Fiesole Altarpiece

One of Fra Angelico's earliest known works still stands in the convent church it was painted for, though its sky of gold was replaced by another painter's landscape.

The story behind the painting

The altarpiece was made for the high altar of the church of the Convent of San Domenico in Fiesole, near Florence, and it is among the earliest known works by Fra Angelico. Wikipedia dates it to around 1424-1425, partly because its less developed perspective and tiled floors resemble works of about three years before his San Pietro Martire Triptych, documented in 1428; Wikidata gives 1422. In 1501 Lorenzo di Credi repainted the background, which was probably gilded, adding a throne with a canopy, painted reliefs and two landscapes between pillars, and the Gothic pointed tops were removed. The panel was later moved from the high altar to a side altar, where visitors still see it today.

What to look for

The work is a Maestà, a Madonna enthroned, a theme much loved in Florence at the time. Mary and the Child sit at the centre, surrounded by eight smaller adoring angels. At the sides stand Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter of Verona. The naked Child grasps two flowers, a white rose and a red one. Unusually for its date, all the figures share one continuous painted surface instead of being split into separate compartments, making it one of the earliest polyptychs of this kind. Its composition recalls Masaccio's San Giovenale Triptych of 1422 and Ghiberti's design for an Assumption window of Florence Cathedral.

Meaning and intent

Every figure here speaks to the people who used the church. Three of the saints belonged to the Dominican Order, which owned the convent, while Barnabas was the namesake of Barnaba degli Agli, a Florentine who had given 6,000 florins to restore and enlarge it. The two roses in the Child's hands carry meaning too: the white one stands for purity, and the red one foretells his Passion, linked to the Eucharist. That link mattered, because the panel was painted for the high altar, the place where this sacrament was celebrated. A gift, an order and a faith all meet in one image.

Legacy

The altarpiece once had more parts, now scattered. Its predella, showing saints, prophets and members of the Dominican Order in adoration, is in the National Gallery, London, which also holds a round panel of Saint Romulus that may have sat above the main panel. The side pillars carried ten small panels of saints and blessed figures; four are known today, two at the Musée Condé in Chantilly and two in private collections. What remains in Fiesole is a work in two voices: the young Fra Angelico's figures, framed by Lorenzo di Credi's later setting.