Fra Angelico
(1395/1400, Vicchio - 1455, Roma)
| 1395-1400 | Born in the Mugello in the vicinity of Vicchio (32km from Florence), Italy. His father was a farmer. |
| He has some names: Guido di Pietro -- ------Pietro is his father's name) Fra Giovanni da Fiesole -- as priest Fra Angelico ----------- after his death since 1469. Fra is for fratello which means brother and fra is prefix of name of a monk. Angelico means angel-like. He is called Beato Angelico in Italy. |
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| 1417 | Recorded as a miniature painter |
| 1418-21 | Joined the community of San Domenico, Fiesole |
| 1423 | 'Crucifix' for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova |
| 1428 | Recorded as a monk and painter |
| 1439-45 | Worked for fresco in San Marco in Florence |
| 1446-48 | Worked in Rome summoned by Pope Eugenius IV, who had lived in Florence for some years and was familiar with his work. |
| 1449/50 | Returned to Florence |
| 1450 | Prior of San Domenico in Fiesole |
| 1455 | Died in Rome. Buried in the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva |
| The epitaphs by Lorenzo Valla : '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. Dominc, 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 death of a consummate painter, who had no equal in his art.' On the marble tomb-slab the body of the painter is shown in his habit in a Renaissance niche, beneath his feet is a second inscription: 'Here lies the venerable painter Fra Gionanni of he Order of Preachers. Let me not be praised because I seemed another Apelles, but because I gave all my riches, O Christ, to Thine. For some works survive on earth and others in heaven. The city of Florence, flower of Etruria, gave me, Giovanni, birth'. |