four torturers, is beaten and mocked. Three servants look on, while two men stand outside the door. Here, Christ’s blindfold is not transparent. (Isaias 50:6)
25. Jesus carrying his cross turns towards Mary who is kept from approaching him by two executioners. Two other executioners walk ahead of Christ.
26. Jesus’ clothes are taken by two Roman soldiers, who share them. There is little movement in this composition. (Isaias 53:7); (John 19:17)
27. Jesus, dead on the cross. Mary, John, and three women weep to his right. Three soldiers, kneel, worshiping the Lord, while five Pharisees and soldiers look on with emotion. No taunting takes place; no enemies are present. Two men, holding lance and sponge, stand contemplating near the cross. A deep and painful peace rules over the entire composition. “It is finished.”
28. Jesus advances on a cloud towards Limbo. Satan lies crushed by the knocked down door. Adam and Eve, clothed, advance towards the Redeemer, followed by Abraham, David and others. A. CVI, 14; (Apocalypse 5:9)
29. The body of Christ, lies before the sepulcher and is surrounded by seven women and three men. In the foreground can be seen the nails and the crown of thorns resting on a piece of cloth. A sad calm fills this work. (Isaias 11:10); (Luke 23:53).
30. Five women approach the tomb of Christ. Two of them look into the mausoleum and see an angel sitting. Three other women stand slightly behind them.
31. The Ascension. Only the edge of Christ’s robes is visible in the upper part of this painting as He rises to Heaven. In the lower part of the work, the Virgin Mary and the eleven apostles kneel in a circle. Two angels stand to the sides. (Psalms 17:11); (Mark 16:19).
32. The Pentecost. The Virgin is seated inside of a house surrounded by twelve apostles and thirteen disciples, with only the busts of the figures visible. Two groups of men are in front of the house, one group of two, and one group of three. (Joel 2:28); (Acts 2:4).
33. In the centre of the composition, Christ places a crown on his holy Mother’s head. Angels and saints who fill the foreground surround them. Most of them direct their gazes beyond the scene. The grouping is a bit crowded, and the figures do not possess the desired life or variety. Only the group in the centre is excellent. The inscriptions do not seem to have a connection with the scene. “Vidi Dominum sedentem super solium et elevatum et plena domus maiestate eius.” (Isaias 6) “Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus et habitavit cum eis et ipsi populus eius erunt et ipse Deus eorum.” (Apocalypse 21).
34. The Last Judgment. See Chapter 5
35. The last picture closes the cycle and corresponds with the first. Where the first painting depicted the sources of God’s written word, this painting illustrates the Apostle’s Creed and the Seven Sacraments. In the lower part of the painting is a seven-branched candlestick symbolizing the Old Testament set in a field of colourful flowers. Seven banners with the seven Sacraments written upon them emerge from the candlestick. Each of these banners is found between two texts related to the particular Sacrament, one taken from the Old Testament, and one taken from the New Testament. To the left, the church is portrayed by the figure of a woman holding an open book. Above the banners and emerging from the candelabra in the centre of the composition is a cross. Around this cross winds a strip of cloth upon which are written twelve words, each of which is connected to one of the articles from the Apostles’ Creed (the Credo). The Apostles themselves can be seen to the right, each holding a banner with one of the articles of the Credo. To the left, are twelve of the prophets with similar banners, upon which are written texts that correspond to each of the Credo’s articles (Illustration).
42. The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (altarpiece of Santa Croce del Tiempo), 1436–1441. Tempera on wood panel, 105 × 164 cm. Museo di San Marco, Florence.
43. Nine of the thirty-five paintings on panels for the doors of the Silver Treasury (Armadio degli Argenti) of Santissima Annunziata in Florence (detail), c. 1450. Tempera on wood panel, each painting: 39 × 39 cm. Museo di San Marco, Florence.
44. The Law of Love (Lex Amoris) (the last of the thirty-five paintings for the Silver Treasury of Santissima Annunziata), c. 1450. Tempera on wood panel, 39 × 39 cm. Museo di San Marco, Florence.
Fra Angelico’s Stay in Florence, and his Murals at the Convento di San Marco
45. The Annunciation (cell 3), c. 1440–1441. Fresco, 190 × 164 cm. Convento di San Marco, Florence.
46. The Agony in the Garden and Martha and Mary Praying (cell 34), c. 1442. Fresco, 177 × 147 cm. Convento di San Marco, Florence.
In 1436, Fra Angelico left his convent in Fiesole to go to the convent of San Marco in Florence. Here, elevated cloisters flooded with light surrounded the square courtyard. To the left of the entrance rose the church, and doors that opened across from the entryway gave access to the sacristy, the second floor, and the chapter room. A vast refectory stretched along the third side of the courtyard, and on the fourth side, were the rooms once reserved for the convent’s guests, with the entrance to the monastery in the corner.
The works that Fra Angelico left here are particularly important. They mark a high point in the history of art, and are also the essence of Angelico’s work. In the lunette above the door of the first room for those to whom the Dominicans offered their hospitality, Fra Angelico painted three life-size figures. (Christ with Two Dominicans Resembling the Disciples of Emmaus, or Christ Being Received as a Pilgrim) Christ is in the centre, his face framed by the long and curly hair that falls down his back. He has a rather large beard, a pilgrim’s staff in his hand, and is poorly dressed in a garment worn ragged by travel. Two Dominican friars welcome him. The first, a prior, takes the right hand of the Lord in his own, while gripping the left arm of Christ with his left hand. The monk that accompanies him adds his entreaties to those of his prior with an expressive gesture. They resemble the disciples of Emmaus, and encourage the Lord to accept their house’s hospitality. Their hands are eloquent and their eyes seem to convey an emotional request, at once serious and gentle, to the pilgrim.
It is interesting to note how much this painting differs from the fellow Dominican Fra Bartolomeo’s conception of the same subject painted above the door of the second guest room (Christ with Two Disciples of Emmaus resembling Father Nicholas Scomberg and Father Santi Paganini). Bartolomeo dresses the two disciples of Emmaus in their traditional garments, but paints one with the features of Father Nicholas Scomberg, the German prior of San Marco beginning in 1506, and the other with the features of his predecessor, Father Santi Paganini. Here, one grasps the difference between these two famous painters from the same religious order. Fra Angelico idealises through generalisation. He paints the disciples of Emmaus as Dominican monks, and seems to palpably express the thought, “In each of our guests we see Jesus Christ himself, and we will welcome them as the disciples of Emmaus welcomed the Lord.” In contrast, Fra Bartolomeo naturalises and individualises. He gives the disciples the features of living and well-known personalities, just as Ghirlandaio, in his painting of the birth of Mary at Santa Maria Novella, painted the women visiting Saint Anne with the faces of specific Florentine women known for their beauty (The Birth of Mary). Fra Bartolomeo borrowed from tradition, and borrowed from Fra Angelico the good idea of painting the disciples of Emmaus above the door of a guest room. Yet he lost the expressive energy found in the work of his precursor by portraying the disciples in the traditional garb of the characters in the Biblical story.[12] Today, this painting is on the second floor in the cell of Savonarola,
In the guide to San Marco, Professor Fred Rodoni summarises the remarks we have just presented in the following terms, “
