Fra Angelico at the Fondazione C.R. di Firenze

Any visit to Florence will, by definition, involve seeing some of the works of Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, better known as il Beato Angelico and Fra Angelico. It's especially exciting when there is a new work to see and, coinciding with my trip was a newly restored crucifixion on display at the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (to give it its full name). The Crucifixion with Saint Nicolas of Bari and Saint Francis is a large work and is especially curious (for me at least) since it seems to have had the background cut away for some reason. It's dated to around 1430 and, after this short exhibition, will be returned to its home at the Fondazione's Oratory in Florence.

It's not that unusual for Renaissance works to be cut down to size or for specific parts of works to be cut out and sold in the 1700s and 1800s and that's why it's possible to see single angels or panels of saints in museums and collections around the world. This, however, is the only Fra Angelico work I'm aware of that appears to have had the entire background cut away only leaving the Crucifixion and major saints. Perhaps there were other saints paying respects and angels flying in the sky around the Christ? I suspect we'll never know.

Beside the restored altarpiece is a small painting showing it's location in (I think) the 1700s, which is a nice touch.  This made me wonder why there aren't more paintings with famous or important works somewhere in the background.

There is some damage to the altarpiece, particularly across St Nicholas's face that the restoration hasn't (quite rightly) tried to fix but it has included plain blocks of wood to help illustrate the size and positioning of the elements of the work. The way it's displayed also means you can see how thick the wood panel actually is which made me wonder how they actually cut it back, perhaps leaving a small gap between the cut and the painting to sand it down? Again, we'll probably never know. It would have been interesting to display it so we could see the back of the work and see how the panels fit together and are held together (there would have been several panels locked together for a work of this size).

It was great to be able to see this little-known altarpiece after restoration. Well done to the Fondazione for sharing it's work.