Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece:
Catalogue entry

Catalogue contents

About the catalogue

Full title: Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece
Artist: Fra Angelico
Author: Dillian Gordon and Susanna Avery-Quash
Extracted from: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume 1 (London, 2003)

Guido di Pietro, called Fra Angelico active 1417; died 1455
NG 663.1–5
Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

Dillian Gordon, 2003

Extracted from:
Dillian Gordon, The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume I (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2003).

Predella of the high altarpiece for San Domenico, Fiesole,¹ c. 1423–4

Egg tempera on wood, overall dimensions c. 33.2 x 202.9 cm

NG 663.1	Central panel Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven
NG 663.2	Left‐hand panel The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints
NG 663.3	Right‐hand panel The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs
NG 663.4	Left‐hand panel with Dominican Blessed
NG 663.5	Right‐hand panel with Dominican Blessed

In the centre is Christ holding the flag of the Resurrection surrounded by a heavenly host of angels praying, singing and playing musical instruments, each angel with a tongue of flame on its head.

In the inner left panel is the Virgin; behind her are three rows of saints and Apostles. Behind them, grouped in ones, twos and threes, are Confessors, Hermits and members of various religious Orders, including three Order founders, Saints Dominic, Francis and Benedict. In the inner right panel are the precursors of Christ and prophets, including Adam and Eve(?), Moses, John the Baptist, and male martyrs and female saints. In the two outer panels are various beatified male and female members (Beati and Beate) of the Dominican Order. All but three are named.

See below for the identification of individual figures.²

[page 3]

*Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven* (© The National Gallery, London)

NG 663.1 – central panel
Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

Panel construction

This panel consists of a single plank with an added sliver of original wood at the top. Panel: height 32.1/33.4 cm, width 74.0/74.2 cm, thickness c. 1.6 cm. Painted surface: height 31.7 cm, width 73 cm.

Condition and technique

The overall condition is good except for occasional flake losses: there is a loss around the neck of the angel with a harp in the second row from the top and on the angel with a portative organ in the same row. There is damage in the face of the kneeling angel in the front wearing green and carrying a portative organ, and across the back of the adjacent angel in pink.

Details of the robes and shoes are in mordant gilding. Silver has been used for the drum(?)stick, organ pipes, trumpets, cymbals, pipes, helmet and sword. The silver of the right‐hand trumpet in the middle row has flaked off except for the small part near the mouth.

Inscribed on the back in ink, as on all five panels, is C.J. Newton British Consul. Otto Mündler (see Provenance).

Identification of the figures

Christ is surrounded by seraphim on the left and cherubim on the right. One of the cherubim is about to crown him with a green garland of leaves (not a crown of thorns). Christ’s wounds (see fig. 1) are depicted in gold (not red); he is blessing, and holding a banner with a red cross on a white ground. He stands on wispy white clouds, of which only the faintest traces remain. All the angels are playing musical instruments or dancing except for Saint Michael (at the front of the third row on the right), who is wearing armour and carrying a sword and helmet, and an angel in the third row down, holding a golden orb. Below is a segment of a blue sphere, presumably representing Heaven.

**Fig. 1**
Detail of Christ’s wounds (© The National Gallery, London)

[page 4]

NG 663.2 – left‐hand panel
The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints

Panel construction

This panel has a small sliver of wood added along the top and bottom. Panel: height 33.4/33.7 cm, width 65.6 cm, thickness c. 1.5 cm. Painted surface: height 32 cm, width 64 cm.

Condition and technique

The condition is good. There are minor damages, such as that in the face of the kneeling Franciscan saint in the front row, and a large vertical damage along the saint in pale pink (Louis of Toulouse) kneeling in the front row, fourth from the right. There is a small disfiguring crack through the face of the Virgin and damage in the face of the black central monk to the left of Saint Anthony Abbot (identifiable by his staff). There has been some considerable fading of the red lakes where these are mixed with white in the pink draperies.

The haloes are outlined in black as they are on the main tier of the altarpiece, except for those of the top row of saints.³

Identification of the figures

At the top, on Christ’s proper right, is the Virgin. Beside her are three rows of Apostles or saints of apostolic character, numbering 21 in all: Saints Peter (holding a red book and gold and silver keys) and Paul (holding a silver sword and a blue book) and an Evangelist are clearly identifiable. Davies⁴ suggests that the seventh saint from the right in the top row, who holds a scroll, may be Saint Matthias. He also suggests that because two of the Apostles, one of whom is Saint John, hold both a pen and a book, while another two hold only a pen, the possession of a pen may specify an Evangelist. With regard to the two Evangelists who were not Apostles, Saints Luke and Mark, Davies suggests that a painter would be more likely to give prominence to Saint Luke and therefore he may be the first figure of the bottom row. The remaining six saints who have no emblems he identifies as presumably representatives of the disciples. The third saint from the left in this group in the second row is probably the Apostle Saint Barnabas (patron saint of Barnaba degli Agli – see below), since he resembles in apparel and appearance the figure of that saint in the main tier.⁵

Behind these groups of seven the three rows continue with other saints (Confessors, Hermits and members of Religious Orders), as follows.

Reading from right to left, top row:

1. Saint Silvester (d.335), Pope, his name inscribed S. SILVESTER.
2. Saint Hilary ( c. 315– c. 368), Bishop of Poitiers, his name inscribed ILARI.
3. Saint Martin of Tours (d. 397), Bishop, inscribed S. MARTINVS on his book.
4. An unidentified bishop saint.
5. Saint Dominic (d. 1221; fig. 2), founder of the Dominican Order, with his lily, and a red star in his halo; his book has an inscription deriving from Psalm 36:30 (Vulgate) or 37:30 (Authorised Version), DS IVST/MEDI/ TABIT /SAPIE /NTIA /ET LIN /GVA EI /LOQVET.⁶
6. An unidentified bishop saint.
7. Saint Gregory (d. 604), Pope, inscribed (S.) GĒGORI. has a dove whispering in his ear.
8. Saint Nicholas, fourth‐century Bishop of Myra/Bari, with three balls on a book.
9. Saint Francis (d. 1226), founder of the Franciscan Order, with the stigmata.
10. An unidentified bishop saint holding a crozier containing a cross.⁷

Middle row:

1. Saint Jerome ( c. 341–420), Doctor of the Church, here dressed as a cardinal, with a pen and a book inscribed SANC/TVS.YE/RONIM/DOCTO/MASSI/MVS:AD/EVSTO/CIA’.⁸
2. Saint Anthony Abbot (251–356) in a brown cloak over a black habit, with a staff.
3. A Benedictine monk – Saint Maurus(?), one of Saint Benedict’s followers.
4. Saint Benedict ( c. 480–543), founder of the Benedictine Order, with rods and a book.
5. Saint Augustine(?) (354–430) with a book.⁹
6. An unidentified bishop saint – Zenobius (?), patron saint of Florence.¹⁰
7. Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), with a star on his breast, writing in his book with a quill pen an inscription deriving from Psalm 103:13 (Vulgate) or 104:13 (Authorised Version), …SA/…MO/…(T)EIOB/S DE / FRVTV / OPERV / TVORV / SATIA.¹¹
8. Saint Anthony of Padua (d. 1231) with a cross.
9. An unidentified monk in a white habit.
10. Saint Bernard(?) with a book.

Bottom row:

1. Saint Paul the first hermit, in his dress of woven palm leaves.¹²
2. An unidentified Vallombrosan (?) saint in a brown habit.
3. 4. Two unidentified Carmelite monks in white habits (the sleeves of their brown habits just visible at the wrist).
5. Saint Giovanni Gualberto (d. 1073, canonised 1210), founder of the Vallombrosan Order, in a greyish‐brown habit, with a book and cross.¹³
6. An unidentified Vallombrosan(?) saint with a book.¹⁴
7. Saint Louis of Toulouse (d. 1297, canonised 1317), as a Franciscan bishop with crowns on his cope; the Annunciation is shown on his crozier (fig. 3).¹⁵
8. Saint Onuphrius, naked but for some leaves.
9. An unidentified saint in a greyish‐brown habit with a leather belt, possibly a Hieronymite.¹⁶
10. Saint Leonard(?) with a fetter(?) and leather penholder hanging from his girdle.¹⁷

[page 5]

*The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints* (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 2**
Detail of Saint Dominic (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 3**
Macro detail of Saint Louis’s crozier with the Annunciation (© The National Gallery, London)

[page 6]

NG 663.3 – right‐hand panel
The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs

Panel construction

Panel: height 32.8 cm at each end, 32.6 cm in the centre; width 64.6/64.8 cm; thickness 1.4 cm. Painted surface: height 31.7/31.9 cm, width 63.3/63.5 cm. A barbe on all four edges has been left by the removal of the frame mouldings.

Condition and technique

The condition is generally good, although there is a horizontal split toward the base. There are scattered losses and retouchings. The face of the martyr to the left of Saint Catherine (identifiable by her wheel) is damaged.

Silver has been used for the knife of Abraham, the helmet on the saint in armour in the middle row, the spikes of Catherine’s wheel, Sebastian’s arrowhead and Saint Lawrence’s grid. The haloes have been water‐gilded and outlined in black, as they are in the main tier of the altarpiece.

The darker green draperies, which now appear flat, were modelled with red lake glazes that have faded, losing the intended cangiante appearance.

Identification of the figures

Reading from left to right, top row:

The precursors of Christ and prophets

1. Adam.
2. Eve(?) or Abel(?) (fig. 5) dressed in animal skin, holding three ears of corn.¹⁸
3. Noah, holding the Ark, which has a hole in the roof for the dove to fly out (fig. 6).
4. Unidentified.
5. Abraham, with the knife with which he intended to sacrifice Isaac.
6. Unidentified.
7. Moses, holding the Tablets of the Law (fig. 7). One is inscribed NON ABE/BIS DEOS ALIENOS:N/NON ASS/ VMES NO/MEN DEI/TUI IN VANUM and the other ET MA/TUAM OCIDES/MEECC/ABERIS/NO FVR/T FA.¹⁹
8. Unidentified.
9. Aaron. Priest, holding a rod, and inscribed ARON.
10. Joshua, inscribed jesue.
11. Saint John the Baptist.²⁰
12. Joel, inscribed YOEL.
13. David, crowned, with a psaltery inscribed DAVId.
14. Isaiah, with a scroll inscribed YSAYA.
15. Ezekiel, his cap inscribed EZECIEL.
16. Jeremiah, with a scroll inscribed YEREMIA.
17. Unnamed, his halo left partly unstamped.
18. Daniel, inscribed .daniel.
19. Zechariah, with a scroll inscribed ZACCARIA.
20. Jonah, with a book inscribed IONA.
21. Habakkuk, with a scroll inscribed ABACVC.

Middle row:

Male martyrs, all with palms

1. Saint Stephen, Protomartyr, with one of the stones with which he was martyred on his collar.
2. Saint Cyprian, Bishop, his mitre inscribed S.CIPRIANVS.
3. Saint Clement (d. c. 100), Pope, with his tiara inscribed S.CLEMENS.
4. Unidentified.
5. Saint Vincent, with a millstone.²¹
6. Saint Lawrence, with the gridiron on which he was martyred.
7. Unidentified.
8. An unidentified saint with a book.²²
9. Saint Thomas Becket (1118–1170), Bishop, his mitre inscribed S:THOMA.²³
10. Saint Peter Martyr (1205–1252), holding a book and with a bloody head and blood running down his habit.
11. 12. Saints Cosmas and Damian, in physicians’ hats, with a box of unguents.
13. Saint Sebastian, clothed, holding an arrow.²⁴
14. Unidentified.
15. Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, holding a heart inscribed yhs several times.²⁵
16. Unidentified.
17. Saint George(?) in armour.²⁶
18. Saint Miniato(?), patron saint of Florence, with a line of blood around his head.²⁷
19. Unidentified.
20. Saint Christopher, without the Christ Child, but with his leafy staff and with legs bared for walking through water.²⁸
21. Saint Sixtus II? (d. 258), Pope, with his tiara inscribed S SISTVS.²⁹
22. Saint Erasmus, Bishop, his mitre inscribed S:ARASMVS.

Bottom row:

Female saints

1. Saint Anne (diagonally opposite the Virgin).
2. Saint Thecla(?), allegedly the first female martyr.³⁰
3. A female saint in blue with prayer beads.
4. A saint in a green cloak over a blue habit.³¹
5. An unidentified Benedictine nun – Saint Scholastica(?), Saint Benedict’s sister and the first Benedictine nun.
6. Unidentified.
7. Saint Agnes, holding the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), haloed and wounded in the side (fig. 8).³²
8. 9. Unidentified.
10. Saint Cecilia(?) or Dorothy(?), with a crown of red and white roses (fig. 4).³³
11. Unidentified.
12. Saint Catherine, crowned, with her wheel.
13. Saint Margaret, with a cross.³⁴
14. A nun in greyish‐black habit with a white veil.³⁵ 15, 16. Unidentified.
17. The Empress Saint Helen, with the True Cross; inscribed on her crown is SANCTA.LENA.
18. A Benedictine nun in a black habit holding a martyr’s palm – Saint Flora or Saint Lucilla?³⁶
19. Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373), with a book and a lighted candle.³⁷
20. A Franciscan tertiary – Saint Elizabeth of Hungary(?) (1207–1231).
21. A female martyr saint with her hair in a kerchief (Saint Antilla?).³⁸
22. An unidentified nun in a black habit with a white veil.

[page 7]

*The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs* (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 4**
Saint Dorothy or Saint Cecilia(?) (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 5**
Eve(?) or Abel(?) (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 6**
Noah holding the Ark (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 7**
Moses with the Tablets of the Law (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 8**
Saint Agnes carrying the *Agnus Dei* (© The National Gallery, London)

[page 8]

NG 663.4 – outer left‐hand panel
The Dominican Blessed

Panel construction

Original panel: height 32.2 cm, width 22.8 cm, thickness 0.8 cm. Painted surface: height 31.5/31.8 cm, width 21.9 cm. The grain of the wood runs vertically. There is a barbe on the sides and the top but not along the bottom, where the gessoed edge is very sharp and appears to have been cut just below a ruled incised line which runs along the bottom.

