Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar, pioneered the Early Renaissance with his luminous religious frescoes and altarpieces, including the influential San Marco Altarpiece.
Born Guido di Pietro around 1395 in Mugello, Tuscany, Fra Angelico began his artistic journey possibly as a manuscript illuminator before joining the Dominican convent of San Domenico in Fiesole, taking the name Fra Giovanni. His early works, such as the Fiesole Altarpiece and the Coronation of the Virgin, show a captivating blend of Gothic elegance and emerging Renaissance naturalism. He produced a Madonna of Humility and an Annunciation during this period, now housed in th…
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