Immaculata Academy - Lilium Convallium Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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LILIUM CONVALLIUM

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iw i i LILIETIVIfCgONVALLIUM 31 Fra Angelico Fra Angelico was born at Vicchio in 1387. His real name was Guido or Guidolino. The beautiful surname Angelico was given him in later years because he excelled in painting angels. The history of his early life is extremely obscure. In 1407, at the age of twenty, he with his younger brother, entered the Dominican Order in Fiesole. Both were artists and wished to give their lives and talents to God. When they received the white habit of St. Dominic, the elder was called Giovanni and the younger, Benedetto. Fra Angelico began his artistic career as a miniaturist in the school of Masolino. This was probably before 1407. His gift for painting, however, was first fully recognized by his fellow religious. In the eloisters Fra Angelico painted frescoes of the chief Dominican Saints and decorated the cells of the monks with sacred subjects, chiefly scenes from the life of Christ, intended to assist the devout meditation of the brethren. Many of these were hastily painted and are badly injured, but they still retain a great measure of Angelico's peculiar charm. His figures are idealized and sanctified and exhibit a deep religious feeling. For him art was an act of adoration, a sacred duty of prayer and praise. In 1446 Pope Eugenius IV, who had visited Florence and stayed at San Marco for the dedication of the convent four years before, summoned Fra Angelico to Rome to decorate a chapel in St. Peter's. Soon after Fra Angelico's arrival in Rome the Pope died and his successor, Nicholas V, induced the painter to continue his work. By June the decoration of the chapel was completed, and Fra Angelico accepted an invitation to spend the summer months at Orvieto and adorn the newly erected chapel of St. Brizio. After this he returned to Rome, where he spent the next three years in decorating the Pope's Oratory with scenes from the life of Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence. In the picture of the trial and death of St. Stephen, the bitter hatred on the faces of the Pharisees, the puzzled and suspicious look of the high priest, the curiosity of the spectators, and the indifference of the Roman soldiers are all depicted with a sympathy and insight that bring Fra Angelico before us in an entirely new light. It is said of him that while he painted the crucifixion, tears streamed down his cheek in sympathy with the agony of his beloved Christ. The pictures of a man who painted in such a spirit are not mere works of art. They are more. They lay bare a human soul, making the thoughts he thought our own, and the devotion and sympathy he felt, a part of our own lives. Unfortunately, these frescoes which reveal the painter in the fulness of his powers, are the only works of his in Rome that have escaped destruction. The chapel which he decorated in the old basilica of St. Peter's and the frescoes which he painted in the Dominican Church and Convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva have all perished, and this oratory of Pope Nicholas in the Vatican alone remains to show that che earlier art of Florence is not unworthy of a place beside Raphael's. His work contrasted with Giotto's shows a more delicate appreciation of beauty. Giotto, like a narrative poet, gives us incidents and makes them livc by depicting movement and dramatic expression. His aim is to interest the mind. Fra Angelico, like a lyric poet, immortalizes moments of intense feeling. His aim is to touch the heart. The face expression of Angelico's saints is more saintly than those of any other master. His delicate and elegant shading speak to us of heaven and lift us above the things of earth. In this the mission of the angelic friar is fulfilled, for to him painting was only a means of glorifying God. il

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7 up LILIUM CONVALLIUM 33 It has been said that Fra Angelico built the bridge by which medieval art traveled into the country of the Renaissance . What Dante had done in poetry Fra Angelico did in art. Both must needs be a happy influence for those who were to come after them. Perhaps some of the best known of Angelico's paintings are his graceful angels. XVe admire their delicacy of form, their rich and flowing robes, their heavenly expression. They are individual creations, the worthy inspiration of one whose conversation was in heaven. In his portrayal of the great Dominican founder there is the tender touch of the loving son. This St. Dominic bears no resemblance to St. Dominic in the flesh. Angelico shows us the patriarch as he sees him in the abode of che blessed. Of his Madonna, Marchese rightly says that she is impressed with such beauty and majesty that we are almost forced to kneel down and worship . In one line Angelico failed and that was when he tried to depict terror and evil. His works are never forceful, perhaps because his devils do not look ve1'y terrible, and his lost souls remind one of naughty children. He died in Rome, in the Dominican Convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, on March 1 8, I4S 5, and his body was buried in the monastery Church. Pope Nicholas V himself wrote his epitaph. One of his Dominican brethren drew a portrait of Fra Angelico. It gives the impression of a man possessed of a forceful will under perfect self-control. His character was as angelical as his art. Vasari tells us he never retouched or altered anything he had finished, but left it as it was, believing it to be the will of God that it should be so . One of his favorite sayings was that He who illustrates Christ must be Christlike . -CECILIA HARTMAN, 'z8. Written at the Foot of a Crucifix tTranslated from the Frenchj Ye who weep, come to this God, for He weepsg Ye who suffer, come to Him, for He heals, Ye who fear, come to Him, for He smiles, Ye who pass by, come to Him, for He remains. -Victor Hugo. --ADIELINE VANDERBECK, 'z6.