Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico (* 1386-1400 in Vicchio in Florence, † February 18, 1455 in Rome) - born Guido di Pietro - was a painter of the early Italian Renaissance. Vasari said in Le Vite de ' più eccellenti pittori Scultori ed architettori, Fra Angelico was equipped with a rare and perfect talent.
He is also known as il Beato Angelico (about: the Blessed Angelic ), known to his contemporaries knew him as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole ( Brother John from Fiesole). In Vasari's biography (before 1555), he is already known as Fra Giovanni Angelico.
Fiesole is sometimes misinterpreted as a part of his real name. It is actually the name of the town where he took his vows. This addition was used to distinguish him from other Fra Giovanni can.
Even during his lifetime or shortly thereafter he was also called Il Beato (the Blessed / Blessed ), which refers to his talent in the display of the Christian motives. Pope John Paul II spoke to him in 1982 saved. Fra Angelico is the patron saint of Christian artists. He is the Roman Martyrology as Beatus Ioannes In Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus ( Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, called Angelico) respectively.
Life
Fra Angelico was as Guido (or Guidolino ) di Pietro in Vicchio in Mugello, in Tuscany near Fiesole, was born. His parental lineage is not known. The earliest surviving document that mentions him is dated October 17, 1417, when he joined under the name of Guido di Pietro, a religious brotherhood. This document is also again that he was already a painter. A fact that is testified by two payment receipts from January and February 1418 issued for work done work in the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte. The first evidence of Angelico as a friar of the Dominican order is from 1423, there is of it the first time as Fra Giovanni 's speech.
Fra Angelico initially received training as an illuminator ( illuminator ) and probably worked with his brother Benedetto who was also a Dominican. His teacher is unknown. To some extent, training at Star Nina and influenced by the work of Masolino and Masaccio. Lorenzo Monaco may have also contributed to its formation, the Gothic Sienese school influenced his design. He had several important tasks, which his art but not restricted to the convents in which he lived. According to Vasari, the first paintings of this artist were an altarpiece and a painted rood screen for the Carthusian church in Florence; both are not received.
Between 1408 and 1418 he lived in Dominikanverkonvent to Cortona, where he frescoed in the church, his local works are not preserved. At the beginning of the twenties of the 15th century he moved to the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole and set up one of his workshop. From this the polyptych for the high altar of San Domenico in Fiesole dates. The convent of San Marco in Florence, where Fra Angelico lived a long time, has several manuscripts, which are thought to originate wholly or partly by his hand. The cells and cloisters of the convent of San Marco were painted in large part by Fra Angelico with images that should serve the worship and contemplation of the monks. The monastery is therefore now mostly a museum. His grave is in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.
Works
- After 1424, " Cross", the central image of the altar of the Cappella Strozzi, Santa Trinita (Florence), Museo di San Marco, Florence
- 1425-1430, " high altar in S. Domenico in Fiesole ", National Gallery, London
- 1433, " Altar of Leinweber ," Museo di San Marco, Florence
- 14xx, " Annunciation", the Diocesan Museum Cortona