Condition and technique

The condition is generally good. There are a few minor losses, for example where some of the finer details have flaked off, and minor abrasions in the water‐gilding of the background. Silver, which has tarnished and flaked slightly, was used for B. Jacopo’s scalpel and B. Buoninsegna’s saw. All the haloes are mordant gilded. In the figures along the top the gold of the rays, which was applied to a mordant over the water‐gilded background, has in some places been lost.

All the lines bordering the gold background have been incised, and the first two front figures have been incised in order to anchor the design and provide a starting point.

Freehand incisions in the gesso show nine rough positions for figures with circular haloes, which were not followed in the final version; in any case, none of the figures has a circular halo.

**Fig. 9**
Detail of Blessed Henry (Teutonicus?) (© The National Gallery, London)

Identification of the figures

The Dominican Blessed have rays around their heads, rather than haloes, denoting that they have not been canonised. The Dominican nuns are on Christ’s proper right, whereas the female Dominican tertiaries are on his left in NG 663.5, because slightly lower in ranking.

Reading from right to left, top row:

1. Inscribed b.iōdan’, with book and pen – from his prominent position (but lacking rays around his head), certainly Jordan of Saxony, 2nd Master General (d. 1237).³⁹
2. Inscribed b.reginaldus – Reginald of Orléans (d. 1220).⁴⁰
3. Inscribed b.ābrosi’ with a book and the Holy Ghost with a tongue of flame at his ear – Ambrogio Sansedoni of Siena (d. 1286/7).⁴¹
4. Inscribed b.nich[l]aus – presumably Nicholas of Palea, or of Giovanazzo (d. 1255).⁴²
5. Inscribed b.jachob’, he is scratching the name iyu (Jesus) on his breast.⁴³
6. Inscribed .b.ER^–ichu’, with a book; he has a golden cross surmounted by a crown on his habit (fig. 9) (possibly Henry Teutonicus, d. 1217).⁴⁴

Middle two rows:

1. Inscribed .b.iacob’, he holds a golden vase with lilies, and a dove near his right shoulder seems to belong to him rather than to no.2 – possibly James of Salomonio (d. 1314), or more likely James of Bevagna.⁴⁵
2. Inscribed .b.erichus, with a book; it is not certain which Henry this is – Henry of Cologne (d. 1225) or Henry Suso are possible.⁴⁶
3. Inscribed (lettering damaged) .b.sinuus; he holds a book and a leafy branch – unidentified.⁴⁷
4. Inscribed .b.boninsegīa, with a palm, and a double‐handed saw in his head; Buoninsegna was killed in Antioch c. 1268.⁴⁸
5. Inscribed .b.uīcēti’, with a book and a flame in his hand – Saint Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419).⁴⁹
6. Inscribed .b.amandu’, with a book – probably Henry Suso (Amandus); perhaps shown twice (see no. 2).
7. Inscribed .b.iōdan, with a book and a skull – probably Jordan of Pisa, or of Rivalto (d. 1311).⁵⁰

Bottom row:

Four Dominican nuns:

1. Inscribed .b.māgaīta, with the stigmata – Blessed Margaret of Hungary (d. 1271).⁵¹
2. Inscribed .b.āgnies – Saint Agnes of Montepulciano (d. 1317).
3. Inscribed .b.sībeina (or sibrina) – Sibyllina de Biscossis (d. 1367).
4. An unnamed Dominican beata.
5. An unnamed Dominican beato – a lay brother with a black scapular, no white lining to his black hood and no tonsure.

[page 9]

[page 10]

NG 663.5 – outer right‐hand panel
The Dominican Blessed

Panel construction

Original panel: height 32.4/32.6 cm, width 22.8 cm, thickness c. 0.8 cm. Painted surface: height 31.6 cm, width 21.7/21.9 cm. The grain of the wood runs vertically. As on the left‐hand panel with the Dominican Blessed, there is a barbe at the top and sides but not along the bottom, which has likewise been sharply cut just below the ruled horizontal line.

Condition and technique

The condition is generally good. There are a few flake losses, especially in the female Blessed in the front row.

Silver, now tarnished, has been used for the three nails carried by B. Marcolino, and the letters on the mouth of B. Peter Gonzalez are mordant gilded.

As in the other panel with the Dominican Blessed, five rough freehand semicircles for haloes were incised, as well as two heads that were not followed in the final painting. Also as in that panel, the division between figures and gold background was incised, and the front two figures were totally incised to provide a point of reference.

**Fig. 10**
Detail of Blessed Venturino of Bergamo (© The National Gallery, London)

Identification of the figures

Reading from left to right, top row:

1. A Bishop holding a book inscribed BEAT/VS AL/BERTV/MAN/(N)VS – Saint Albert the Great (d. 1280).
2. A Pope inscribed b.benedict’ – Pope Benedict XI (d. 1304).
3. A Bishop inscribed b.beltad’ (Bertrand? – lettering damaged), carrying a martyr’s palm and a red book.
4. A Cardinal inscribed b.latinus–Cardinal Latino Malabranca (d. 1294).⁵²
5. Inscribed b.gualteri’, with the stigmata – Walter of Strasbourg (d. before 1260).⁵³
6. Inscribed petrus with yhs in his mouth – probably Peter Gonzalez (d. 1246).⁵⁴
7. Inscribed b.unbert’, with a book and holding a magister’s wand–Humbert of Romans, 5th Master General (d. 1277/8).

Middle two rows:

1. Inscribed b.raimud’, with a book – presumably Saint Raymond of Peñafort, 3rd Master General (d. 1275), or Raymond of Capua, associated with Saint Catherine of Siena.⁵⁵
2. Inscribed b.iacob’, holding apparently his own heart (inscribed yhu), taken from his side – see left panel, top row, no. 5.⁵⁶
3. Inscribed b.bona/speme (lettering damaged), holding a martyr’s palm and a green book, and with a wound in his neck – unidentified.⁵⁷
4. Inscribed b.johes; in one hand he holds a church, from the other hand rays are directed towards the church – John of Salerno, who established the Dominican Order in Florence (d. 1242).⁵⁸
5. Inscribed b.ueturin’, with a book, and the Holy Ghost at his mouth and holding a red book (fig. 10) – Blessed Venturino of Bergamo (d. 1346).
6. Inscribed .b.maculin’, holding a cross and three nails – Marcolino of Forli (d. 1397); why he holds the emblems of the Passion has not been explained.⁵⁹

Bottom row:

Four tertiary sisters:

1. Inscribed b.caterina, with a red book – Saint Catherine of Siena (d. 1380).⁶⁰
2. Inscribed b.māgaīta – probably Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello (d. 1320).⁶¹
3. Inscribed b.joha d.floretia (lettering damaged) – Blessed Joanna of Florence (fl. 1333).⁶²
4. An unnamed female tertiary.
5. 6. Two unnamed male lay tertiaries with white tunics, brown belts and black hoods and cloaks; they have no rays around their heads and may be donors or in some way connected with the commissioning of the picture. It is possible that they are Jacopo and Domenico, two of the four sons of Barnaba degli Agli, the chief benefactor of San Domenico (see below), to whom he bequeathed the ius patronatus (rights of patronage) of the convent.⁶³

[page 11]

[page 12]

**Fig. 11**
Detail of underdrawing of NG 663.1 showing the end of a trumpet, where the pink has become transparent (© The National Gallery, London)

Technical Notes

Restoration

Cleaned and restored in 2000–1.⁶⁴

The three main central panels (NG 663.1–3)

Examination of the back of the three central panels shows that the grain of the wood runs horizontally, and the continuous pattern of the grain shows that the panels were painted on a single plank of wood, with approximately 8 cm missing from either side of the middle panel where a frame moulding has been removed: all three have a barbe on all four sides left by the removal of the frame. Visible in the X‐radiograph is the linen laid over the plank before it was gessoed. At the left and right edges the linen corresponds precisely with the edge of the gold background and stops short of the surviving unpainted border. The intervening space on either side of the middle panel could have carried the arms of the patron (see below).⁶⁵

Underdrawing done with a brush is visible where the pinks have become transparent (fig. 11), and with infra‐red reflectography. There appear to be very few pentimenti – a change in the length of a trumpet (fig. 11) and some adjustments to profiles (fig. 12). The faces were outlined in two different browns, one slightly lighter than the other (e.g. figs 12 and 13).

Original Location

As stated under Provenance, NG 663 was the predella of the altarpiece originally on the high altar of San Domenico, Fiesole. The convent of San Domenico in Fiesole was established in 1406 by Fra Giovanni Dominici, and was from its foundation an Observant House.⁶⁶ In a codicil to his will, Barnaba degli Agli (d. July 1418) left 6000 florins to be used towards the completion of the church, as well as liturgical furnishings and chalices (‘paramenti e calici’). According to the chronicle of the convent, the Chronica quadripartita (begun in 1516), this sum achieved the building of choir stalls and the making of twenty cells (below which were to be the Chapter House, refectory and infirmary) and ‘paramenta’, including, significantly, ‘an altarcloth for the high altar with the arms of the Agli family during the priorship of Fr Petro di Antonio of Florence’ (‘pallium altaris maioris cum insignis domus alleorum existente tunc prior fratre Pietro Antonij de Florentia’).⁶⁷ It [page [13]] [page 14] [page 15] was presumably these funds which were also used towards the costs of the high altarpiece, one of three altarpieces painted by Fra Angelico for San Domenico;⁶⁸ the high altarpiece was probably begun around 1419 and probably completed around 1423. In 1432 the Opera of the Duomo in Florence gave wood to the value of 100 florins so that the roofing of the church and convent could be completed.⁶⁹ In October 1435, according to the chronicle, the church and three of its altars were consecrated, the high altar being dedicated to Saint Dominic and Saint Barnabas, the right altar to the Annunciate Virgin, and the left altar opposite it to the Coronation of the Virgin. According to the chronicle, the three altarpieces had been painted by Fra Angelico some years before the church was consecrated.⁷⁰ The Annunciation is in the Prado, Madrid (see fig. 4, p. 410), and the Coronation of the Virgin in the Louvre, Paris.⁷¹

**Fig. 12**
Detail of the profile of an angel from NG 663.1 (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 13**
Detail of the profile of Saint Catherine of Siena from NG 663.5 (© The National Gallery, London)

*Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven* (NG 663.1), detail (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 14**
Reconstruction of the original appearance of Fra Angelico’s high altarpiece of San Domenico, Fiesole, by Umberto Baldini, 1977. © Umberto Baldini, *Photo:* Courtesy National Gallery Photographic Archive, London

**Fig. 15**
Fra Angelico, *The Virgin and Child enthroned with Angels and Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr*, c. 1422. Tempera on wood, 212 x 237 cm. Fiesole, San Domenico. ~~© Gabinetto Fotografico Soprintendenza per i beni artistici e storici~~ © Photo Scala, Florence

**Figs 16 and 17**
Fra Angelico, *Saint Mark* and *Saint Matthew*, c. 1423 (before cleaning). Tempera on wood, 36 × 11 cm. Chantilly, Musée Condé, inv. nos 4 and 5. © RMN, Paris

**Fig 18**
*Saint Mark* after cleaning ( ~~© *Photo:* Bridgeman Art Library, London~~ © GrandPalaisRmn (Domaine de Chantilly) / Harry BréjatGrandPalaisRmn (Domaine de Chantilly) / Harry Bréjat )

**Fig 19**
*Saint Matthew* after cleaning ( ~~© *Photo:* Bridgeman Art Library, London~~ © GrandPalaisRmn (Domaine de Chantilly) / Harry BréjatGrandPalaisRmn (Domaine de Chantilly) / Harry Bréjat )

Original Appearance of the Altarpiece

The main tier of the high altarpiece is still in San Domenico, although now moved to a side chapel.⁷² It shows the Virgin and Child enthroned with Angels and Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr (fig. 15).

The altarpiece is described in situ in Vasari’s life of Angelico (1568 edition): ‘Dipinse, similmente, a S. Domenico la tavola dell’altar maggiore: la qual, perchè forse pareva che si guastasse è stata ritocca da altri maestri e peggiorata. Ma la predella ed il ciborio del Sacramento sonosi meglio mantenuti.’⁷³ A radical repainting of the altarpiece was in fact done by Lorenzo di Credi in 1501.⁷⁴ He changed the altarpiece from a medieval polyptych to a Renaissance pala (single‐field altarpiece) and later it was partially dismembered (see Provenance). The original appearance of the altarpiece has been reconstructed by Umberto Baldini (fig. 14)⁷⁵ on the basis of observation of Lorenzo di Credi’s contribution (which can be clearly seen in raking light), the evidence of X‐radiographs, examination of the carpentry, and the evidence of surviving fragments.

