The ANNOTICO Report
FRA ANGELICO: Catalogue
By Laurence Kanter and Pia Palladino, with contributions by Magnolia Scudieri, Carl Brandon Strehlke, Victor M. Schmidt, and Anneke de Vries, 2005. Published in conjunction with the exhibition "Fra Angelico" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 26, 2005–January 29, 2006.
Reviewed by Nicola Giacomo Aluigi Giuseppe Linza
There are special exhibitions which inspire, and then there are special exhibitions which are pure and sublime to the point of burning memories that last a lifetime. The Metropolitan Museum is presenting such an exhibition dedicated to the Italian “angelic friar” Fra Angelico, ca. 1390/95–1455.
One of Florence’s leading Renaissance painters, widely known for altarpieces and frescos in Florence, Fiesole, Cortona, Perugia, and Rome, Fra Angelico also, to the surprise of some, completed masterpieces on a small scale. The resulting work is of a quality that has not only lasted but is as important today (if not more important in today’s world) to a complete understanding of the history of Italian fine art, and the greatest art creations of Western Civilization.
Fra Angelico’s predella panels, small narrative scenes that are found beneath large altarpieces are among the most innovative creations in fifteenth century Florence. Often returning to the Virgin and Child as subject matter his images of them retain inspirational immediacy and a sublime presence, a presence at the same level that first secured the artist’s reputation as the premier painter of his age.
The catalogue for this exhibition is very important, not only for the glorious art provided but also for the exhaustive research included which allows for a solid historically accurate biography of Fra Angelico that goes beyond legend. Beautifully illustrated the publication has presence which stands on its own merit. It is one of the most beautiful exhibition catalogues to be published in the 21st century.
This exhibition and the accompanying book comprise the most important look at Fra Angelico’s legend and career since the mid-20th century exhibition in Florence. This presentation establishes his position, but it is the level of quality of the work of this great master of the fifteenth century that secures Fra Angelico’s position as one of the most intellectually accomplished painters who ever lived.
Museum Note:
In commemoration of the five hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the death of Fra Angelico (Italian [Florentine], ca. 1390/95–1455), one of the foremost artists of the Renaissance, the Metropolitan Museum set out to reexamine his career and to establish a more historically accurate profile of the innovative, extraordinarily gifted "angelic friar" in order to dispel myths and legends that have eclipsed the details of his life. This publication features more than seventy-five paintings, drawings, and manuscript illuminations ascribed to Angelico and spanning the period from 1410 to 1455, as well as about forty works by his collaborators. Also included are several newly-discovered paintings and a number of new proposals for reconstructions of important, dispersed altarpieces. Additionally, drawings by the master are analyzed in terms of their original function and in the context of discussion of the artist's workshop, its identifiable members, and their respective contribution! to its artistic output.
Publisher’s Note:
An up-to-date and comprehensive look at the sublime works
of one of Renaissance Italy’s greatest masters. This beautiful book, published
in conjunction with the first major exhibition of Fra Angelico’s work since
the cinquecentenary exhibition of 1955 in Florence, will feature more than
seventy paintings, drawings, and manuscript illuminations covering all
periods of the artist’s career, from round 1410 to 1455. Also included
will be fifty selected works by his assistants and closest followers.
LAURENCE KANTER is Curator-in-Charge of the Robert Lehman
Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and is Lionel Goldfrank III
Curator of Early European Art at the Yale University Art Gallery.
PIA PALLADINO is Associate Curator of the Robert Lehman
Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
MAGNOLIA SCUDIERI is Director of the Museo di San Marco
in Florence.
CARL STREHLKE is Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection
at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
VICTOR SCHMIDT is Professor of Fine Arts at the Rijksuniversiteit
Groningen. ANNEKE DE VRIES is an independent art historian.
Catalogue: Fra Angelico.
Published by Yale University Press. 348 pages, 312 illustrations (including 257 in full color), 10 3/4 in. x 11 1/2 in. Available in hardcover $65.00 (clothbound, with jacket) or paper $45.00.
Exhibition Schedule
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 25, 2005 – January
30, 2006)
For more information on this special exhibition please
visit