After Fra Angelico (around 1400-1455), Italian Angel, undated copy
GOLD LEAF AND OIL ON P A N E L, 11 x 5 inches
Gift of Mrs. Theodora Willard Best

Fra Angelico (first known as Guide di Pietro) was a Dominican friar in Renaissance Fiesole and Florence, where he remains best known for a large group of biblical frescoes (water-based paintings created on wet plaster) that decorate the common rooms and pri­vate cells in the monastery of San Marco. The austerity and serenity of Fra Angelico's aesthetic complemented the works' function as devotional aids, inspiring rather than dis­tracting the viewer's eye with excessive detail. Architectural frames such as those reproduced here were popular during the Renaissance, simulating the experience of a devotional space.