'Fra Angelico and the Rise of the Florentine Renaissance' at the Prado, Madrid

This is the second great exhibition this year about the Florentine renaissance (the first being at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich) but this exhibition at the Prado focuses on Fra Angelico in the years 1420-1430 and his contribution to getting the renaissance underway in Florence, both in terms of developing new ways to paint and to his triumphs of storytelling. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the Prado's newly restored 'Annunciation' altarpiece and it is a glory to behold with Gabriel's glittering wings and the bright colours - we can only be grateful to those apprentices that would've spend days pounding rocks to extract the colours and prepare them for the Fra to carry out this amazing work. And, of course, to the restorers who've done such an amazing job.

One of the things that made this exhibition special for me was the number of Fra Angelico works on loan from all around North America and Europe, from places I would probably never go to and so never see the paintings. Paintings are loaned from the Hermitage in St Petersburg ('Virgin and Child' opposite, an early painting with gold background), from Fort Worth and Houston in Texas USA, from Yale University and San Diego in the USA, from Rotterdam and Frankfurt and Remagen. Paintings are also on loan from the great museums of the Met in New York, the National Gallery in London, the Vatican in Rome, the Uffizi in Florence and, of course, from Fra Angelico-central, San Marco in Forence. Works by other artists of the time are also on loan, of course, including a lovely little 'Annunciation' by Uccello from the Ashmolean in Oxford.

It's such a privilege to see the wide range of works exhibited and we should be grateful to the curators and teams that must've spent years preparing for this exhibition and negotiating the various loans.

The exhibition is about Fra Angelico and the vast majority of exhibits are by the good Fra. However, it also includes works by other contemporary artists to provide a more rounded picture of the time and how artists were developing and influencing each other. We see bas-reliefs by Donatello to illustrate how the Fra started to depict a more playful baby Jesus in paintings for the first time, paintings by his master Lorenzo Monaco, and examples of the gorgeous Florentine cloths that were being weaved and which the Fra depicted as clothes and drapery in paint.

There is a single painting by Masaccio, 'Saint Paul' (opposite)  since it's thought that his 'Adam and Eve' in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence influenced how the Fra depicted Adam and Eve in the 'Annunciation'. There is also an 'Annunciation' by Robert Campin to demonstrate how the scene was viewed differently in the traditions of the Northern Renaissance. There are many others, of course. The Fra was open to influences and he absorbed the ones that helped him develop his art and pave the way for subsequent artists. 

The first painting in the exhibition is a small 'Virgin and Child Enthroned' from 1411-12, i.e. before the Fra was ordained as a friar and took the name Giovanni, back when he was a teenage apprentice called Guido. This devotional piece was painted by the young Guido di Pietro while he was in Lorenzo Monaco's workshop, to Monaco's design but  painted by Guido. It was probably commissioned by the Alberti family in Florence since its coat of arms is prominently displayed at the bottom and may have been the central panel of a triptych. It's a lovely little painting and it's nice to see very early works from the Fra to begin to trace his development as an artist and story-teller.

Another early painting that I really like is the 'Crucifixion' from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. it was probably painted in 1418-20 so the Fra was still a very young man but, although it has a traditional golden background, he was already experimenting with the figures and positions he paints them in. Look at Mary Magdalene bending down behind the Virgin so you see mainly the top of her head and the head of the man holding the pole looking up at the daed Christ, head tilted right back. Something I always find strange is the little tuft of hair on the man's chest since body hair was so rarely included in paintings. The group is arranged in a circle around the base of the cross with the figures looking up while the Virgin collapses in shock at the front.

The next room is what I thought of as the London room since it included three golden panels with seven roundel paintings from the Courtauld collection and the five-panelled San Domenico predella and small roundel of St Romulus from the National Gallery. 

My favourite of the five panels is to the right of 'Christ in Glory' and shows the forerunners of Christ, saints and virgin martyrs. Out of all the many figures painted in the five panels only one looks out at the viewer and that is Moses, to the left of centre in the top row. I've never seen an explanation of why this is - it's not unusual for the Fra to paint a character looking out at the viewer but out of all these people, why only him? A reminder of the Old Testament commandments would be odd given that Christ came to provide a new Testament but there's probably a theological reason for it.

           

One thought I had about this predella and it being full of different biblical and historical characters was suggested by the label that said it was the Fra's first work after being ordained as a friar - is this a 'show off' painting? I think of 'show off' paintings as those that advertise the artist's skills - look what I can do and if you commission me I can do something of this quality for you. The Fra was demonstrating his painting skills but also his understanding of theological studies, putting characters in the right order of importance in the paintings. One of the many joys of the exhibition catalogue is that it attempts to name each character in the five panels, something Dillian Gordon did in the National Gallery catalogue (which is no longer in print for some reason).