Baldini showed that the original altarpiece was a triptych, subdivided into five compartments with hanging corbels (the craquelure of the original shape is visible to the naked eye). Lorenzo di Credi raised the height of the altarpiece by adding panels at the top and bottom, and replaced the gold background with a blue sky and a painted river landscape. He also replaced the carved Gothic arched frame with painted classical arches in fictive pietra serena, and gave the altarpiece a tabernacle frame top.⁷⁶ He painted a cloth of honour over the back of the throne, leaving the original sides, and added a canopy above it. Baldini’s published reconstruction of the throne omits the cusping around the arch of the throne which [page 16] is evident in raking light. Lorenzo di Credi extended the frieze decoration of the throne step to the side panels in order to create continuity from the centre, and below the throne he overpainted the platform step to resemble fictive pietra serena and added a grassy verge 16 cm deep. The floor was always tiled, as is evident from the incised lines. Lorenzo di Credi seems not to have bothered with mordant gilding, but used yellow paint to achieve the effect of gilding, for instance on the cloth of honour. Vasari noted that the predella was in better condition than the main panel, and there is no evidence that it was touched by Lorenzo di Credi.⁷⁷

**Fig. 20**
Fra Angelico, Tabernacle: *Christ Blessing and Six Angels*. Tempera on wood, 65 x 32.5 cm. St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum (formerly San Domenico, Fiesole). ~~© With permission from The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg~~ Album / Alamy Stock Photo

**Fig. 21**
Fra Angelico, *Blessing Redeemer*, c. 1423. Tempera on wood, 28 × 22 cm. The Royal Collection, on loan to the National Gallery (L10). *Photo:* The National Gallery, London Photo The Royal Collection / HM King Charles III. Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III, 2024

Although the frame was turned into a tabernacle frame, the pilasters of the original Gothic frame were kept by Lorenzo di Credi and adapted: the pilaster figures were given niches of pietra serena and their gold backgrounds were painted over. At some unknown date, after the adaptation by Lorenzo di Credi, the pilaster figures were removed and replaced by figures of unknown provenance.⁷⁸ The surviving pilaster figures thought to come from the original altarpiece are: Saint Mark and Saint Matthew (both Chantilly, Musée Condé; figs 18 and 19),⁷⁹ and Saint Nicholas and Saint Michael (both ex Sheffield, collection of Revd Hawkins‐Jones, then Deane Johnson Collection, Bel Air, California, now Rau Collection; see p. 31, figs 5 and 6).⁸⁰ Part of the pilasters with the fictive pietra serena still remains at the top of the altarpiece at each side, and Baldini points out that this is important evidence that the Chantilly and Rau panels come from the altarpiece (see the photographs taken before cleaning: figs 16 and 17, and p. 30, figs 3 and 4).⁸¹ Mario Salmi suggested that the Annunciating Angel and Annunciate Virgin (Vienna, von Tucher Collection) were in the gables,⁸² and Baldini added the Blessing Redeemer (Royal Collection; fig. 21) and two bishop saints (see NG 2908, p. 27, and p. 29, fig. 2), one now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and one in the National Gallery.

The three central predella panels in their present state have a total width of approximately 205 cm; including two supposed missing sections on either side of the central panel of approximately 8 cm (see above), the width would have been approximately 221 cm, excluding framing. A further 8 cm added to each side would bring the original total close to the present width of the main panel – that is, approximately 4 braccia; it was originally very slightly wider.⁸³

It is not impossible that the predella originally showed the coats of arms of the degli Agli family, which were represented on the altarcloth (see above). According to the seventeenth‐century Sepoltuario of Stefano Rosselli, their arms were also in several other places in the convent, including on the tribune arch over the high altar.⁸⁴ Lost arms and dividing mouldings would account for part of what is missing from the predella. The panels with the Dominican Blessed (each 22.8 cm wide) were probably part of the pilasters, since their wood grain runs vertically.⁸⁵

In front of the predella is supposed to have stood a tabernacle, as described by Vasari and in the Chronica Quadripartita, which has been identified with a tabernacle now in the Hermitage State Museum, St Petersburg (fig. 20), whose [page 17] shutters may have been the Angels in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin, and two kneeling angels in the Louvre, Paris. The two kneeling angels were certainly painted later than NG 663, and their relationship to the tabernacle is unclear.⁸⁶

**Fig. 22**
Detail of the Virgin Mary from NG 663.2 (© The National Gallery, London)

**Fig. 23**
Detail of Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello from NG 663.5 (© The National Gallery, London)

Attribution and Date

NG 663 is universally accepted as having been designed and largely executed, probably with workshop assistance, by Fra Angelico, who was a friar at San Domenico.

Martin Davies suggested that the presence in the predella of Saint Vincent Ferrer, who died in 1419 (canonised 1455), provides a terminus post quem of 1419 for the altarpiece.⁸⁷ The altarpiece has a terminus ante quem of 1435, when the high altar and two side altars, already furnished with altarpieces, were dedicated, and according to the chronicle the altarpiece was painted a few years before the consecration. Stefano Orlandi dated the altarpiece 1428–34; Luciano Berti, Paul Cardile and Baldini all dated it 1428–30.⁸⁸ Salmi dated it before 1428.⁸⁹ Recent scholarship has emphasised the immediate impact on the altarpiece of Gentile da Fabriano and of Masaccio and Masolino, as well as Arcangelo di Cola, and has dated it before Angelico’s San Pier Martire altarpiece, which itself has a terminus ante quem of March 1429.⁹⁰ Consequently, the tendency has been to date it earlier. In 1952 Pope‐Hennessy dated it c. 1428, in collaboration with Zanobi Strozzi, and later, in 1974, he changed this to an earlier date of 1424–5, painted without Zanobi; other suggested dates are mid‐1420s (Diane Cole Ahl), c. 1422/3 (Miklós Boskovits and also Carl Strehlke),⁹¹ while William Hood believes it was begun soon after 1425 and Giorgio Bonsanti dates it c. 1424.⁹² The altarpiece still reflects the strong influence of Lorenzo Monaco, before Angelico’s brief flirtation with the style of Masaccio in the San Pier Martire altarpiece of c. 1425, and before he returned to a more elegiac and elegant style in the altarpiece of 1429 for a Franciscan confraternity.⁹³

If the funds bequeathed by Barnaba degli Agli were indeed channelled in part towards the altarpiece – as seems likely, given the interpolation of the two male figures who may be his sons among the privileged ranks of the Dominican Blessed – then Fra Angelico may have begun the altarpiece soon after 1419. Although the Order would not have had to pay Fra Angelico for the workmanship, the materials still needed to be funded. However, the execution of so complex a work is likely to have extended over a considerable period of time. It is impossible to say whether work was carried out sequentially on the main tier and predella, and if so, which was begun first, or whether they were, with workshop assistance, painted in tandem. It is likely that the main tier was painted first.

[page 18]

**Fig. 24**
Master of the Dominican Effigies, *Christ and the Virgin with Dominican Saints and Blessed*, after 1336. Tempera on wood. Florence, Santa Maria Novella. ~~© Fratelli Alinari, Florence. All rights reserved 2003~~ Photo © Nicolò Orsi Battaglini / Bridgeman Images

The lack of any firm knowledge concerning the establishment and composition of Fra Angelico’s workshop in Florence before he went to work in Rome in 1445 complicates the attribution of NG 663, in which it is apparent that several hands participated.

It would be impossible to isolate the painter of every figure, but it is possible to make some general remarks. Cardile (who dated the altarpiece late) thought that the design of the predella was by Fra Angelico and the execution principally by his workshop: he attributed the inner panels, particularly the askew Christ, to Zanobi Strozzi; the outer panels he considered to be by Fra Angelico with an extensive contribution by Battista di Biagio Sanguigni (1392/3–1451).⁹⁴

Pope‐Hennessy considered the predella panels to be substantially by the second artist of Missal 558 (Florence, Museo di San Marco), which was probably made originally for San Domenico, Fiesole, and thought that the only parts in which Fra Angelico himself had a major share were the panels with the Dominican Blessed.⁹⁵ But many of the angels’ heads in the central panels seem to be by the same hand that painted the Virgin and Child enthroned with Angels in Frankfurt (Städelsches Kunstinstitut), which Pope‐Hennessy attributed to Angelico himself,⁹⁶ and Missal 558 is now generally considered to be by Angelico.⁹⁷

The two panels with the Dominican Blessed seem to be largely by a single hand, probably that of Fra Angelico, and were probably painted last. The application of paint is thicker, with more medium and pigment, and the hatching less delicate than in the central panel (figs 22 and 23). These two panels were attributed to Zanobi Strozzi by Licia Collobi Ragghianti, who dated the Fiesole altarpiece c. 1428; however, an earlier dating excludes his participation.⁹⁸ While the central panel seems to be entirely by Fra Angelico, and he participated extensively in the inner right‐hand panel, the inner left‐hand panel indicates workshop assistance.⁹⁹

Iconography

NG 663 is the most extensive portrayal of saints in the Gallery. It is not possible to identify all the figures, partly because, as Davies pointed out, it is difficult to discover what Fra Angelico or his advisers might have known about the saints, whose lives have been the subject of extensive research since that time, and partly because Fra Angelico has left some figures without identifying marks; he may also have made some mistakes. The inscriptions identifying the figures, written in minute white letters on a black background or black letters on a white background, following the Dominican colours, are clearly contemporary. It would have been extremely difficult, not to say impossible, to add them neatly once the altarpiece was in situ. Davies noted that the writing corresponds quite well with an autograph document of 1436 by Fra Angelico, at the same time pointing out that Angelico could have had the names inscribed by his brother, Fra Benedetto, who was a calligrapher.¹⁰⁰ The fact that two very popular saints – Saint Vincent Ferrer, who was canonised in 1455 (publicly in 1458), and Saint Catherine of Siena, canonised in 1461 – are described merely as beati is further evidence that the naming was done very early. A Dominican prototype is a panel of c. 1336 by the Master of the Dominican Effigies in Santa Maria Novella, Florence (fig. 24),¹⁰¹ in which the figures have their names inscribed in their haloes. Several contemporary paintings have such inscriptions: Fra Angelico’s Coronation of the Virgin (Florence, Uffizi) has several saints named on their collars, and in a predella panel showing the Death of Saint Francis (Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais), attributed to Bicci di Lorenzo and dating from c. 1430, many of the attendant Franciscan friars are named above their heads.¹⁰²

The predella has no direct visual parallels, and no single source for the selection of saints or their iconography has been identified.¹⁰³ The iconography of the centre panel has been interpreted by Cardile as the glorification and adoration of the Eucharistic Christ: he links it to the Te Deum of the Feast of Corpus Christi.¹⁰⁴ However, there is a lack of emphasis on Christ’s wounds: only two are apparent, and no attempt has been made to expose his feet, which are covered by his robe, or his left palm, which holds the standard. Moreover, the wounds (see fig. 1) are mordant‐gilded with no trace of red paint, in contrast to the stigmata of Saint Francis. Hood, who also draws attention to the relevance of the presence of the Eucharist on or over the altar, has analysed the predella in the context of previous Dominican altarpieces, pointing out [page 19]that it is not narrative, as is usual, but allegorical.¹⁰⁵ He discerns an ‘eschatological tone’, recalling the Strozzi chapel frescoes in Santa Maria Novella. Staying within the Dominican tradition, a similar selection and arrangement of saints is found in a fresco of the Last Judgement in San Domenico, Pistoia (fig. 25), attributed to Giovanni di Bartolomeo Cristiani (active 1366–98). Also prominent is Saint John the Evangelist, below the Virgin, proffering a book – probably the Book of Revelation: serried ranks of saints with the Virgin acting as intercessor are often found on the left (proper right) of an enthroned Redeemer in the Last Judgement, as in Pistoia.¹⁰⁶ Certainly the apparent presence of Saint Michael Archangel among the music‐making and trumpeting angels in NG 663 would seem to allude to the Last Judgement. Hood also interprets the iconography as stressing the mission of the whole Order and points to the parallels with the panel of c. 1336 by the Master of the Dominican Effigies in Santa Maria Novella.¹⁰⁷

The iconography is a conflation of several themes. The general concept of the predella seems to stem from the latter panel in Santa Maria Novella, where Dominican Saints and Blessed are shown in the Court of Heaven, but with the Virgin and Christ enthroned, rather than Christ alone. In NG 663 the Dominican Blessed have been moved to the sides and Heaven has been expanded to include a selection of saved souls (132 in all), arranged in an order which is hierarchical –with the most important figures in the top row at the back– and to some extent chronological. The Virgin herself, intercessor for mankind at the Last Judgement, is prominently isolated in the top right‐hand corner of the left‐hand panel, adjacent to the throng of angels. Immediately behind her are Saints Peter and Paul, within the group of 21 figures closest to her, who are separated from the rest of the figures in the three rows in a way that does not occur in the right‐hand panel, where there is no break in the grouping.

The figure of the standing Christ in white, holding the white flag of the Resurrection with a red cross, derives from the iconography of Christ at the Resurrection as commonly shown in illuminated manuscripts and panel painting in Florence from the beginning of the fourteenth century,¹⁰⁸ and also at the Ascension as often shown in Florence from the end of the fourteenth century.¹⁰⁹ Particularly relevant is the Ascension in the tabernacle in San Miniato al Monte, Florence (fig. 26), sometimes attributed to Agnolo Gaddi (d. 1396), where the ascending Christ is accompanied by music‐making angels.¹¹⁰

Although all the earthly figures in the side panels are kneeling, the sense of the whole throng in serried ranks being drawn towards the vortex of golden rays, with Christ standing on clouds above a blue sphere at its centre, is extremely strong. The figures are surely intended to be in Paradise. The concept of the central section may have been influenced by the writings of Fra Giovanni Dominici (d. 1419), founder of the convent [page 20]of San Domenico.¹¹¹ In a letter to his mother, Suor Paola, a nun in the monastery of Corpus Domini in Venice, urging her to ecstatic meditation during Lent (which ends at Easter with the Resurrection), he wrote a passage that could almost be a description of the central three sections of the predella, describing a rising hierarchy of Angels, Virgins, Confessors, Martyrs, Apostles, Patriarchs and Prophets: Sagli il terzo dì sopra i cieli fra gli Angeli beati, i quali sono in sulle mura, e non cessano dì e notte gridare Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Va salendo fra loro infiniti quasi di numero, e sempre trovi maggior perfezioni: e sopra tutti altissimamente trovi Dio. Se in questo mezzo salendo t’iscontrassi ne’diletti, Vergini, Confessori, Martiri, Apostoli, Patriarchi, Profeti, salutagli fatti guidare…¹¹² In the heavenly hierarchy of the central three panels, Dominican saints are not especially prominent. Even Saint Dominic, although in the most important row, is not singled out from, for example, Saint Francis.¹¹³ The total iconography of the central panels stresses not so much the Dominican Order itself, but the Dominican Order in the context of the Church as a whole.

