Gallery of the Masters Fine Art Gallery

Brief Biography-A Dominican monk, Fra Angelico was one of the most prominent Renaissance artists. Vicchio north of Florence was his birth place. Sometime after 1418 he entered the monastery at Fiesole in the hills overlooking Florence. He was a very pious man who could have chosen to live a wealthy life and was called "Angelic" because of his devotion to God. Fra Giovanni was his name in the orders but his real name was Guido di Pietro-Guy, Son of Peter. He started his artistic career decorating manuscripts however he is mostly known for his expertise in frescos. It is said that all payments for his art were given to the monastery. There is some evidence that he may have been initially instructed in art by a monk called Lorenzo Monaco. He dedicated all of his work to the church but he was also a professional artist. His most famous works were carried out between 1440 and 1445 in the monastery of San Marco in Florence; he decorated many rooms with frescos. All of which can be viewed to this day. Pope Eugenius IV summoned him to Rome in 1445 to paint frescos in the Capella del Sacramento of Saint Peter. In 1447, Nicholas V succeeded Eugenius and commissioned further frescos for his chapel and studies. Nicholas V was so impressed by Fra Angelico the man that he wanted him to be Archbishop of Florence, but the humble man turned it down. In 1455, he died in Rome, in the monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva where he was buried.