Guido di Pietro was born c.1395 in Vicchio di Mugello and died in Rome in 1455. 

Known to his contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, he entered the Dominican Order in San Domenico di Fiesole between 1418 and 1421. Here it was that he produced his first works: an altarpiece for the main altar, Altarpiece of the Annunciation, The Coronation of the Virgin as well as frescoes for the monastery. In the early 1430s he painted the Cortona triptych and the Annunciation panel. The influence of Masaccio is said to be evident in the perspective of the architecture.

In 1436 a group of the Friars from Fiesole was given the premises of San Marco in Florence.  Two years later, a convent designed by Michelozzo was built on the site. Fra Giovanni came to live at San Marco in c.1442. From c.1438 – 1445 he and his assistants,  including Benozzo Gozzoli, were responsible for about 50 frescoes in San Marco; most of them are found in the cells of the friars where they were to be an aid to contemplation and prayer. The best known is the painting of the Annunciation to be found on the wall at the top of the stairs.  We are told that it took him 12 days to complete.

Summoned to Rome by the Pope in 1445 to work in the Vatican  he painted frescoes for Pope Eugenius IV and his successor, Pope Nicholas V in the Capella Niccolina.

In 1447 he began work at the cathedral of Orvieto – his work was completed some 50 years later by Luca Signorelli.  Perugia too has some of  his frescoes.

Fra Giovanni died in Rome on February 18th 1455 and was buried in the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The name ‘Angelico’ , which referred to his artistic talent, is said to have been popularised by the painter, Vasari, and is documented from 1469.

The epitaphs on his tomb are thought to have been  composed by Lorenzo Valla. One on the wall, now lost, read:

‘The glory, the mirror, the ornament of painters, Giovanni the Florentine is contained within this place. A religious, he was a brother of the holy order of St Dominic, and was himself a true servant of God. His disciples bewail the loss of so great a master, for who will find another brush like his? His fatherland and his order lament the ldeath of a consummate painter, who had no equal in his art.’

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Sources:

Fra Angelico, John Pope-Hennessy; SCALA, Firenze, 1981.

Two Articles from  the Internet, one of which is from Olga’s Gallery.

For more paintings see under Angelico at www.wga.hu