**Fig. 25**
Giovanni di Bartolomeo Cristiani (active 1366–98), *Paradise* (detail). Fresco. Pistoia, San Domenico. © Gabinetto Fotografico Soprintendenza per i beni artistici e storici per le provincie di Firenze, Prato e Pistoia

**Fig. 26**
Florentine painter, *The Ascension of Christ* (detail of a tabernacle), last quarter of the fourteenth century. Tempera on wood. Florence, San Miniato al Monte. ~~© *Photo:* SCALA, Florence~~ © Mario Bonotto / Photo Scala, Florence

Joanna Cannon has pointed out¹¹⁴ the comprehensiveness of the Dominicans shown here, with members of the First Order in the main tier and with the Second Order (nuns), lay brothers and the Third Order (male and female tertiaries) all included. The Dominican Blessed, imminently to be admitted to Paradise, buttress the predella on its periphery. The pilasters, devoted entirely to Dominicans, would probably have been physically separated from the main predella by being situated further forward and would have been visually very prominent with the almost exclusively black and white palette of their habits. The iconography of the predella panels of the pilasters finds its roots in the intense preoccupation of the Dominican Order with its own hagiography. Lists of Dominican Saints and Blessed abound in Dominican writings and paintings, often arranged in hierarchical order. Hood points out that the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies is a comparable painted example of the Dominican custom of commemorating important members of the community. A written example is the Necrologium of Santa Maria Novella published by Orlandi. The Chapter House in San Marco, frescoed c. 1441–2 by Fra Angelico and his workshop, is another visual example,¹¹⁵ as is the Chiostro Verde of Santa Maria Novella, which contained the portraits of at least 57 friars.¹¹⁶ It is not impossible that [page 21]there was some sort of general visual source. Very similar in concept are the numerous Jesse‐like Trees of Life that survive from the end of the fifteenth century, which show a tree branching out from the figure of Saint Dominic, with members of the Order as the branches, arranged in hierarchical order, named with inscriptions and each holding an attribute.¹¹⁷ There are also numerous written compilations by Dominicans of the lives of members of the Order at the end of the fourteenth/beginning of the fifteenth century.¹¹⁸ That the selection of Beati is likely to have been drawn from one or several of these written compilations is suggested by the apparent double appearance of Fra Amandus in the outer left pilaster panel (middle rows nos 2 and 6): he was also known by his secular name of Henricus Seuse/Suso, and confusion between the two names may be why he is apparently shown twice.

San Domenico, Fiesole, was, as stated above, an Observant House. Davies noted that several of the Beati were associated with Santa Maria Novella, the chief conventual Dominican house in Florence.¹¹⁹ The fact that many of the figures shown have a connection with Santa Maria Novella, and that perhaps even the church itself is shown in miniature in the hands of John of Salerno, may have been intended to stress the continuity between the Observants in Fiesole and those in the mother house, which represents the earlier phase of the Order. So, the founder of San Domenico, Saint Vincent Ferrer, only recently dead, is included among the older and more established Beati in the panoply of the whole Dominican Order.

Provenance

NG 663 was the predella of the altarpiece originally on the high altar of San Domenico, Fiesole; it was removed from the high altar with the rest of the altarpiece, probably in 1501 (when the main tier was repainted by Lorenzo di Credi; described by Vasari 1568). The altarpiece remained in the church and was almost certainly re‐erected on the high altar in 1502 when the choir was rebuilt and the high altar reconsecrated; shortly before 1603, when the east end of the church was substantially enlarged, it was permanently removed, being replaced in 1612 by a carved wooden ciborium.¹²⁰ The predella was sold not long before 1827 to the Metzger brothers in Florence, and was subsequently acquired by Vincenzo(?)¹²¹ Valentini, the Prussian Consul at Rome, apparently through the agency of a copyist (Michele?) Micheli, one Morellini, and Metzger.¹²² The Valentini property became tied by a fidecommesso, but the predella was released in favour of Gioacchino Valentini¹²³ and sold to the National Gallery in October 1860. On 18 June of that year Otto Mündler had been to Rome to identify the painting,¹²⁴ and on 15 October it was bought with the help of the British Consul C.J. Newton and through the agent Aeneas MacBean.¹²⁵

Exhibited

London 1998–9, NG , Zanobi Strozzi. In the light of Fra Angelico (no catalogue).

Select Bibliography

J. Pope‐Hennessy, Fra Angelico, 1st edn, London 1952, pp. 4 and 166; 2nd edn, 1974, pp. 10ff. and 189–90.
S. Orlandi, Beato Angelico, Florence 1964, pp. 23ff.
P.J. Cardile, Fra Angelico and his Workshop at San Domenico (1420–1435): The Development of his Style and the Formation of his Workshop, PhD dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, 1976, pp. 83, 91–8, 241–50.
U. Baldini, ‘Contributi all’Angelico: il Trittico di San Domenico di Fiesole e Qualche Altra Aggiunta’, in Scritti di Storia dell’Arte in Onore di Ugo Procacci, vol. 1, Milan 1977, pp. 236–46.
D. Cole Ahl, ‘Fra Angelico: A New Chronology for the 1420s’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 43, 1980, pp. 360–81.
M. Boskovits, ‘La fase tarda del Beato Angelico: una proposta di interpretazione’, Arte Cristiana, 71, no. 694, 1983, pp. 11–24 (p. 11).
F. Scalia, ‘Contributo all’Angelico: nuovi documenti per il ciborio di San Domenico di Fiesole’, Critica d’Arte, 6th series, anno LV, 2–3, 1990, pp. 34–40.
W. Hood, Fra Angelico at San Marco, New Haven and London 1993, pp. 65ff.
M. Boskovits, ‘Un’Adorazione dei Magi e gli inizi dell’Angelico’ (reprint of Monographien der Abegg Stiftung in Bern, 11, 1976), in Immagini da meditare: ricerche su dipinti di tema religioso nei secoli XII–XV, Milan 1994, pp. 309–68 (pp. 333–7).
G. Bonsanti, Beato Angelico. Catalogo completo, Florence 1998, no. 16, pp. 118–19.
C.B. Strehlke, Angelico, Milan 1998, p. 12.
D. Gordon, M. Wyld and A. Roy, ‘Fra Angelico’s predella for the high altarpiece of San Domenico, Fiesole’, NGTB , 23, 2002, pp. 4–19.

Notes

1. I am grateful to Joanna Cannon for reading this entry and for her invaluable comments on the Dominicans shown in NG 663. (Back to text.)

2. Baldini (1977, p. 236) says that Lorenzo di Credi redefined the edges of the haloes of the main figures in black. However, black outlines of haloes are used elsewhere by Fra Angelico – for example, on the San Marco high altarpiece. See C. Syre in the exhibition catalogue Die Münchner Tafeln und der Hochaltar von San Marco in Florenz, Munich 1996, figs 1–4. (Back to text.)

3. The identification of the figures given here is largely based on Davies 1961 , pp. 16–25. He was helped in the identification by the Revd S.A. van Dijk, OFM, Walter Gumbley, OP, and M‐H. Laurent, OP, of the Vatican Library (manuscripts in the NG archives). (Back to text.)

4. Davies 1961 , p. 19. (Back to text.)

5. Identified as Barnabas by Anne Leader (letter of 15 March 1999). (Back to text.)

6. This passage from the Psalms is used for the gradual of the Mass de communi doctorum, and also in the introit of the commune confessoris non Ponteficis and therefore in the service of Saint Dominic’s own feast. The text is also sometimes found in the images of other saints. (Back to text.)

7. Although this saint has no attribute and is not shown bearded as Saint Zenobius usually is, Davies ( 1961 , p. 20) points out that it is likely that the Florentine bishop was shown and identifies him as Saint Zenobius. In fact, Zenobius is more likely to be the bearded bishop in the row below (no. 6, second row). (Back to text.)

[page 22]

8. The words ad Eustochiam refer to Jerome’s epistles to that saint, who was his pupil. Saint Eustochium (Julia) is represented on Botticini NG 227 in the National Gallery, which comes from the Hieronymite Church in Fiesole ( Davies 1961 , pp. 119–22). Davies ( 1961 , p. 20) points out that the bungled third word of the inscription seems to have been written DOTTO(R), then an attempt was made to turn the first T into a C; when this failed, a C was added to the line above. (Back to text.)

9. Since the other Doctors of the Church are present, this is likely to be Saint Augustine; the Dominicans followed the Rule of Saint Augustine. He is turning towards Saint Thomas Aquinas, who claimed Saint Augustine for his principal guide. (Back to text.)

10. See note 7 above; see also Kaftal 1952 , no. 319. (Back to text.)

11. The full text of the inscription is Rigans montes de superioribus suis; de fructu operum tuorum satiabitur terra (Psalm 104, 13). These words were quoted to Saint Thomas in a vision, by an old man bidding him accept his doctor’s degree, which Saint Thomas in his humility wanted to refuse; Saint Thomas therefore took the degree, using these words as the text of his principium. See Kaftal 1952 , col. 980. For the story, see P. Guérin, Les Petits Bollandistes, 7th edn, III, Paris 1882, p. 249. The same text occurs for Saint Thomas in the main tier of the altarpiece, and elsewhere, e.g. in the altarpiece now in San Marco, Florence, commissioned from Fra Angelico for San Pier Martire and completed by 1429. See Hood 1993, figs 60 and 62. (Back to text.)

12. Kaftal 1952 , no. 231. (Back to text.)

13. It was customary to represent him with a cross because of the Crucifix that bowed its head at the time of his conversion. Kaftal 1952 , no. 166. (Back to text.)

14. Identified doubtfully by Davies ( 1961 , p. 20) as possibly Saint Bonaventura, who was not canonised until 1482. (Back to text.)

15. The Annunciation commonly features on French thirteenth‐century enamel croziers. See J.J. Marquet de Vasselot, Les crosses Limousines du XIIIe Siècle, Paris 1941, pp. 76–9. (Back to text.)

16. Possibly the founder of the Hieronymites (founded in 1360), Carlo de Montegranelli. The Hieronymites were also situated in Fiesole. See also note 8. The Hieronymite habit with a brown belt is shown in the altarpiece from San Girolamo, Fiesole, attributed to Zanobi Strozzi, now in Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais (see note 78 on p. 421 of this catalogue). (Back to text.)

17. Kaftal 1952 , no. 186 (but here not shown as a Benedictine). (Back to text.)

18. Davies ( 1961 , pp. 20–1) discounted Abel and suggested Eve. Giorgio Bonsanti (oral communication) has suggested that Abel may be correct. Cain is traditionally the one shown holding ears of corn (Genesis 4:3–6), and Abel is normally shown with a lamb; see L. Réau, Iconographie de l’Art Chrétien, II–I, 1st edn, 1956, reprinted Nendeln/Liechtenstein 1974, p. 94. (Back to text.)

19. The fragmentary inscription on the Tablet of the Law held in Moses’ left hand stands for Honora patrem tuum et matrem tuam, etc. Non occides. Non moechaberis, Non furtum facies (Exodus 20). (Back to text.)

20. Saint John the Baptist has been placed out of chronological order, perhaps to give him prominence as the principal patron saint of Florence. (Back to text.)

21. It is usual for Saint Vincent to have a millstone as his attribute ( Kaftal 1952 , no. 313). According to the Golden Legend (1993, I, p. 107), one of the incidents of his martyrdom was to be attached to a millstone and cast into the sea. (Back to text.)

22. Identified by Davies ( 1961 , p. 21) as Saint Barnabas, but see note 5 above. (Back to text.)

23. The Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella had received a bequest of land, on condition that they celebrated the Feast of Saint Thomas of Canterbury ( Richa, Chiese Fiorentine , IV, 1756, p.68). (Back to text.)

24. Later in the fifteenth century he was more often shown naked, but at this date it is not unusual to find him clothed – as, for instance, in the painting attributed to the Master of the Judgement of Paris in Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais; see M. Laclotte and E. Mognetti, Avignon: Musée du Petit Palais. Peinture italienne (series: Inventaire des collections publiques françaises), 3rd edn, Paris 1987, no. 136, pp. 140–41. (Back to text.)

25. When tortured, he constantly invoked the name of Jesus Christ; asked why, he replied: ‘That name is written on my heart.’ When he died, his heart was cut open and within, in golden letters, was the sacred Name. One of the relics of Santa Maria Novella was part of the head of Saint Ignatius ( Richa, Chiese Fiorentine , III, 1755, p. 47). The reliquary is now in the Bargello. The feast of Saint Ignatius was particularly associated with Santa Maria Novella ( Vasari, Vite, 1568, ed. Milanesi , III, 1878, p. 197). (Back to text.)

26. Davies ( 1961 , p. 22) suggests Saint Maurice as an alternative. (Back to text.)

27. Davies ( 1961 , p. 28, n.11) refers to the last scene in the painting in San Miniato al Monte for the line of blood around his head, and remarks that there is no literary source. For San Miniato, patron saint of Florence, see Kaftal 1952 , col. 744, no. 220. (Back to text.)

28. For Saint Christopher’s leafy staff, see The Golden Legend , II, pp. 12–13. Davies ( 1961 , p. 22) remarks on the fact that he is not shown carrying the Christ Child, but notes similar instances, such as Jacobello del Fiore’s Coronation of the Virgin in Paradise in the Accademia, Venice, no. 21, with the name inscribed. (See S.M. Marconi, Galleria dell’Accademia di Venezia: opere d’arte dei secoli XIV e XV, Rome 1955, no. 28, pp. 30–3; and Davies cites other examples on p. 28, n.12.) (Back to text.)

29. Probably Sixtus II rather than Sixtus I. (Back to text.)

30. Her long hair may be a reference to the story that Saint Paul refused to let her cut her hair and wear male attire in order to follow him on his missions to remote places. Saint Cyprian had a particular devotion to Saint Thecla; it is possible that his position immediately above her was chosen for that reason. (Back to text.)

31. Nos 3 and 4, not martyrs, and placed before the group of the Virgin Patronesses, are clearly biblical. No. 3, with prayer beads, may be the penitent Magdalen, although she is usually dressed in red; no. 4 might, then, be Saint Martha, supposed to have been the first nun, as she is dressed in a way fancifully recalling a nun’s habit. (Back to text.)

32. Saint Agnes’s usual attribute of a lamb has been turned into the Agnus Dei, with a wound in its side. Some similar examples are known, e.g. by Duccio, no. 47 of the Siena Pinacoteca (P. Torriti, La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. I dipinti dal XII al XV secolo, 2nd edn, Genoa 1980, pp. 52–5). (Back to text.)

