Editing Fra Angelico (section)

===Lives of the Saints===
[[File:Angelico, niccolina 12.jpg|250px|thumb|''[[Saint Lawrence]] distributing alms'' 1447–1450, fresco, Chapel of Nicholas V, [[Vatican City]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zuffi |first=Stefano |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm53441832 |title=The Renaissance: 1401-1610: the splendor of European art |last2=Hyams |first2=Jay |last3=Seppi |first3=Giorgio |last4=Pauli |first4=Tatjana |last5=Scardoni |first5=Sergio |date=2003 |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books |isbn=978-0-7607-4200-6 |location=New York |oclc=ocm53441832}}</ref> This painting incorporates the expensive pigments, gold leaf and elaborate design typical of Vatican commissions.]]

When Fra Angelico and his assistants went to the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] to decorate the chapel of Pope Nicholas, the artist was again confronted with the need to please the very wealthiest of clients. In consequence, walking into the small chapel is like stepping into a jewel box. The walls are decked with the brilliance of colour and gold that one sees in the most lavish creations of the Gothic painter [[Simone Martini]] at the Lower Church of St Francis of Assisi, a hundred years earlier. Yet Fra Angelico has succeeded in creating designs which continue to reveal his own preoccupation with humanity, with humility and with piety. The figures, in their lavish gilded robes, have the sweetness and gentleness for which his works are famous. According to Vasari:
{{blockquote|In their bearing and expression, the saints painted by Fra Angelico come nearer to the truth than the figures done by any other artist.<ref name=Vasari/>}}

It is probable that much of the actual painting was done by his assistants to his design. Both Benozzo Gozzoli and Gentile da Fabriano were highly accomplished painters. Benozzo took his art further towards the fully developed Renaissance style with his expressive and lifelike portraits in his masterpiece depicting the [[Magi Chapel#Gozzoli's Journey of the Magi|Journey of the Magi]], painted in the [[Medici]]'s private chapel at their [[palazzo]].<ref>Paolo Morachiello, ''Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes''. Thames and Hudson, 1990. {{ISBN|0-500-23729-8}}</ref>

[[File:Blessing Redeemer (1423); Fra Angelico1.jpg|thumb|left|''Blessing Redeemer'' (1423)]]