Fra Angelico 1400-1455

Fra Angelico combined the influence of the elegantly decorative International Gothic style of Gentile da Fabriano with the more realistic style of such Renaissance masters as the painter Masaccio and the sculptors Donatello and Ghiberti, all of whom worked in Florence. Angelico was also aware of the theories of perspective proposed by Leon Battista Alberti. Angelico's representation of devout facial expressions and his use of colour to heighten emotion are particularly effective. His skill in creating monumental figures, representing motion, and suggesting deep space through the use of linear perspective, especially in the Roman frescoes, mark him as one of the foremost painters of the Renaissance.

Angelico's Poetic Frescoes in thre Convent of San Marco, Florence 1441-50

Fra Angelico's fresco cycle in the convent of San Marco, painted between 1441 and 1450 stands alone in the fresco painting of the quattrocento. To this visitor the severe austerity of the cells, the sparseness of his lines and gestures, the subdued, occasionally near monochrome palette are the lasting impressions. - However, to Italian eyes his paintings are an expression of pure poetry.

The colors of this famous, beloved Annunciation from 1450 are almost always oversaturated in reproductions

The almost eerie, monochrome Coronation of the Virgin

In the common rooms he also painted large crowd scenes, but his frugal brush remains the same.

Another intimate Annunciation in one of the cells