33. See Kaftal 1952 , nos 64 and 94, for Cecilia and Dorothy respectively. (Back to text.)

34. She escaped from a dragon by means of a cross or by making the sign of a cross. See also NG 3926 (p. 364) and note 31 above. (Back to text.)

35. Davies ( 1961 , p. 22) suggests Elizabeth of Hungary, but she was a Franciscan tertiary and more likely to be no. 20. (Back to text.)

36. Kaftal 1952 , nos 114 and 190. Davies ( 1961 , no. 18, p. 18, and p. 22) suggests Saint Flavia or Felicitas, and cites other examples. (Back to text.)

37. Every Friday she dropped burning wax from a candle onto her arm. For the emblem, see Guérin 1882 (cited in note 11), XII, p. 170. Her dress is not the Bridgittine habit, which is correct, since she did not herself wear the habit of the Bridgittine Order. See P. Hélyot, Histoire des ordres monastiques, religieux et militaires, vol. IV, Paris 1715, p. 38. (Back to text.)

38. Saint Antilla is sometimes shown with a kerchief on her head ( Kaftal 1952 , no. 27 and col. 90; see also under NG 584, p. 122). Davies ( 1961 , p. 22) suggests Saint Reparata, but she is normally shown crowned (see p. 132). (Back to text.)

39. He is also shown on the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies (see note 101). (Back to text.)

40. His vision of the Dominican habit is the subject of NG 3417; see p. 33. (Back to text.)

41. Several pictures exist of him with the Holy Ghost at his ear ( Kaftal 1952 , no. 13). This was seen by various people when he preached; see Guérin 1882 (cited in note 11), III, p. 555. He is shown with a dove on the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies (see note 101). (Back to text.)

42. He is shown in a roundel in the Chapter House frescoes by Angelico in San Marco (Pope‐Hennessy 1974, p. 205; also E. Ricci, Mille Santi nell’Arte, Milan 1931, p. 478). There are other possibilities, such as Nicholas ‘aedificator conventus Perusini’; see L. Pignon, Cataloghi et chronica (ed. G. Meersseman), Monumenta Ordinis FF. Praedicatorum Historica, XVIII, 1936, p. 3. Pignon’s text, written at the end of the fourteenth/ beginning of the fifteenth century, is interesting in that it makes several references to the way in which saints are painted. (Back to text.)

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43. Although this figure is called James, the act of writing Jesus’ name on his heart was performed by Henry Amandus Suso (1295–1366), so there may be some mistake. Two other Jameses, two Henrys and an Amandus are named on the picture. See also notes 44 and 46. (Back to text.)

44. In spite of his distinctive emblem, he is not certainly identifiable. He might be Henry Teutonicus, who went on a Crusade and then joined the Dominican Order in Paris. Gerard de Frachet, OP, Vitae Fratrum Ordinis Praedicatorum necnon Cronica Ordinis ab Anno MCIII usque ad MCCLIV, ed. Benedictus Maria Reichert, OP, in Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Historica, Louvain 1896 (reprinted Rome and Stuttgart 1897), p. 183. (Back to text.)

45. The Bollandists (31 May, pp. 458 and 466) quote a poem in James of Salomonio’s honour in which a lily is mentioned. Davies ( 1961 , p. 28, n. 18) points out that the lily is really Saint Dominic’s attribute. He cites a fresco in San Domenico, Perugia, by Anton Maria Fabrizi, showing him holding a lily and a crucifix, with a rose growing beside him and his name inscribed, and cites S. Siepi, Descrizione topologica‐istorica della città di Perugia, Perugia 1822, II, pp. 504 and 506 (who does not, however, mention the attributes). Here the vase of lilies is more likely to be a misinterpretation of a vessel for wine: a painting showing a Dominican Blessed holding a vase (Siena, collection of Monte dei Paschi) has been identified by M. Boskovits (‘Su Niccolò di Buonaccorso, Benedetto di Bindo e la Pittura Senese del Primo Quattrocento’, Paragone, 359, 1980, pp. 21–2, n. 43) as possibly James of Bevagna (d. 1301), who was supposed to have turned water into wine and whose cult was authorised in 1400 (L. Jacobilli, Vite de’ Santi e beati dell’Umbria, II, Foligno 1656, pp. 151–3). (Back to text.)

46. For Henry of Cologne, who entered the Dominican Order with B. Jordan of Saxony and was much beloved by him, see Gerard de Frachet, edition of 1896 (cited in note 44), pp. 191–3. For the influential Exemplar (‘autobiography’) of Henry Suso (Seuse), see Jeffrey F. Hamburger, ‘Medieval Self‐Fashioning: Authorship, Authority and Autobiography in Seuse’s Exemplar’, in Christ among the Medieval Dominicans. Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers, eds K. Emery, Jr and J. Wawrykov, Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, Indiana 1998, pp. 430–61, esp. pp. 442 and 445. (Back to text.)

47. Sinbaldus de Alma was Provincial of the Provincia Romana c. 1264 (see Leandro Alberti, OP, De viris illustribus, 1517, f. 187v). He seems unlikely, however, and this identification would not explain the leafy branch. Davies ( 1961 , p. 29, n. 19) suggests that the figure may be Fino da Barberino (d. 1332), mentioned as one of the Beati of Santa Maria Novella by Richa ( Chiese Fiorentine , III, 1755, p. 98), who is shown in the cloister of Santa Maria Novella and mentioned in the church’s necrology (S. Orlandi, ‘Necrologio’ di S. Maria Novella, I, Florence 1955, pp. 341–2). (Back to text.)

48. He also appears in one of the roundels in Fra Angelico’s Dominican Tree below the Crucifixion in the Chapter House in San Marco, Florence (Pope‐Hennessy 1974, p. 205). See Davies 1961 , p. 29, n. 20, for the varying dates given for his death. (Back to text.)

49. Kaftal 1952 , no. 314. (Back to text.)

50. The skull is unexplained, but Davies ( 1961 , p. 24) suggested that Jordan probably took one into the pulpit with him to add point to his sermons. He is said to have been the first important preacher to use the Italian vernacular. (Back to text.)

51. It is traditional to represent her with the stigmata; see Kaftal 1952 , no. 201. She is also shown on the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies (see note 101). Davies ( 1961 , p. 29, n. 23) also cites a sixteenth‐century painting in Perugia, Galleria Nazionale, showing Margaret with the stigmata and including Agnes of Montepulciano and Margaret of Città di Castello with their names inscribed (see F. Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria. Dipinti, Sculture e Oggetti dei Secoli XV–XVI, Rome 1985, no. 59, p. 76). (Back to text.)

52. He laid the first stone of the new Santa Maria Novella in Florence in 1279. V. Marchese, Memorie dei più insigni Pittori Scultori e Architetti Domenicani, 2nd edn, Florence 1854, I, p. 43. (Back to text.)

53. Gerard de Frachet 1896 (cited in note 44), p. 223, refers to his being marked with the stigmata. (Back to text.)

54. Davies ( 1961 , p. 29, n. 27) points out that it cannot be entirely excluded that he is Pietro Strozzi, a preacher and prior at Santa Maria Novella (d. 1362). See G.M. Brocchi, Vite de’ Santi e Beati Fiorentini, I, Florence 1742, p. 581; Richa, Chiese Fiorentine , III, 1755, p. 95; Orlandi 1955 (cited in note 47), pp. 499 ff., no. 420. Pietro Strozzi is included in the cloister frescoes of Santa Maria Novella. (Back to text.)

55. Raymond of Peñafort is included in the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies at Santa Maria Novella (see note 101). (Back to text.)

56. Although Davies ( 1961 , p. 24) suggests that he may be James of Bevagna, with whom a bleeding Crucifix is associated, he could be James Salomonio of Forli ( Kaftal 1952 , no. 157), who is also shown on the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies (see note 101) and for whom see also note 45 above. (Back to text.)

57. Davies ( 1961 , p. 29, n. 29) points out that there was a Bishop Bonaspeme, Bishop of Perugia, although not a martyr (d. 1251). See Pignon 1936 (cited in note 42), p. 4. (Back to text.)

58. Davies ( 1961 , p. 24) suggested that the church represents Santa Maria Novella, which was granted as the first Dominican friary in Florence. The church had the relic of John’s body and his head ( Richa, Chiese Fiorentine , III, 1755, pp. 47 and 49). He also said that the figure might be identified as Giovanni Dominici, founder of the friary at Fiesole who died in Hungary in 1419, but for the fact that he is not shown as a cardinal (as he is in the roundel of the Dominican Tree in the Chapter House of San Marco; see note 48). A church with rays emanating from the door is held by Thomas Aquinas in the panel by Andrea da Firenze of the mid‐1360s (NG 5115 – see Martin Davies, revised by D. Gordon , 1988, p. 4), which also has links with Santa Maria Novella, as well as in the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies (see note 101). A church with rays emanating from the door is also traditional in the imagery of Saint Jerome (see p. 245, note 9). (Back to text.)

59. For Marcolino, see A. Vauchez, La Sainteté en occident aux derniers siècles du moyen âge d’après les procès de canonisation et les documents hagiographiques, Rome 1988, pp. 470–1. (Back to text.)

60. Not represented with the stigmata. An excellent account of Saint Catherine of Siena is given by Carl Strehlke in Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420–1500, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1988, pp. 222ff. (Back to text.)

61. Kaftal 1952 , no. 199. See also Sante e Beate Umbre tra il XIII ed il XIV secolo. Mostra iconografica, exh. cat., Foligno 1986, pp. 124–6. Margaret of San Severino (d. 1395) was also a Dominican tertiary, but less likely to be shown here. (Back to text.)

62. Davies ( 1961 , p. 25) says this is not Joanna of Orvieto (d. 1306) but Joanna of Florence, whose tomb was a popular object of cult in Santa Maria Novella in Florence until it was discovered that it contained two bodies ( Richa, Chiese Fiorentine , III, 1755, p. 55). For the two Joannas, see Kaftal 1952 , nos 160 and 161. A Giovanna is shownon the panel by the Master of the Dominican Effigies (see note 101). (Back to text.)

63. H. Teubner, Zur Entwicklung der Saalkirche in der florentiner Frührenaissance, Doctoral dissertation, Heidelberg 1975, doc. III, p. 512. I owe this reference to Christa Gardner von Teuffel. According to Cardile (1976, p. 22), Barnaba’s other two sons were Giovanni and Filippo. (Back to text.)

64. For an account of the cleaning and restoration of 2001, and of the technique of the painting, see Gordon, Wyld and Roy, NGTB , 23, 2002, pp. 4–19. (Back to text.)

65. The virtually continuous grain with very little missing between the three main predella panels excludes any inserted saints: Cardile’s reconstruction of the predella with the Chantilly standing saints and two missing figures on either side of the central section is unlikely to be correct, particularly given that the grain of the Chantilly panels runs vertically (Cardile 1976, pp. 83, 250 and fig. 27). (Back to text.)

66. See Hood 1993, pp. 24–5 and 38–9, for a brief history of the Convent of San Domenico in Fiesole; also P.L. Ferretti, La Chiesa e il Convento di San Domenico di Fiesole, Florence 1901, and Teubner 1975 (cited in note 63), pp. 237ff. (Back to text.)

67. Orlandi 1964, pp. 23ff. See also Teubner 1975 (cited in note 63), doc. III, pp. 512–13, for the will and codicil, and doc. IV, pp. 513–14, for the extract from the Chronica quadripartita. Teubner notes that Fr Antonio was prior 1424/5 and 1429–32. If the altarpiece belongs with his earlier priorship, the making of the pallium could signify the completion of the altarpiece. (Back to text.)

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68. Carl Strehlke in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300–1450, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1994, p. 33, suggested that the Gaddi family provided the funds for the side altarpieces. (Back to text.)

69. Teubner 1975 (cited in note 63), p. 514, doc. V. (Back to text.)

70. Orlandi 1964, p. 25, gives the Italian translation of the Latin text (‘più anni avanti che la chiesa fosse consecrata’). Also cited by Teubner 1975, doc. VI, p. 514. (Back to text.)

71. The Coronation is considered by most scholars to have been the last of the three altarpieces to be painted. For a summary of the variants in dating, see Hood 1993, p. 312, n. 35. Pope‐Hennessy (1974, pp. 34–5, 215–16) dated it after 1450. D. Cole Ahl, ‘Fra Angelico: A New Chronology for the 1430s’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, XLIV, 1981, pp. 137–8, dates it c. 1430. Hood ( loc. cit. ) dates it c. 1434–5; see also Strehlke 1994 (cited in note 68), pp. 34ff. For a proposed reconstruction of the arrangement of the three altarpieces within the church of San Domenico, see Venturino Alce, OP, Angelicus Pictor. Vita, opere e teologia del Beato Angelico, Bologna 1993, p. 78; he places the Coronation on the south side of a rood screen. (Back to text.)

72. It was moved to the side chapel in 1901. See Teubner 1975 (cited in note 63), p. 386, n. 26. (Back to text.)

73. Vasari, Vite, ed. Milanesi , II, 1878, pp. 509–10; Vasari, Vite, eds Bettarini and Barocchi , III, 1971, pp. 270–1. (Back to text.)

74. ‘Circa anno Domini 1501, tempore prioratus Fra Dominici de Mugello…renovata est tribuna cappellae majoris in duobus arcabus et remotum est altare majus et positum iuxta murum …et tabula altaris majoris renovata est et reducta in quadrum et additae picturae, aer super picturas superius et ornamenta tabulae per singularem pictorem Laurentium de Credis.’ (‘Around the year 1501 in the time of the priorate of Fra Domenico of Mugello the tribune of the major chapel was renewed in two vaults. And the high altar was moved and placed next to the wall…and the high altarpiece was renewed and made rectangular and pictures [i.e. paintings] and a sky added above the paintings and [frame] ornaments by the remarkable painter Lorenzo di Credi.’) This is a passage from the Chronica Quadripartita, transcribed by Marchese (cited in note 52), 4th edn, 1878, I, p. 297, n. 1; O.H. Giglioli, Catalogo delle cose d’arte e di antichità d’Italia: Fiesole, Rome 1933, pp. 24–5; and Teubner 1975 (cited in note 63), p. 519, doc. XV – all with minor variations. Also cited by Pope‐Hennessy 1974, p. 189. See further Teubner, pp. 243–7. C. Hoeniger (The Renovation of Paintings in Tuscany, 1250–1500, Cambridge 1995, pp. 120ff) explains Lorenzo di Credi’s restructuring of the altarpiece as part of the programme of refurbishment of the church, adapting the altarpiece to suit the new architectural ambience with its use of pietra serena. (Back to text.)

