Fra Angelico 3: At home in San Marco

Having explored the Fra Angelico exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in week 2, this week we will turn our attention to San Marco, where the 'exhibition' is just one of the things we will consider. Attached to the Church of San Marco, the museum's origins as a priory make it an apt place to celebrate the most famous Dominican artists. It was just one of the order's ‘houses’ in Florence – although they only occupied the premises in the 1430s. Even then, Fra Angelico remained officially attached to San Domenico in Fiesole.

As part of his religious calling, and in his role as one of the friars, Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (as he was still known) played an enormous role in the decoration of the newly rebuilt premises,  which was adapted for its new, Dominican function by the architect Michelozzo. As well as painting the San Marco Altarpiece for the for the high altar of the church – one of his most significant paintings, which we will have looked at in week 2 – Fra Angelico and his workshop also decorated all of the cells occupied by the friars, together with other, communal spaces of the convent (a word which we tend to associate with Nuns, but which, strictly speaking, can be used for religious houses occupied by either women or men). 

 

As well as considering the works in the exhibition which we did not see in Week 1, we shall also look at Fra Angelico's ‘decorations’ in detail. They are, without doubt, one of the true splendours of the Early Renaissance, and the best surviving conventual fresco cycle in Italy, if not Europe. Indeed, they are the reason why only Florence could host a real tribute to the artist.