The panels from the Courtauld are made up of seven small roundels (about four inches in diameter) with gold background. The choice of saints to portray is a bit unusual but the panels were commissioned for a convent so that might help explain it. I've always been quite fond of the Mary Magdalene figure who looks quite cross and is gesturing to her lord almost to say to the viewer, 'look at what you've done'. I also rather like the painting of an almost imperious St Catherine of Alexandria resting against her wheel.

In the next room there are two gorgeous Virgin & Child panels on adjacent walls, the 'Virgin of the Pomegranate', acquired by the Prado a couple of years ago, and the lovely 'Virgin of Humility' from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection on loan to MNAC, Barcelona. 

The 'Virgin of the Pomegranate' is full of gorgeous blues and reds and gold, with the two angels holding up the cloth of gold wearing green. The rather chubby baby Jesus is helping himself to pomegranate seeds from his mother's hand (the baby is the image on the front of the plan of the museum for visitors at the front desk). The cloth of gold almost shimmers as you look at it and you can almost see the rich stitching if you look closely, the heavy drapery falling in complex folds around the Virgin. I particularly like the two angels whose job it is to hold that heavy cloth for all eternity, the green of their robes works well against the gold cloth, as they both look towards the Virgin and the playful baby. It's interesting that their wings are also painted mainly green. It's a very peaceful, contemplative painting and it's astonishing how those colours have stayed rich and bright over the nearly 600 years since it was painted.

On an adjacent wall is the most lovely 'Virgin of Humility' in it's golden tabernacle-style frame. I first saw this painting a few years ago at an exhibition of the Thyssen collection in Barcelona and have loved it ever since. We see the baby resting his head against his mother's cheek and gazing up at her, offering her a lily while the Virgin holds a vase of roses with a single lily. The cloth of gold is intricate in the way the folds fall and, again, is obviously rich and heavy. Three angels hold the cloth while two more sit at the Virgin's feet playing instruments. The angels holding the cloth aren't as prominent as those in the 'Pomegranate' panel and look rather too delicate to hold up that obviously heavy cloth but they manage to do so effortlessly. It really is a lovely painting.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is the newly restored 'Annunciation and Expulsion of Adam and Eve' altarpiece for San Domenico, the Fra's home church at the time and for which he completed three altarpieces. The restoration was carried out to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Prado and no better painting in the collection could have been selected.

          

The altarpiece is a perfect example of the Fra's great contribution to pushing forward the Renaissance in Florence as well as his skilful story-telling. Brunelleschi's theories of perspective are evident in the architecture of the Virgin's room and the innovation of having the altarpiece as a square without gothic arches is the first example of this approach, soon to be followed by almost every artist. The prominent addition of Adam and Eve leaving the garden and, in effect, walking through the Virgin's garden, is another first for the Fra. 

I was particularly taken with Gabriel's golden wings that glittered with new life after the restoration. You can clearly see each individual feather in his wings and and they glow and glitter almost as if they're becoming still after flying. I stood there swaying from side to side to watch the feathers move and take turns shining - I don't know what the guards must have thought I was doing. I also liked the graceful folds in his robe and then lime green lining that shows at the bottom and the blue under-robe.

It was also lovely to see the bright light coming through the window in the room beyond the doorway and see the leaves of the trees in the garden outside. 

I suspect that when most people think of the 'Annunciation' they think of the Angel and the Virgin - I certainly do - so it was inspired to use the Adam and Eve section of the painting as the face of the exhibition. It features on the posters for the exhibition and is the cover of the catalogue. What a great idea. It also helps to emphasise that these characters are actually one third of the painting and are an important part of the biblical story, with the Virgin wiping away original sin and the baby to be born is the ultimate descendant of Adam and Eve and is the one who will eventually free them from eternity in Limbo. There's a lot that can be read into this painting.

Near the altarpiece was a copy of a contemporary book illustrating trees and flowers, showing that the detail the Fra included in the garden was part of a tradition and the flowers were real, not simply made up to look pretty. 

The restoration work is incredible, with the colours almost luminous, making the altarpiece much brighter than it was previously, almost like a veil has been lifted and we can see it properly for the first time. Thank you Prado and thank you Almudena Sanchez for carrying out the restoration. Thank you also to the American Friends of the Prado and the Friends of Florence for donating so much to the cost of the restoration.