75. Baldini 1977, pp. 236–46. Hood (1993, p. 308, n. 5) points out that Baldini based the ogival gables on the assumption that the San Domenico altarpiece was the model for the altarpiece in San Domenico, Cortona. (Back to text.)

76. Baldini 1977, fig. 228. (Back to text.)

77. Although Davies ( 1961 , p. 26) thought that Lorenzo di Credi might have been responsible for some of the outlining of the features in the left panel. (Back to text.)

78. Attributed to Rossello di Jacopo Franchi by Pope‐Hennessy (1952, p. 166) and to Lorenzo Monaco by Baldini (1977, pp. 236–7). (Back to text.)

79. 36 × 11 cm and 32 × 11 cm. Ex Reiset Collection, Paris. Connected with the altarpiece first by Crowe and Cavalcaselle ( 1864 , I, p. 584). See E. de Boissard and V. Lavergne‐Durey, Chantilly, Musée Condé, Peintures de l’Ecole italienne, Inventaire des collections publiques françaises no. 34, Paris 1988, pp. 44–6. Both these panels have been trimmed since being removed from the altarpiece; the inscription on both has been curtailed very slightly, as is evident from the photographs in the dossiers of the Musée Condé, Chantilly. I am grateful to Madame Nicole Garnier for allowing me to consult the dossiers. Cardile (1976, p. 250) reconstructed these two figures as part of the predella (see note 65 above), although elsewhere ( ibid. , pp. 242–3) he said that they were part of the frame. (Back to text.)

80. Saint Nicholas and Saint Michael, each 35.5 x 14 cm. They were exhibited at the Mostra delle Opere del Beato Angelico nel Quinto Centenario della Morte (1455–1955) – see exh. cat., 2nd edn, Florence 1955, p. 16, nos 7 and 8. They were in the Revd A. Hawkins sale, 26 June 1957, lot 151. They were sold at Sotheby’s (sale catalogue, 6 December 1972, lot 6); old inscriptions on the back recorded that they formed part of a series of ten from an altarpiece in San Domenico, Fiesole (see note 9 on pp. 30–1). Cardile (1976, p. 248) attributed all four to Sanguigni. Davies ( 1961 , p. 26) doubted that these four pilaster saints came from the altarpiece. See also the exhibition catalogue De Fra Angelico à Bonnard: Chefs‐d’œuvre de la collection Rau, Paris 2000, pp. 22–3. (Back to text.)

81. Baldini 1977, fig. 231. (Back to text.)

82. M. Salmi, Il Beato Angelico, Spoleto 1958, p. 11. Sometimes referred to as the Tucker Collection. (Back to text.)

83. Baldini 1977, p. 236. (Back to text.)

84. ‘…degli Agli, l’Armo, et Insegne della quale vi si veggono in molti luoghi e dentro e fuori… Nell’Arco della Tribuna, che viene appunto sopra all’Altare grande, si vede un Arme antica scolpita in pietra entrovi un Leone rampante, si crede della Famiglia degli Agli’ ( ASF , Manoscritti 625, ff. 1427–1427v). Rosselli does not specifically mention the altarpiece. Cardile (1976, figs 6 and 9) notes where in the convent the arms still exist. (Back to text.)

85. When NG 663 was sold some time before 1827, it was replaced with a copy by Micheli (see Provenance and note 122). See Baldini 1977, fig. 225. (Back to text.)

86. See Scalia, Critica d’Arte, 1990, pp. 34–40; T.K. Kustodieva, The Hermitage Catalogue of Western European Painting [I]. Italian Painting Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries, Florence 1994, pp. 58–9; and Christie’s sale catalogue, 11 July 2001, lot 71. The two kneeling angels are best compared to the Virgin in the Presentation in the Temple, inter alia, and therefore date c. 1440–1 (compare with the illustration on p. 155 in P. Moracchiello, Fra Angelico. The San Marco Frescoes, Milan 1995). For the angels, see also Bonsanti 1998, no. 17, pp. 119–20. It seems unlikely that the tabernacle was originally designed to stand in front of the predella as it would have obscured it, although Cardile (1976, pp. 94 and 112, n. 76) sees the ciborium as related in design and as having been placed on the predella (p. 107, n. 45). Hood (1993, p. 46) notes that in the Dominican liturgy the host was kept on the high altar. (Back to text.)

87. Davies 1961 , p. 25. The possibly negative evidence provided by the absence of the founder of the convent, Fra Giovanni Dominici (although see note 58), who died in Hungary in 1419, seems irrelevant, since Davies points out that there may have been a delay in establishing his cult in Florence. (Back to text.)

88. See the exhibition catalogue of 1955 (cited in note 80), pp. 12–15, for a résumé of dating up to 1955. See also Orlandi 1964, p. 25; L. Berti, ‘Miniature dell’Angelico (e altro) – II’, Acropoli, fasc. i, 1963, p. 10; U. Baldini, L’opera completa dell’Angelico, Milan 1970, p. 87, no. 9; Cardile 1976, p. 81; Baldini 1977, p. 240. (Back to text.)

89. Salmi 1958 (cited in note 82), p. 98. (Back to text.)

90. Hood 1993, pp. 72ff. Cole Ahl (Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 1980, p. 365) sees in the predella the influence of Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi (Florence, Uffizi) of 1423. (Back to text.)

91. Pope‐Hennessy 1952, pp. 4–5, and 1974, pp. 12, 189–90; Cole Ahl, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 1980, pp. 364–5; Strehlke, the 1994 New York exhibition catalogue (cited in note 68), p. 30 and Strehlke 1998, p. 12; M. Boskovits, ‘Appunti sull’Angelico’, Paragone, 313, 1976, p. 33 (mid‐1420s); Boskovits 1994, pp. 333–7. (Back to text.)

92. Hood 1993, pp. 65ff; Bonsanti 1998, no. 16, pp. 118–19. (Back to text.)

93. J. Henderson and P. Joannides, ‘A Franciscan Triptych by Fra Angelico’, Arte Cristiana, 742, 1991, pp. 3–6. (Back to text.)

94. Cardile 1976, p. 246. This necessarily involves a late dating for the altarpiece, since Zanobi (see p. 406) was born in 1412 and could not have been working on it in the early 1420s. (Back to text.)

95. Pope‐Hennessy 1974, pp. 12 and 191. (Back to text.)

96. Pope‐Hennessy 1974, pp. 191–2. He noted that the composition was similar to that of the Fiesole altarpiece although he dated the Frankfurt panel later. Cardile (1976, pp. 199–200) attributes the Frankfurt panel to Zanobi Strozzi. For the attribution of the Frankfurt panel to Fra Angelico, see J. Sander and B. Brinkmann, Italian, French and Spanish Painting before 1800 at the Städel, Frankfurt 1997, p. 18. (Back to text.)

97. The Missal was fully published with numerous colour illustrations by L. Berti, [page 25]‘Miniature dell’Angelico (e altro) – I’, Acropoli, fasc. iv, 1962, pp. 277–308, and II, fasc. i, 1963, pp. 1–38. See also M. Scudieri, La Chiesa e il Convento di San Marco a Firenze, vol. II, 1990, p. 16; M. Boskovits, ‘Attorno al tondo Cook: Precisazioni sul Beato Angelico su Filippo Lippi e Altri’, MKIF , XXXIX, 1995, p. 59, n. 23. (Back to text.)

98. L. Collobi Ragghianti, ‘Considerazioni su Zanobi Strozzi “Riconsiderato”’, Critica d’Arte, no. 36, 1959, pp. 418–20 and figs 324, 327. See also note 94 above. (Back to text.)

99. Carl Strehlke has pointed out (oral communication) that the left panel is less structured and coherent in its composition. (Back to text.)

100. Mostra dei Documenti, Florence, 1955, no. 10; reproduced by Orlandi in Memorie Domenicane, anno 72, January–March 1955, pl.V. See Davies 1961 , p. 23. (Back to text.)

101. Some, but not all, of the seventeen figures shown in the fourteenth‐century panel are included in NG 663. For a reproduction and identification of the figures, see Offner, Corpus , 1930, section III, vol. II, part I, p. 58. Again, some but not all appear in the roundels of the Dominican Tree under the fresco of the Crucifixion by Fra Angelico in the Chapter House of San Marco, painted 1441–2 (Pope‐Hennessy 1974, p.205 – identified by Vasari). (Back to text.)

102. Laclotte and Mognetti (cited in note 24), 3rd edn, 1987, p. 64, no. 34. (Back to text.)

103. Some of the saints and martyrs shown in the predella figure in the Dominican calendar of feasts first drawn up by Humbert of Romans at the end of the thirteenth century, but not all those included in the calendar are shown on the altarpiece. For the Dominican calendar, see W.R. Bonniwell, A History of the Dominican Liturgy 1215–1945, New York 1945, pp. 98–117. (Back to text.)

104. See Cardile 1976, pp. 95–8. However, the Te Deum is not specific to the Feast of Corpus Christi but is sung at all major feasts. The Feast of Corpus Christi was introduced into the Dominican liturgy in 1304; see Bonniwell 1945 (cited in note 103), pp. 239ff. The liturgy of the feast of Corpus Christi could explain the theological concept of the predella, but not the narrative interpretation. According to Cardile (1976, p. 95), the rays are in the form of a host. Hood (1993, p. 46) notes that the choirs of Dominican churches were unusual in that the sacrament of Christ’s body was kept on or above the altar itself, rather than in a tabernacle set aside in the church’s east end. See also note 86 above. (Back to text.)

105. Hood 1993, pp. 67–72. (Back to text.)

106. For the example in San Domenico, Pistoia (fig. 25), see Fremantle 1975 , fig. 535. (Back to text.)

107. Hood 1993, p. 69. (Back to text.)

108. See, for example, Offner, Corpus , 1930, section III, vol. II, part I, Pacino di Buonaguida, pl. X. It may be of relevance that the other outstanding example in Florence of Christ holding the flag of the Resurrection, this time as he rises from the tomb, was in Ugolino di Nerio’s altarpiece for the Franciscans of Santa Croce (NG 4191), painted probably c. 1325. Ugolino had probably previously painted an altarpiece for the high altar of Santa Maria Novella, commissioned by one of the friars there, Fra Baro Sassetti (d. 1324). This lost altarpiece may have been a factor in the iconography of the San Domenico altarpiece. For the Santa Croce altarpiece, see M. Davies (revised by D.Gordon), National Gallery Catalogues, The Early Italian Schools before 1400, London 1988, pp. 100–16. For the Santa Maria Novella altarpiece, see J. Cannon, ‘Simone Martini, the Dominicans and the Early Sienese polyptych’, JWCI , 45, 1982, pp. 87–91. (Back to text.)

109. See, for example, the San Pier Maggiore altarpiece of 1370–1 attributed to Jacopo di Cione (see NG exh. cat., D. Bomford et al. , Art in the Making: Italian Painting before 1400, London 1989, pl. 145) and works by Agnolo Gaddi and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini ( Fremantle 1975 , figs 653 and 654). (Back to text.)

110. Fremantle 1975 , fig. 538. The attribution to Agnolo Gaddi is rejected by B. Cole (Agnolo Gaddi, Oxford University Press 1977, pp. 51–6, p. 72 and pl. 88). (Back to text.)

111. For the influence of Dominici’s writing on Fra Angelico’s painting, see Pope‐Hennessy 1974, pp. 1–2. Also I. Maione,‘Fra Giovanni Dominici e Beato Angelico’, L’Arte, 17, 1914, pp. 281–8, 361–8. (Back to text.)

112. ‘On the third day you rise above into the heavens among the blessed angels who are on the walls, and they do not cease day and night to cry Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. You go climbing up among their infinite numbers, and find even greater perfection: and above all of them you find highest of all, God. If in rising this way you meet or delight in the Virgin, the Confessors, Martyrs, Apostles, Patriarchs, Prophets, greet them and be guided by them…’ For the original text, see A. Biscioni (ed.), Lettere di Santi e Beati Fiorentini, Florence 1736, p. 117. Although this private letter is not the specific source, it indicates Dominici’s way of thinking, and may well repeat an earlier public text he had written. (Back to text.)

113. Davies ( 1961 , p. 20) thought that Carmelites and Camaldolites seemed not to be represented. However, the monks in white in the bottom row of the left‐hand panel are Carmelites. (Back to text.)

114. Oral communication. (Back to text.)

115. Hood (1993, pp. 188 and 317, n. 67) makes a comparison between the figures that appear in the predella and those in the Chapter House of San Marco, and lists those which appear in the Chapter House but not in the predella. (Back to text.)

116. Hood 1993, pp. 69 and 180ff. (Back to text.)

117. See A. Walz, OP, ‘Von Dominikanerstammbäumen’, Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, XXXIV, 1964, pp. 231–75. (Back to text.)

118. Such as that published by P. Auer, O.S.B., ‘Ein neuaufgefundener Katalog der Dominikaner Schriftsteller’, Institutum Historicum F.F. Praedicatorum, Paris 1933, pp. 1–24. (Back to text.)

119. Davies 1961 , p. 23. (Back to text.)

120. Teubner 1975 (cited in note 63), p. 386, no. 26 (1617 should read 1612, as per document cited below); p. 523, doc. XXIII; also p. 519, doc. XV. The convent was suppressed in the Napoleonic suppressions of 1808/10; see R. Lapucci, ‘Elenco completo dei Conventi del Dipartimento dell’Arno soppressi da Napoleone’ (appendix to ‘Fonti d’archivi per la storia delle arti durante la soppressione napoleonico a Firenze’, Rivista d’Arte, XXXIX, 3, 1987, pp. 475–93 (490)). The convent was refounded in 1879; see Ferretti 1901 (cited in note 66), p. 82. (Back to text.)

