The story seems possible, and even likely. However, the detail does not tally. In 1445 the pope was [[Pope Eugene IV|Eugene IV]]. [[Pope Nicholas V|Nicholas]] was not to be elected until 6 March 1447. The archbishop in question during 1446–1459 was the Dominican [[Antoninus of Florence]] (Antonio Pierozzi), canonised by [[Pope Adrian VI]] in 1523. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in [[Orvieto]] with his pupil, [[Benozzo Gozzoli]], executing works for the [[Duomo di Orvieto|Cathedral]]. Among his other pupils were [[Zanobi Strozzi]].<ref>{{cite web
  | title =Strozzi, Zanobi
  | publisher =[[The National Gallery, London]]
  | url =http://www.nationalgalleryimages.co.uk/search.aspx?q=STROZZI%2C+Zanobi&mode=artist&frm=1
  | access-date =2007-09-28
  | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071014115346/http://nationalgalleryimages.co.uk/search.aspx?q=STROZZI,+Zanobi&mode=artist&frm=1
  | archive-date =2007-10-14
  | url-status =dead
  }}</ref>

From 1447 to 1449 Fra Angelico was back at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the [[Niccoline Chapel]] for Nicholas V. The scenes from the lives of the two martyred [[deacon]]s 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, Fra Angelico was back at his old convent of Fiesole, where he was the Prior.<ref name=Vasari/><ref name=WMR/>

===Death and beatification===
[[File:Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' is a [[Tondo (art)|tondo]] of the [[Adoration of the Magi|scene when wise men from the east arrived]]. It is credited to Fra Angelico and [[Filippo Lippi]] and dates to c. 1440/1460.]]
In 1455, Fra Angelico died while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, perhaps on an order to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. He was buried in the church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]].<ref name=Vasari/><ref name=WMR/><ref>The tomb has been given greater visibility since the beatification.</ref> 
{{Blockquote|When singing my praise, don't liken my talents to those of [[Apelles]]. <br/> Say, rather, that, in the name of Christ, I gave all I had to the poor.<br/>
The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.<br/>
I, Giovanni, am the flower of Tuscany.|Translation of epitaph<ref name=Vasari/>}}
''Apelles (see main article) was a highly renowned painter of [[Ancient Greece]], whose output, now completely lost, is thought to have centred chronologically around 330 BCE.'' 

On display near the main altar is a marble tombstone, an exceptional honour for an artist at that time. Two epitaphs were written, probably by [[Lorenzo Valla]]. The first reads:
'''"In this place is enshrined the glory, the mirror, and the ornament of painters, John the Florentine. A religious and a true servant of God, he was a brother of the holy Order of Saint Dominic. His disciples mourn the death of such a great master, for who will find another brush like his? His homeland and his order mourn the death of a distinguished painter, who had no equal in his art."''' Inside a Renaissance style niche is the painter's relief in Dominican habit. A second epitaph reads:
'''"Here lies the venerable painter Brother John of the Order of Preachers. May I be praised not because I looked like another Apelles, but because I have offered to you, O Christ, all my wealth. For some, their works survive on earth; for others in heaven. The city of Florence gave birth to me, John."'''

The English writer and critic [[William Michael Rossetti]] wrote of the friar:
{{Blockquote|From various accounts of Fra Angelico's life, it is possible to gain some sense of why he was deserving of canonization. He led the devout and ascetic life of a Dominican friar, and never rose above that rank; he followed the dictates of the order in caring for the poor; he was always good-humored. All of his many paintings were of divine subjects, and it seems that he never altered or retouched them, perhaps from a religious conviction that, because his paintings were divinely inspired, they should retain their original form. He was wont to say that he who illustrates the acts of Christ should be with Christ. It is averred that he never handled a brush without fervent prayer and he wept when he painted a Crucifixion. [[The Last Judgment (Angelico)|The Last Judgment]] and the Annunciation were two of the subjects he most frequently treated.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=7}}<ref name=WMR>{{cite web |url=https://orderofpreachersindependent.org/2016/03/18/fra-angelico-2/ |title=Fra Angelico |access-date=1 May 2016 |author=Rossetti, William Michael (as attributed) |date=18 March 2016 |publisher=orderofpreachersindependent.org}}</ref>}}

Pope John Paul II beatified Fra Angelico on 3 October 1982, and in 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists.<ref name="blessed"/>{{blockquote|Angelico was reported to say "He who does Christ's work must stay with Christ always". This motto earned him the epithet "Blessed Angelico", because of the perfect integrity of his life and the almost divine beauty of the images he painted, to a superlative extent those of the Blessed Virgin Mary.|[[Pope John Paul II]]}}