Fra Angelico's Annunciation fresco at San Marco: the angel Gabriel bowing before the seated Virgin under a columned loggia. Artist

Fra Angelico

Religious Art & Worldviews · Artists

The Dominican friar whose frescoes for his brothers' cells at San Marco were painted as instruments of prayer, one mystery per monk.

Tagged: Painting Medieval Devotional Iconic Devotional Fresco Catholic

Guido di Pietro took vows and a painter's name the tradition turned into Fra Angelico, the Angelic Friar. At San Marco in Florence he frescoed each cell with a single scene from Christ's life, composed for the solitary prayer of the brother who slept there.

His Annunciation at the head of the dormitory stair — the pictured work — greets the friars as Gabriel greeted Mary: quietly, in a bare loggia, with nothing wasted.

References

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