Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This accessible yet authoritative volume examines the life and work of possibly the most celebrated religious painter of the Italian Early Renaissance, Fra Giovanni da Fiesole ( c. 1390/95-1455), known as Fra Angelico. From the delicate altarpieces of his early career to the serene frescos in the monastery of San Marco in Florence and the many magnificent works he executed for the Popes in the Vatican, Fra Angelico's paintings are here discussed in the context of the time and places in which they were created, and are beautifully reproduced in their true, glorious colours.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

One of the most renowned painters of the early Renaissance, Fra Angelico (born c.1390/95) was acclaimed as the "angelic" friar shortly after his death in 1455. It is believed that he trained as a young man under Lorenzo Monaco in the most important early 15th-century school of panel painting and manuscript illumination in Florence, Italy. The artist's intense piety, however, led him to forsake life as a lay painter of religious imagery and join the Dominican preaching order. Renaissance specialist Ahl (art history, Lafayette Coll.) thoroughly discusses his career, from the influences of innovative sculptors, architects, and painters, through his own developments in light, atmosphere, color, composition, perspective, and iconography, to the impression he made on artists up to modern times. Ahl explains that his art can be viewed as "painted preaching," and the book's color illustrations--of, e.g., Madonna and child, Annunciations, coronations of the Virgin, and mystical Crucifixion scenes--show that he still has the profound power to inspire people to contemplate Christian themes as they view his sacred images. Recommended for both the Renaissance art section and the religion section of public and academic libraries, especially at Catholic colleges.--Anne Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Ahl (Lafayette College) has been studying Fra Angelico and other 15th-century Florentine painters for many years, and her long immersion in the period is clearly demonstrated in this richly illustrated book. She indicates that her goal is to place the friar and his art "within Renaissance visual, historical and religious culture," although she puts the greatest emphasis on this monastic artist's Dominican environment, and on the expression of spiritual concerns in his paintings. Ahl accepts the essential truth in Giorgio Vasari's oft-quoted phrase that Angelico never took up "his brush without saying a prayer," but she also supports the modern view of the artist as one of the great innovators of Quattrocento painting. Intended for a general or undergraduate readership, the book is limited in its scholarly use by its lack of footnotes (select sources are listed for each chapter at the end) and its coverage of most but not all of the artist's works. Nevertheless, Ahl's many original insights about Angelico make her book an important contribution to the extensive literature on the artist. The volume's remarkably affordable price makes it a useful acquisition for every library. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. J. I. Miller California State University, Long Beach

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Diane Cole Ahl is the Arthur J '55 and Barbara S. Rothkopf Professor of Art History at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. She holds a PhD from the University of Virginia and BA from Sarah Lawrence College, New York, and has received many grants and awards for teaching and scholarship. She is the author of Benozzo Gozzoli and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Masaccio .