The ''Fiesole Altarpiece'' is a painting by the Italian early Renaissance master

Fra Angelico Fra Angelico, O.P. (; ; born Guido di Pietro; 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent" ...

, executed around 1424–1425. It is housed in the Convent of San Domenico, Fiesole, central

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The background was repainted by

Lorenzo di Credi Lorenzo di Credi (1456/59 – January 12, 1537) was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor best known for his paintings of religious subjects, and portraits. With some excursions to nearby cities, his whole life was spent in Florence. ...

in 1501.

History

The altarpiece is among the earliest known works by Fra Angelico. It was originally commissioned for the high altar in the convent's church, but was later moved to a side altar where it is currently visible. In 1501 Lorenzo di Credi repainted the background, which was probably gilded, with a more modern landscape featuring a throne with baldachin, trompe-l'oeil reliefs and two landscapes between pillars. The Gothic cusps were also eliminated in that occasion.

Description

The work is a '' Maestà'', a Madonna enthroned, a theme particularly fashionable in Florentine art at the time. The central group with the Madonna and Child is surrounded by eight adoring angels depicted in smaller size. The saints

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

Barnabas Barnabas (; ; ), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christians, Christian, one of the prominent Disciple (Christianity), Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jews, Cyprio ...

Dominic Dominic, Dominik or Dominick is a male given name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". The most promi ...

and Peter of Verona are at the sides: these were three saints of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

(the same owning the convent) and the namesake of Barnaba degli Agli, a Florentine man who had donated 6,000 florins for the convent's restoration and enlargement. The naked Child is shown while grasping two flowers: a white rose, symbol of purity, and a red one, a forecast of his future passion connected with the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

: the panel was in fact painted for the church's high altar, where the celebration of this sacrament occurs. The composition resembles that of

Masaccio Masaccio (, ; ; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great List of Italian painters, Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaiss ...

's San Giovenale Triptych (1422). The scheme is also similar to the cartoon of the ''Assumption'' by

Lorenzo Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptister ...

for the windows in the façade of

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...

(1404–1405). It is also one of the most ancient polyptychs in which the figures are in the same painted surface, without being divided into different compartments. Elements such as the less evolved perspective and the tile pavements (also found in an anonymous Florentine triptych from 1419 and an altarpiece by Angelico himself at

San Gimignano San Gimignano (; named after St. Geminianus) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Five Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the pr ...

) led to the datation of some three years before his San Pietro Martire Triptych, which is documented from 1428. The work had a

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

, now at the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current dire ...

and portraying ''Adoration of Saints, Prophets and Members of the Dominican Order''. The latter also houses a tondo with ''St. Romulus'', perhaps located above the polyptych. The side pillars were decorated by ten small panels with saints and blessed, four of which are known today: two are at the

Musée Condé The – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the château and ...

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city ** US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Chantilly (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina ...

and two in private collections.

Predella of the Fiesole Altarpiece

Sources

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{{Fra Angelico 1420s paintings Paintings by Fra Angelico Paintings of the Madonna and Child Paintings in the National Gallery, London Paintings in Tuscany Angels in art Altarpieces Books in art Paintings of Thomas Aquinas