121. F. Stock (‘Rumohrs Briefe an Bunsen über Erwerbungen für das Berliner Museum’, Jahrbuch der königlichen preuszischen Kunstsammlungen, XLVI, 17, supplementary volume, 1925, p. 68, n. 61) calls him Dominico, but the fidecommesso was established by Vincenzo Valentini (document in the Gallery archives). See Davies 1961 , p. 31, n. 58. Domenico Moreni (Notizie istoriche dei contorni di Firenze, vol. III, 1792, p. 90) does not mention the predella in his description of the altarpiece. (Back to text.)

122. See Eastlake’s letter to Wornum, 12 December 1860, in the NG archives, estimating the date of the sale to have been c. 1820. See also C.F. von Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen, II, Berlin and Stettin 1827, p. 254, who said it was sold by the friars in his lifetime and was in the collection of the Prussian consul in Rome, Valentini. Davies ( 1961 , p. 31, n. 59) notes the involvement of the priest P. Giacinto Giachi, cited in the Nuovo Osservatore Fiorentino, 1885, p. 135. According to Marchese (cited in note 52, 4th edn, 1878, vol. 1, pp. 297–8, n. 2), it was bought by Giovanni Metzger for 700 scudi and sold by him to Valentini for 900 scudi. Orlandi (1964, p. 24, n. 1) said that the agent was Niccola Tacchinardi and confused the provenance of NG 663 with that of the predella panel from the high altarpiece of San Marco, which was acquired by the Louvre in 1882 and passed through the Tacchinardi and then the Valentini collection in Rome (see Syre 1996, cited in note 2, p. 37, n. 21); but this information is not given incorrectly in the 1848 Le Monnier edition of Vasari (IV, pp. 29–30), as stated by Davies ( 1961 , p. 31, n. 59). According to Ferretti (1901, p.21), the copy of the predella was made by Micheli 1830–3. Davies ( 1961 , p. 30, n. 53) suggests that he may be the Michele Micheli said to have died in September 1848, and cites R.C. Fisher in the Athenaeum, 26 Jan. 1907, pp. 109–10. (Back to text.)

123. Davies ( 1961 , p. 27 and p. 31, n. 60) says he was, according to the NG catalogue of 1860, the consul’s nephew. (Back to text.)

124. Letter in the NG archives. See also C.T. Dowd (ed.), The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855–58, May 1858, p. 82v; The Walpole Society, 51, 1985, pp. 236–7. See also p. xxx of this catalogue. (Back to text.)

125. For a copy of six of the figures of the Old Testament in the Louvre, see Davies 1961 , p. 26 and p. 30, n. 54. (Back to text.)

Glossary

barbe: The raised lip of gesso which remains on the painted surface after the removal of an engaged frame moulding when the panel and frame have been gessoed at the same time. Its presence is an indication as to whether the image (but not necessarily the panel) retains its original dimensions
bole: A red clay applied to the gessoed surface of a panel as an adhesive underlayer for gold leaf
cangiante: Literally ‘changing’ – used to describe shot colours, especially for drapery
cope: A semicircular cloak worn by a bishop (sometimes called a pluvial)
crozier: A staff carried by a bishop
Divine Office: The cycle of daily devotions consisting of eight canonical hours of prayer
Eucharist: The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Gradual: A choir book containing responses and versicles for the Epistle readings from the Mass, sometimes sung from the church steps (Latin gradus = step)
lake: A pigment made by precipitation onto a base from a dye solution, resulting in a comparatively transparent pigment often used as a glaze
liturgy: The formal rites of the Christian Church, such as Mass and Divine Office
Mass: Church service commemorating the sacrifice of Christ with the celebration of the Eucharist
mitre: A liturgical hat worn by a bishop
mordant gilding: The process of applying gold leaf to an adhesive or mordant, usually done in the final stages of a painting
pala: An altarpiece with a unified painted surface
pentimento: Literally ‘repentance’ – used to describe changes made by the artist during the execution of a drawing or painting
pietra serena: Grey sandstone
scapular: A long narrow tunic worn under a monastic habit over the shoulders, hanging down front and back
sepoltuario: A written or visual record of tomb monuments
terminus ante quem: AA fixed date before which (a painting must have been made)
terminus post quem: AA fixed date after which (a painting must have been made)
Tertiary: A member of a Third Order – a religious organisation, attached usually to one of the mendicant Orders, especially the Franciscans and Dominicans; a term used to distinguish it from the First Order (men) and Second Order (women)
water gilding: Gold leaf applied to wetted bole and then burnished

Abbreviations

Institutions

ASF: Archivio di Stato, Florence
NG: National Gallery, London

Periodicals

JWCI: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
NGTB: National Gallery Technical Bulletin

Frequently cited works are given in abbreviated form throughout, as listed below:

Crowe and Cavalcaselle 1864: J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, 2 vols, London 1864
Davies 1961: M. Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd revised edn, London 1961
Davies revised Gordon: M. Davies revised D. Gordon, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1988
Fremantle 1975: R. Fremantle, Florentine Gothic Painters from Giotto to Masaccio: a Guide to Painting in and near Florence 1300 to 1450, London 1975
Golden Legend: Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, trans. W.G. Ryan, Princeton, NJ, 1993
Kaftal 1952: G. Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting, Florence 1952
Offner, Corpus: R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, New York 1930–
Richa, Chiese Fiorentine: G. Richa, Notizie istoriche delle Chiese Fiorentine, 10 vols, Florence 1754–62
Vasari, Le Vite, ed. Milanesi: G. Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architetti, ed. G. Milanesi, 8 vols, Florence 1878–85
Vasari, Le Vite, eds Bettarini and Barocchi: G. Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori nelle redazioni del 1550 & 1568, eds R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi, vol. II, Florence 1967; vol. III, Florence 1971

List of archive references cited

London, National Gallery, Archive: Eastlake’s letter to Wornum, 12 December 1860
London, National Gallery, Archive: Anne Leader, letter of 15 March 1999
London, National Gallery, Archive: Otto Mündler, Letter, 1860
London, National Gallery, Archive: Revd S.A. van Dijk, OFM, Walter Gumbley, OP, and M‐H. Laurent, OP, of the Vatican Library (manuscripts)

List of references cited

Alberti 1517: Alberti, Leandro, OP, De viris illustribus, 1517
Alce 1993: Alce, V., OP, Angelicus Pictor. Vita, opere e teologia del Beato Angelico, Bologna 1993
Anderson 1985: Anderson, J., ‘The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855–1858’, ed. C.T. Dowd, The Walpole Society, 1985, 51
Auer 1933: Auer, P., OSB, ‘Ein neuaufgefundener Katalog der Dominikaner Schriftsteller’, in Institutum Historicum F.F. Praedicatorum, Paris 1933, 1–24
Baldini 1970: Baldini, U., L’opera completa dell’Angelico, Milan 1970
Baldini 1977: Baldini, U., ‘Contributi all’Angelico: il Trittico di San Domenico di Fiesole e Qualche Altra Aggiunta’, in Scritti di Storia dell’Arte in Onore di Ugo Procacci, Milan 1977, 1, 236–46
Beato Angelico 1955: Mostra delle Opere del Beato Angelico nel Quinto Centenario della Morte (1455–1955) (exh. cat.), 2nd edn, Florence 1955
Berti 1962: Berti, L., ‘Miniature dell’Angelico (e altro) – I’, Acropoli, 1962, anno II, fasc. iv, 277–308
Berti 1963: Berti, L., ‘Miniature dell’Angelico (e altro) – II’, Acropoli, 1963, anno III, fasc. i, 1–38
Biscioni 1736: Biscioni, A., ed., Lettere di Santi e Beati Fiorentini, Florence 1736
Bollandists: The Bollandists, 31 May, 458 and 466
Bonniwell 1945: Bonniwell, W.R., A History of the Dominican Liturgy 1215–1945, New York 1945
Bonsanti 1998: Bonsanti, G., Beato Angelico. Catalogo completo, Florence 1998
Boskovits 1980: Boskovits, Miklós, ‘Su Niccolò di Buonaccorso, Benedetto di Bindo e la Pittura Senese del Primo Quattrocento’, Paragone, 1980, 359, 3–22
Boskovits 1983: Boskovits, Miklós, ‘La fase tarda del Beato Angelico: una proposta di interpretazione’, Arte Cristiana, Jan.–Feb. 1983, 71, 694, 11–24
Boskovits 1994a: Boskovits, M., ‘Un’Adorazione dei Magi e gli inizi dell’Angelico’, in Immagini da meditare: ricerche su dipinti di tema religioso nei secoli XII–XV, reprint, Milan 1994, 309–68 (Un’Adorazione dei Magi e gli inizi dell’Angelico (Monographien der Abegg Stiftung in Bern, 11, 1976), Milan 1976)
Boskovits 1995: Boskovits, Miklós, ‘Attorno al tondo Cook: Precisazioni sul Beato Angelico su Filippo Lippi e Altri’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 1995, XXXIX, 32–68
Brocchi 1742: Brocchi, G.M., Vite de’ santi e beati fiorentini, Florence 1742
Cardile 1976: Cardile, P.J., ‘Fra Angelico and his Workshop at San Domenico (1420–1435): The Development of his Style and the Formation of his Workshop’ (PhD dissertation), Yale University, 1976
Cole 1977: Cole, B., Agnolo Gaddi, Oxford 1977
Cole Ahl 1980: Cole Ahl, D., ‘Fra Angelico: A New Chronology for the 1420s’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 1980, 43, 360–81
Cole Ahl 1981: Cole Ahl, D., ‘Fra Angelico: A New Chronology for the 1430s’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 1981, 44, 133–58
Collobi Ragghianti 1959: Collobi Ragghianti, L., ‘Considerazioni su Zanobi Strozzi “Riconsiderato”’, Critica d’Arte, 1959, anno VI, 36, 417–28
Crowe and Cavalcaselle 1864: Crowe, Joseph Archer and Giovanni‐Battista Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy, 2 vols, London 1864
Davies 1961: Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd revised edn, London 1961 (1st edn, London 1951)
Davies rev. Gordon 1988: Davies, Martin, revised by D. Gordon, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools Before 1400, revised edn of Davies 1961, London 1988
De Boissard and Lavergne‐Durey 1988: De Boissard, Elisabeth and Valérie Lavergne‐Durey, Chantilly, Musée Condé: Peintures de l’Ecole italienne, Inventaire des collections publiques françaises, no. 34, Paris 1988
De Fra Angelico 2000: De Fra Angelico à Bonnard: Chefs‐d’œuvre de la collection Rau, Paris 2000
De Frachet 1896: De Frachet, G., OP, Vitae Fratrum Ordinis Praedicatorum necnon Cronica Ordinis ab Anno MCIII usque ad MCCLIV, ed. Benedictus Maria Reichert OP, Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Historica, Louvain 1896 (reprint, Rome and Stuttgart 1897)
Dowd 1985: Dowd, C.T., ed., ‘The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855–58’, The Walpole Society, 1985, 51
Ferretti 1901: Ferretti, P.L., La Chiesa e il Convento di San Domenico di Fiesole, Florence 1901
Fisher 1907: Fisher, R.C., in Athenaeum, 26 Jan. 1907, 109–10
Franceschini 1885: Franceschini, Pietro, Nuovo Osservatore Fiorentino, Florence 1885
Fremantle 1975: Fremantle, Richard, Florentine Gothic Painters from Giotto to Masaccio: a Guide to Painting in and near Florence, 1300 to 1450, London 1975
Giglioli 1933: Giglioli, O.H., Catalogo delle cose d’arte e di antichità d’Italia: Fiesole, Rome 1933
Gordon et al. 2002: Gordon, D., M. Wyld and A. Roy, ‘Fra Angelico’s predella for the high altarpiece of San Domenico, Fiesole’, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 2002, 23, 4–19
Guérin 1882: Guérin, P., Les Petits Bollandistes, 17 vols, 7th edn, Paris 1882
Hamburger 1998a: Hamburger, J., ‘Medieval Self‐Fashioning: Authorship, Authority and Autobiography in Seuse’s Exemplar’, in Christ among the Medieval Dominicans. Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers, eds K. Emery Jr and J. Wawrykow, Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, VII, Indiana 1998, 430–61
Hélyot 1715: Hélyot, P., Histoire des ordres monastiques religieux et militaires, Paris 1715, IV
Henderson and Joannides 1991: Henderson, J. and P. Joannides, ‘A Franciscan Triptych by Fra Angelico’, Arte Cristiana, 1991, 79, 742, 3–6
Hoeniger 1995: Hoeniger, C., The Renovation of Paintings in Tuscany, 1250–1500, Cambridge, Mass. 1995
Hood 1993: Hood, W., Fra Angelico at San Marco, New Haven and London 1993
Jacobilli 1656: Jacobilli, L., Vite de’ Santi e beati dell’Umbria, Foligno 1656, II
Kaftal 1952: Kaftal, George, Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting, Florence 1952
Kustodieva 1994: Kustodieva, Tatyana K., The Hermitage Catalogue of Western European Painting [I]. Italian Painting, Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries, St Petersburg and Florence 1994
Laclotte and Mognetti 1977: Laclotte, M. and E. Mognetti, Avignon, musée du Petit Palais. Peinture italienne, Inventaire des collections publiques françaises, 2nd edn, Paris 1977 (3rd edn, Paris 1987)
Lapucci 1987: Lapucci, R., ‘Fonti d’archivio per la storia delle arti durante la soppressione napoleonica a Firenze
Elenco completo dei conventi soppressi da Napoleone
(Back to text.)

