BEATO ANGELICO: San Marco, Florence, 1436–1445

Posthumous portrait of Fra Angelico by Luca Signorelli

Fra Angelico (c. 1395 – February 18, 1455), born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent". He was known to his contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (Brother John from Fiesole) and by Vasari as Fra Giovanni Angelico (Brother John the Angelic One).

Fra Angelico is known in Italy as il Beato Angelico, the term "Il Beato" ("Blessed One") being already in use during his lifetime or shortly thereafter, in reference to his skills in painting religious subjects. In 1982 Pope John Paul II conferred beatification, in recognition of the holiness of his life, thereby making this title official. Fiesole is sometimes misinterpreted as being part of his formal name, but it was merely the name of the town where he took his vows as a Dominican friar, and was used by contemporaries to separate him from other Fra Giovannis. He is listed in the Roman Martyrology as Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus—"Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, nicknamed Angelico".

Vasari wrote of Fra Angelico:

But it is impossible to bestow too much praise on this holy father, who was so humble and modest in all that he did and said and whose pictures were painted with such facility and piety.

In 1436 Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly-built Friary of San Marco in Florence. This was an important move which put him in the centre of artistic activity of the region and brought about the patronage of one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city's Signoria, Cosimo de' Medici, who had a large cell (later occupied by Savonarola) reserved for himself at the friary in order that he might retreat from the world. It was, according to Vasari, at Cosimo's urging that Fra Angelico set about the task of decorating the monastery, including the magnificent Chapter House fresco, the often-reproduced Annunciation at the top of the stairs to the cells, the Maesta with Saints and the many smaller devotional frescoes depicting aspects of the Life of Christ that adorn the walls of each cell.

The Maestà (Madonna enthroned) with Saints; San Marco, Florence

In 1439 he completed one of his most famous works, the Altarpiece for St. Marco's, Florence. The result was unusual for its times. Images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints were common, but they usually depicted a setting that was clearly heavenlike, in which saints and angels hovered about as divine presences rather than people. But in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory. Paintings such as this, known as Sacred Conversations, were to become the major commissions of Giovanni Bellini, Perugino and Raphael.

 

Visit Florence's culture and stay at Hotel Mario's

 

HOTEL MARIO'S

Via Faenza, 89

50123 Firenze

Tel. 0039 055 216 801

Fax 0039 055 212 039

E-mail: hotelmarios@hotelmarios.com

Internet site: www.hotelmarios.com 

SUMMER IN FLORENCE

During the summer, Florence became a big open air stage where they are often tourists, visitors to play the part of the protagonists. With its squares, its churches and monuments to admire without getting bored, Firenze is ideal for young couples, families and groups of friends.

First we start with some advice. Florence in the summer is a very hot city, then try to limit your outputs to the cooler hours, preferring perhaps visiting museums and places indoors during the time when the sun is strongest. Of course this advicehas to be applied  to European tourists, because those Americans are certainly more accustomed to high temperatures. Ultimately the climate of Florence is still a Mediterranean climate.

We start from the center. Just a few months ago the entire area around the Piazza del Duomo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with Giotto‘s frescoes, the famous dome of Brunelleschi and the Baptistery, had been pedestrianized. This is a great scene, one of the marvels of humanity, even more enjoyable now breathing cleaner air and less noise.

From here I awant to create two paths. The first takes you through the Via dei Calzaioli, where are boutiques of fashion: Gucci, Prada, Valentino and so on. A pause in Piazza della Repubblica, sipping a coffee at one of the famous bars, where the artists of the vanguard of primo novecento The second route takes you from the Duomo to Borgo San Lorenzo, where it is to be  visited the Church designed by Michelangelo and the museums of the Medici Chapels. Spread around a small market of leather handicrafts made by Florentine artisans. Bags, shoes, girdles, jackets. Here is a must to visit the Central Market, where you’ll find the authentic flavors of Tuscan cuisine and especially the Florentine. It starts primarily from meat, queen of the tables in the restaurants. The famous Fiorentina Cut, a cut of rib eye steak, cooked on the outside and rare inside.

You eat natural, or with oil and pepper, served with arugula and shavings of Parmesan cheese or perhaps with a beautiful chapel of fresh porcini mushrooms. At Central Market of San Lorenzo, a small restaurant offers some of the best specialty of Florence, at really low prices.

Try the sandwich with Lampredotto, or the one with the Bollito, tripe, Peposa and other dishes prepared daily. Then in the market you will find spices, cheese, bread and cake for all tastes. 

Many special exhibitions are also organized this year in Florence. Four hundred years after his death, Michelangelo Merisi in the Uffizi, along with Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Botticelli. Then the largest collection by many artists of the Reinassance period.

HOTEL MARIO' S
Via Faenza, 89
50123 Firenze
tel +39055216801
fax +39055212039
hotelmarios@hotelmarios.com
www.hotelmarios.com   

Giotto, the father of modern painting

Giotto di Bondone, the father of modern painting and one of the greatest figures in the history of Western art, was born in a small hamlet in the valley of the Mugello, twenty miles north of Florence.
Giotto signed his name to only three of his paintings. His most famous attributed works are the Arena Chapel frescoes (1305-10) in Padua, the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapel frescoes in Santa Croce in Florence, and the magnificent Ognissanti Madonna for the Church of All Saints. The twenty-eight frescoes based on the life of St. Francis and located in the Upper Church of the Franciscans in Assisi are accepted as Giotto's by some art historians and denied him by others. The controversy, which has now raged for a century and a half, fills volumes and has yet to be resolved.
Giotto was a painter during the renaissance period and this influenced his paintings to be mostly based on the bible. During this period a Dante of the devine comedy said "Giotto is regarded as the founder of the central tradition of western painting because his work broke free from the stylizations of Byzantine art, introducing new ideals of naturalism and creating a convincing sense of pictorial space."
At the Uffizi Gallery you could see the "Ognissanti Madonna" , the "The Badia Polyptych" and others. As written by Vasari:
“One day Cimabue was going about his business between Florence and Vespignano, and he came upon Giotto who, while his sheep were grazing, was sketching one of them in a lifelike way with a slightly pointed rock upon a smooth and polished stone without having learned how to draw it from anyone other than Nature. This caused Cimabue to stop in amazement…”
Another very good reason to visit Florence, you cannot imagine how many great masterpieces you are gonna see here. Start your days at Hotel Mario's, we are in the centre of the city, next to the train station Santa Maria Novella, a very nice and typical 3 stars Hotel in an historical palace. Enjoy Hotel Mario's, enjoy Giotto...