Fra Angelico Squared

On two occasions today I've thought about Fra Angelico, the early Renaissance painter. The first time was listening to 'Vegemite (The Black Death)' by Amanda Palmer when she sings 'you love art and books' and suddenly there, on an escalator in Victoria tube station I saw the Good Brother. And then tonight, going home after the theatre reading 'Just Kids' by Patti Smith and there in black and white in the book was his name. Two separate occasions and there was Fra Angelico.

I first learned of Fra Angelico and his paintings when I was 16 and took history of art classes at school. His name was one of the dozens we rummaged through in different stages of the Renaissance. Then, in 2005 we went to Florence, my first and so far only trip to that city. I wanted to wander round the Uffizi Gallery and see all those paintings I'd only seen in books, to explore that old city full of art on every corner and find the wrought iron pig in a old photo of my mother from her visit to Florence in the late 1940s or early 50s. I did all those things and more. We also went to the Dominican monastery of San Marco and saw the glory of Fra Angelico.

I was always in two minds about the work of Fra Angelico, with his delicate brush strokes and draftsmanship, the attention to detail and the sometimes stiff poses. I could see his place in the history of art as it developed through the Renaissance, but did I like them? When in Florence you see art so we went to San Marco and headed up the stairs to the Dormitory and suddenly, there at the top of the stairs was 'The Annunciation' by Fra Angelico, his most famous painting and I couldn't help but feel the tears fill my eyes as I gazed at it in awe.

No reproduction you see in books does it justice. The simplicity of the composition, the beauty and belief that are imbued in a painting on the plaster of a wall are astonishing. Fra Angelico had clearly seen his God and was trying to share that vision with us mere mortals. It is sacred by any definition of the word. I don't know why it affected me so strongly but it did and, as far as I'm concerned, that makes it important. He decorated all the monks cells in the Dormitory but it's 'The Annunciation' that kept drawing me back. Even now, my eyes can mist over at the thought of that painting. I bought a small print of the painting but have never had it framed and hung on the wall. I must put that right.

Why have I thought about Brother John the Angelic One twice today?