The predella of the altarpiece has been removed and hung at eye height so we can more easily look at it and appreciate the smaller paintings showing scenes from the life of the Virgin. They are lovely little paintings and I really liked the Nativity scene with the kings obvious in their crowns and the lookers-on in contemporary Florentine dress just as the scene is set in a Tuscan landscape. Something I hadn't noticed before but now can because of the hanging of the predella is the small angel flying over the hillside at top-right calling to the shepherds. It's always worth looking at the details in paintings by Fra Angelico.

Further on through the exhibition you come to a three dimensional painting, almost life-sized of a 'Crucifixion with St Nicholas of Bari and St Francis'. This was exhibited in Florence for the first time after being restored and I saw it there last year. It puzzled me at the time, wondering what it had been cut out from but, it seems, this is how it was originally done, as a piece to stand out so that viewers can get closer to the crucifixion and almost be part of it. Sadly there's a lot of damage to the figure of St Nicholas but the red of the blood dripping from the cross is as bright a scarlet as you could want.

It was designed for a boys club at the time in Florence where the boys could channel their energies into singing religious songs and chants with this work in the background. I wonder what it must have felt like to be there at the time?

Also on display is one of the four reliquaries Fra Angelico painted for Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The four reliquaries were brought together in Boston, USA, last year for the first time in several hundred years.  Three of them can be seen in San Marco in Florence and the fourth is in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This reliquary is the 'Coronation of the Virgin' in which Christ crowns his mother as queen of heaven. It's very colourful and can almost glow under the right lights. St Thomas Aquinas looks out at the viewer, presumably exhorting the viewer to read the Bible or his other works. Along the bottom of the frame is a scene of six angels, the holy couple and the baby all in blue. The reliquaries are quite small so it's a testament to the Fra's skill that he can get so much detail into small paintings.

In the final room of the exhibition were two halves of what was thought to be a small, portable diptych, brought back together again - the two halves are in different museums in Detroit and in Newark. The paintings are pocket sized, just about the size of a modern day postcard, and one shows the Virgin and Child with Angels while the other shows St Dominic witnessing St Francis receiving the stigmata from the flying seraph. I couldn't find a photo of this work online so this is a photo I've taken of the piece from the catalogue. I thought the diptych was delightful and am grateful to be able to see these works when I am unlikely to ever travel to the museums that now hold them.

The final works in the exhibition are two luminous panels depicting the 'Marriage of the Virgin' and the 'Dormition of the Virgin', both in the bright colours I've come to expect from the Fra.

There is a lot going on in the 'Marriage' painting, with the young men on the left breaking sticks to try to find the new growth that will win the hand of the Virgin, the men pounding Joseph's back in jealousy that he won her hand, the priest looking sideways at Mary, presumably checking that she really wants to Mary the much older Joseph, so much storytelling. The colours are gorgeous with so much detail included, such as the gold embroidery on the priest's green robe. I suspect this is one of the problems of looking at paintings by Fra Angelico - we risk seeing only colourful, pretty pictures without recognising the complex storytelling and innovations in terms of how to tell the story, how he developed new approaches that subsequent artists took on and used and how he developed new ways of painting these stories.

I haven't really commented on the works of other artists included in this exhibition since I wanted to focus on the works by Fra Angelico - there are about 60 of his works in the exhibition so I've only scratched the surface and included some of my favourites. The focus on his work between 1420-1430 helps to illustrate that the Fra was still a young man and still learning and developing his art, soaking up and contributing to the artistic life and development of Florence which was bursting with new ideas at this time. This is all ably demonstrated by this exhibition and by the careful work of its curator, Carl Brandon Strehlke. Although you can't take photos in the Prado, where possible I've used my own photographs when I've seen some of the works elsewhere to illustrate this blog. Other photos are taken from the web.

This is a great exhibition and, if you're in or planning to visit Madrid over the summer, it's certainly worth seeing. Well done Prado and happy 200th birthday!

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.

Fra Angelico in Rome

My recent visit to Rome included visiting four places to learn more about Fra Angelico and see more of his works. These included the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, The Niccoline Chapel in the Vatican Museums, the Pinacoteca in the Vatican Museums and the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Palazzo Corsini, also called Galleria Corsini.

Fra Angelico worked in Rome in his later years and died there in 1455. He is buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva and that's where I found this lovely stained glass window of him at the end of a corridor near his tomb. As a Dominican friar it shows him in his habit of a white robe under a black cloak, paint brush in one hand and the other holding a painting of the Virgin and Child. I couldn't help but smile when I saw this modern day honour.