’, Rivista d’Arte, 1987, XXXIX, serie quarta, III, 475–93
Maione 1914: Maione, I., ‘Fra Giovanni Dominici e Beato Angelico’, L’Arte, 1914, 17, 281–8 & 361–8
Marchese 1854: Marchese, V., Memorie dei più insigni pittori, scultori e architetti domenicani, 2 vols, 2nd edn, Florence 1854 (4th edn, Florence 1878)
Marconi 1995: Marconi, S.M., Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia: opere d’arte dei secoli XIV e XV, Rome 1955
Marquet de Vasselot 1941: Marquet de Vasselot, J.J., Les crosses Limousines du XIIIe Siècle, Paris 1941
Moracchiello 1995: Moracchiello, P., Fra Angelico. The San Marco Frescoes, Milan 1995
Moreni 1792–5: Moreni, D., Notizie istoriche dei contorni di Firenze (vol. III, 1792; vol. V, 1794; vol. VI, 1795), Florence and Rome 1792–5, 1972
Mostra dei Documenti 1955: Mostra dei Documenti, Florence 1955
Offner 1930: Offner, Richard, The Fourteenth Century, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, Section III, III, New York 1930
Orlandi 1955: Orlandi, S., ‘Necrologio’ di S. Maria Novella: testo integrale dal inizio (MCCXXXV al MDIV), Florence 1955
Orlandi 1964: Orlandi, S., Beato Angelico: monografia storica della vita e delle opere con un’appendice di nuovi documenti inediti, Florence 1964
Pignon 1936: Pignon, L., Cataloghi et chronica, ed. G. Meersseman, Monumenta Ordinis FF. Praedicatorum Historica, XVIII, 1936
Pope‐Hennessy 1952a: Pope‐Hennessy, J., ‘The Santa Maria Maggiore altarpiece’, Burlington Magazine, 1952, 94, 31–2
Pope‐Hennessy 1952b: Pope‐Hennessy, J., Fra Angelico, London 1952 (2nd edn, 1974)
Réau 1956a: Réau, L., Iconographie de l’Art Chrétien, 1st edn, Paris and Nendeln/Liechtenstein 1956, 1974, I
Ricci 1931: Ricci, E., Mille Santi nell’Arte, Milan 1931
Richa 1754–62: Richa, Giuseppe, Notizie istoriche delle Chiese Fiorentine divise ne’ suoi quartieri (I, 1754; IV, 1756; VIII, 1759; IX, 1761), 10 vols, Florence 1754–62
Rosselli 1657: Rosselli, Stefano, Sepoltuario Fiorentino, 1657
Salmi 1958: Salmi, M., Il Beato Angelico, Spoleto 1958
Sander and Brinkmann 1997: Sander, J. and B. Brinkmann, Italian, French and Spanish Painting before 1800 at the Städel, Frankfurt 1997
Sante e Beate Umbre 1986: Sante e Beate Umbre tra il XIII ed il XIV secolo. Mostra iconografica (exh. cat.), Foligno 1986
Santi 1985: Santi, F., Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, dipinti, sculture e oggetti dei secoli XV–XVL, Rome 1985
Scalia 1990: Scalia, F., ‘Contributo all’Angelico: nuovi documenti per il ciborio di San Domenico di Fiesole’, Critica d’Arte, 1990, 6th series, anno LV, 2–3, 34–40
Scudieri 1990: Scudieri, M., ‘La Miniatura’, in La Chiesa e il Convento di San Marco a Firenze, Florence 1990, II, 11–36
Siepi 1822: Siepi, S., Descrizione topologica‐istorica della città di Perugia, Perugia 1822
Stock 1925: Stock, F., ‘Rumohrs Briefe an Bunsen über Erwerbungen für das Berliner Museum’, Jahrbuch der königlichen preuszischen Kunstsammlungen, 1925, XLVI, Beiheft (supplementary volume), 17, 1–76
Strehlke 1988: Strehlke, Carl, in Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420–1500 (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York 1988
Strehlke 1994: Strehlke, Carl, in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300–1450 (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York 1994
Strehlke 1998: Strehlke, C.B., Angelico, Milan 1998
Syre 1996: Syre, C., Fra Angelico. Die Münchner Tafeln und der Hochaltar von San Marco in Florenz (exh. cat.), Munich 1996
Teubner 1975: Teubner, H., ‘Zur Entwicklung der Saalkirche in der florentiner Frührenaissance’ (doctoral dissertation), Heidelberg 1975
Vasari 1846–70: Vasari, Giorgio, Le Vite de’più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architetti, ed. F. Le Monnier, 14 vols, Florence 1846–70
Vasari 1878–85: Vasari, Giorgio, Le Vite de’più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, ed. Gaetano Milanesi, 9 vols, Florence 1878–85
Vasari 1967–71: Vasari, Giorgio, Le Vite de’più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, eds R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi, Florence 1967 (I and II), 1971 (III)
Vauchez 1988: Vauchez, A., La Sainteté en occident aux derniers siècles du moyen âge d’après les procès de canonisation et les documents hagiographiques, Rome 1988
Von Rumohr 1827–31: Von Rumohr, Carl Friedrich Ludwig Felix, Italienische Forschungen, 3 vols, Berlin, Frankfurt and Stettin 1827–31
Walz 1964: Walz, A., OP, ‘Von Dominikaner‐stammbäumen’, Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1964, XXXIV, 231–75
Wornum 1860: Wornum, R.N., Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery: With Biographical Notices of the Deceased Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1860

List of exhibitions cited

London 1998–9: London, National Gallery, Zanobi Strozzi. In the light of Fra Angelico, 1998–9

The Organisation of the Catalogue
Chronological and geographical limits

Included in this volume are works by artists or workshops the bulk of whose surviving work falls within the first half of the fifteenth century, i.e. around 1400–60: Starnina (d. 1413), Lorenzo Monaco (d. c. 1423), Gregorio di Cecco di Luca (d. c. 1428), Masaccio (d. 1428/9), Masolino (d. c. 1436), Giovanni dal Ponte (d. 1437), Sassetta (d. 1450), Master of the Osservanza (active second quarter of fifteenth century), Francesco d’Antonio (active until 1452), Jacopo di Antonio (Master of Pratovecchio?) (d. 1454), Fra Angelico (d. 1455), Pisanello (d. 1455), Pesellino (d. 1457), Domenico Veneziano (d. 1461), Bono da Ferrara (active until 1461), Apollonio di Giovanni (d. c. 1465), Zanobi Strozzi (d. 1468), Filippo Lippi (d. 1469), Giovanni da Oriolo (d. by 1474), Uccello (d. 1475), Marco del Buono (d. after 1480), Giovanni di Paolo (d. 1482).

The exceptions to this are two paintings whose previous attributions were to artists represented in this catalogue but which are now attributed to artists active primarily in the second half of the fifteenth century. The Virgin and Child with Angels (NG 5581) used to be catalogued as by a follower of Fra Angelico. Now, it is generally accepted as being an early work of c. 1447 by Benozzo Gozzoli, and it is therefore included here. However, his work as an independent painter dates from 1450, and his altarpiece dated 1461 for Santa Maria della Purificazione, Florence, will be considered in a subsequent catalogue. A panel of the Nativity (NG 3648) used to be given to a follower of Masaccio, but technical evidence links it to the altarpiece attributed to the Master of the Castello Nativity (active mid‐fifteenth century), recently identified as Piero di Lorenzo di Pratese – a painter deeply enmeshed in the history of the Trinity altarpiece by Pesellino (NG 727 etc.) considered here.

The majority of the paintings included in this catalogue are from Tuscany, with the exception of those by Pisanello, his pupil Bono da Ferrara and his follower Giovanni da Oriolo. Because so few Venetian paintings in the collection date from the first half of the fifteenth century, those which do will be considered in another volume.

Artists: The artists are catalogued in alphabetical order. Autograph works precede those which are attributed.

Attribution: A painting is discussed under the artist where the attribution is not considered to be in doubt. ‘Attributed to’ implies a measure of doubt. ‘Workshop of’ indicates that the work has been executed by a member of the workshop, sometimes with the participation of the artist concerned.

Title: The traditional title of each painting has been followed, except where further research has made a more precise description possible.

Date: Reasons for the date given in the head matter are explained in the body of each entry.

Medium: This is generally assumed to be egg. Where this has been identified, it is stated.

Support: This is generally assumed to be poplar. Where this has been identified, it is stated.

Dimensions: The overall dimensions are given in the head matter. Height precedes width. More precise dimensions are given in the discussion of each work.

Restoration: The history of the restoration of a painting before it entered the National Gallery is not given unless specifically known.

Technique and condition: These are discussed together, since the condition of a painting is often the result of the techniques employed. Where pigments seemed unusual, samples were examined by Ashok Roy and in some cases the medium has been analysed by Raymond White.

Method: Every painting was examined and measured in the Conservation Department with a conservator – usually Jill Dunkerton, but in some instances Martin Wyld, Larry Keith and Paul Ackroyd. Some paintings were examined by Rachel Billinge with infra‐red reflectography (see p. 478).

X‐radiographs, infra‐red photographs and infrared reflectograms: The reader may find it frustrating that reference is sometimes made to X‐radiographs, infra‐red photographs and infra‐red reflectograms without their being illustrated. This is because once they are reduced to page size they are often no longer decipherable.

Bibliographical information: At the end of every catalogue entry is a Select Bibliography listing the main publications relevant to that entry, in chronological order. The works in this list are cited in abbreviated form in the notes following the entry. Full references to all works cited in the catalogue are given in the List of Publications Cited (pp. 435–55).

Comments: I have attempted to give as full an account as possible with regard to attribution, patronage, date, related panels, original location, subject matter, iconography, etc., and to make this information accessible and interesting to the lay reader as well as to the art historian. Inevitably the text contains some speculation – I have tried to make it clear when an argument is hypothetical. For ease of reference the comments are given subheadings, but their sequence varies according to the requirements of the argument.

Dating and Measurements

Dates – old style and modern

Dates are given in the modern style, but the old style (o.s.) is indicated where pertinent.

Florence:: The calendar year began on the feast of the Annunciation, 25 March.
Pisa:: The year began on 25 March, but anticipated the Florentine year by one year (i.e. 1 January–24 March = modern).
Pistoia (stile della Natività):: The year began on 25 December, anticipating modern style (i.e. 1 January–24 December = modern).
Siena:: The year began on 25 March, but sometimes followed the Pisan system.

(See A. Cappelli, Cronologia Cronografica e Calendario Perpetuo, 2nd edn, Milan 1930, pp. 11–16.)

Measurements

The Florentine braccio (fioretino da panno) was the standard unit of linear measurement in Florence from at least the fourteenth until the nineteenth century and was equal to approximately 58.4 cm. In Siena the braccio (per le tele) before 1782 was 60 cm, although Siena also used the braccio of 58.4 cm.

(See A.P. Favaro, Metrologia, Naples 1826, pp. 85 and 118; R. Zupko, Italian weights and measures from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century, Philadelphia 1981, p. 46.)

Infra‐red reflectography

Infra‐red reflectography was carried out by Rachel Billinge using a Hamamatsu C2400 camera with an N2606 series infra‐red vidicon tube. The camera is fitted with a 36mm lens to which a Kodak 87A Wratten filter has been attached to exclude visible light. The infra‐red reflectogram mosaics were assembled on a computer using an updated version of the software (VIPS ip) described in R. Billinge, J. Cupitt, N. Dessipris and D. Saunders, ‘A note on an improved procedure for the rapid assembly of infrared reflectogram mosaics’, Studies in Conservation, vol. 38, 11, 1993, pp. 92–8.

About this version

Version 1, generated from files DG_2003__16.xml dated 07/03/2025 and database__16.xml dated 09/03/2025 using stylesheet 16_teiToHtml_externalDb.xsl dated 03/01/2025. Structural mark-up applied to skeleton document in full; entry for NG583, biography for Uccello and associated front and back matter (marked up in pilot project) reintegrated into main document; document updated to use external database of archival and bibliographic references; entries for L2, NG215-NG216, NG1897, NG2862 & NG4062; L15, NG727, NG3162, NG3230, NG4428 & NG4868.1-NG4868.4; NG583; NG663.1-NG663.5; NG666-NG667; NG766-NG767 & NG1215; NG1436; NG2908; NG3046; NG4757-NG4763; NG5451-NG5454; NG5962-NG5963; and NG6579-NG6580 prepared for publication; entry for NG583 proofread and corrected.

Cite this entry

Permalink (this version): https://data.ng.ac.uk/0EA9-000B-0000-0000
Permalink (latest version): https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E6F-000B-0000-0000
Chicago style: Gordon, Dillian. “NG 663.1–5, Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven”. 2003, online version 1, March 9, 2025. https://data.ng.ac.uk/0EA9-000B-0000-0000.
Harvard style: Gordon, Dillian (2003) NG 663.1–5, Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven. Online version 1, London: National Gallery, 2025. Available at: https://data.ng.ac.uk/0EA9-000B-0000-0000 (Accessed: 19 March 2025).
MHRA style: Gordon, Dillian, NG 663.1–5, Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven (National Gallery, 2003; online version 1, 2025) <https://data.ng.ac.uk/0EA9-000B-0000-0000> [accessed: 19 March 2025]

Main image

Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece:Catalogue entry

Catalogue contents

About the catalogue

Entry details

Catalogue entry

Guido di Pietro, called Fra Angelico active 1417; died 1455NG 663.1–5 Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

NG 663.1 – central panel Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

NG 663.2 – left‐hand panel The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints

NG 663.3 – right‐hand panel The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs

NG 663.4 – outer left‐hand panel The Dominican Blessed

NG 663.5 – outer right‐hand panel The Dominican Blessed

Technical Notes

Original Location

Original Appearance of the Altarpiece

Attribution and Date

Iconography

Provenance

Exhibited

Select Bibliography

Notes

Glossary

Abbreviations

Institutions

Periodicals

Frequently cited works are given in abbreviated form throughout, as listed below:

List of archive references cited

List of references cited

List of exhibitions cited

The Organisation of the CatalogueChronological and geographical limits

Dating and Measurements

Dates – old style and modern

Measurements

Infra‐red reflectography

About this version

Cite this entry

Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece:
Catalogue entry

Guido di Pietro, called Fra Angelico active 1417; died 1455
NG 663.1–5
Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

NG 663.1 – central panel
Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven

NG 663.2 – left‐hand panel
The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints

NG 663.3 – right‐hand panel
The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs

NG 663.4 – outer left‐hand panel
The Dominican Blessed

NG 663.5 – outer right‐hand panel
The Dominican Blessed

The Organisation of the Catalogue
Chronological and geographical limits