Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico was born in 1395 in Vicchio, Italy with the name of Guido de Pietro.  In 1418, Fra Angelico and his brother became monks at the Order of Dominican Preachers in Fiesole Italy.  Here he was given a new religious name, which was Fra Giovanni da Fiesole.  In the monastery was where Fra Angelico made his best works.  It started when he and his brother worked at paint shop and copy room a Fiesole.  At Fiesole he made many frescos. A fresco is when a person paints a mural on wet plaster with watercolors.  One fresco he made in Fieosle was Virgin and Child with Saints.  After in 1436 he moved to San Marco in Florence.  There, his artistry flourished.   After being asked by Cosimo de Medici, he decorated many cells of the newly built monastery. One of his most famous works is The Annunciation, which is a fresco on the walls of San Marco.   Two more of his famous works done here were the Deposition from the Cross and The Last Judgment.   After his death in Rome in 1455, he was named Fra Angelico, which means “Angelic Friar”.  He is also now known as Beato Angelico, which means “blessed angelic one”.  These names were given to him to honor his life and work as a religious man.  He can be remembered for his great use of line and color along with the use of space, mass, and light.

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