Fra Angelico's tomb is in the vestibule to the left of the main altar, next to the small Frangipane Chapel. The tomb is about one foot high, made of marble and surrounded by a chain. It is carved with the figure of a friar and the Latin inscription on the bottom reads, 'Here is buried the venerable painter, friar Giovani of Fiesole of the Preachers' Order (1455)'. Just in front of the tomb is a stand for candles to be lit and left for the good Fra, which of course, we did. The Fra is one of the Blessed and, later, I was touched to see three Dominican monks enter the vestibule and walk into the church, and one of them knelt down to touch the tomb as he passed. Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

The Frangipane Chapel beside the vestibule opens onto the tomb and, from that side, you can read the name inscribed on the side of the tomb, Beato Angelico. Above the altar in the chapel is a painting of the Virgin and Child that was originally thought to be by Fra Angelico but is now ascribed to his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli. Underneath the painting is an epitaph to Fra Angelico in Latin. As ever, different sources translate it slightly differently but this is the translation from the church itself:

"Do not praise me for having been like another Apelles
But for having given, oh Christ, all my earnings to the poor
There are works indeed that remain on earth and others (that hold good) in heaven
The city, flower of Tuscany, gave me birth."

I've waited a long time to visit the tomb of Fra Angelico so I'm pleased I was finally able to do so.

The next day I wandered down the road beside the Tiber to find the Galleria Corsini and a marvellous triptych by Fra Angelico that I later realised that I'd seen in an exhibition of Fra Angelico's works in the Museo Jacquemart-Andre in Paris in 2011. This is a small altarpiece showing the Ascension, the Last Judgement and Pentecost.

The vibrant colours glow and the gold leaf is laid on in intricate patterns and almost shimmied in the morning sunlight from a nearby window (that didn't shine on the painting itself, of course). It made me imagine seeing the altarpiece in a small, dim chapel, lit only by candles that would flicker and make the golden heaven behind Christ move and bring him to life. I wish someone would do that some day and then film it so we can see how the altarpiece would have looked 500 years ago.

The Galleria Corsini was very quiet when I was there so I could spend plenty of time looking at the painting and it was good to notice the figure of St Peter looks the same in all three parts of the altarpiece - his face is the same, only the hair changes to grey in 'The Last Judgement' since, presumably, that will be some time in the future when he's aged. Sometimes it's the small details that matter in paintings.

One of the jewels of the Vatican Museums is the Niccoline Chapel of Pope Nicholas V which was painted by Fra Angelico and his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli. It's one of the rooms that is normally closed to visitors to the Vatican but it's possible to book a tour that includes a visit to the chapel. It's a small chapel and the frescoes tell the stories of St Stephen and St Lawrence, early deacons of the church who were martyred. The Fra gives us an abbreviated version of their lives and martyrdom in simple story-telling scenes and gorgeous colours. We see the saints preaching and handing out alms and we see them killed, St Stephen stoned to death and St Lawrence burned alive on a griddle. Not terribly pleasant but a timely reminder to the popes and his cardinals of the trials the early saints went through. As ever, the Fra's narrative designs are easy to follow and it's the detail of the faces and the expressions that draw you into the paintings.

As ever, it's the detail that matters and, in the Niccoline Chapel, there are two details that make me wonder. One is St Stephen preaching to the women of Jerusalem and another is the young man in expensive robes at the court hearing for St Lawrence.

The young man is clearly in the court on the edge of the crowd but seems to be distracted and is looking over he shoulder to where we see St Lawrence being burned alive on the griddle. In part, he's signposting us to the next scene in the story but I wonder what he's thinking? He's wringing his hands so is he wondering if the court has (or is about to) make the right decision? Is he wondering how something this cruel can happen in his presence and why does God allow it? I don't know but I'll consult my book about the restoration of the frescoes to see if it sheds any light on the young man. The Vatican has published a lovely book about the frescoes and their cleaning which is well worth looking at.

Elsewhere in the Vatican Museums is the Pinacoteca, the picture gallery with a range of paintings collected by the Popes over the years. It includes three paintings by Fra Angelico, two predella paintings of the life of St Nicolas of Bari and a small Virgin and Child that, unfortunately, was out on loan when I visited.

The first panel shows the birth of St Nicholas, his discovery of a vocation by listening to a Christian preacher and his giving away of his worldly goods as the dowries for three sisters. The second shows him meeting a legate and providing grain to a city before saving the ship that delivered the grain in a storm. The colours are unmistakably Early Renaissance and the story-telling is Fra Angelico. He can tell a story in a very simple narrative that anyone can read, particularly people at the time who would have had a grounding in the stories of the lives of the saints.

It was disappointing not to see the small Virgin and Child altarpiece but it's also good to know that it's out in the world showing the beauty of Fra Angelico's works and the power of his beliefs.

I will treasure the memories of this trip to Rome to see the glory that is Fra Angelico. I wonder if there are other paintings there that I didn't find?