Full title | The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints: Inner Left Predella Panel |
---|---|
Artist | Probably by Fra Angelico |
Artist dates | active 1417; died 1455 |
Series | Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece |
Date made | about 1423-4 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 32 x 64 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1860 |
Inventory number | NG663.2 |
Location | Room 60 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This panel comes from the predella (the lowest part) of an altarpiece made for the church of San Domenico, Fiesole, near Florence. Its saints face right toward the central panel, which shows Christ in glory after his resurrection from the dead.
The Virgin kneels at the head of the top row of saints and raises her hands in prayer before Christ, her son. Behind her are two groups of saints; the apostle Peter, with a book and the keys of heaven promised to him by Christ, is next to her. Each saint is painted in great detail, their faces as individual as their costumes. They carry objects associated with their lives or the instruments of their death.
Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order of nuns and friars, is in the top row, wearing the Order’s black and white habit and carrying a lily, his symbol. The church that this panel was made for was in a Dominican convent.
This panel is part of a group of images that formed the predella of an altarpiece made by Fra Angelico for the church of San Domenico, Fiesole, near Florence. Its saints look towards the central panel and to Christ, who appears on it, resurrected from the dead.
The Virgin Mary kneels at the top right, a blue cloak over her head and a star at her shoulder. She holds her hands together in devotion before Christ, her son. Behind her two groups of saints also kneel. Next to her we see Saint Peter, carrying a book and the keys to the kingdom of heaven, promised to him by Jesus. The bearded figure behind him is Saint Paul. He carries a sword – a reminder that he was beheaded for his faith. Its blade once shone silver but the silver leaf has tarnished and blackened.
In the front group, the figures carrying pens (and some with books) are probably supposed to represent the Four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels. Curiously, given that most of the inscriptions in these panels are legible, the saint beneath the Virgin Mary holds out a book with writing represented by scribbles. The others might be disciples, and the figure in the pink and yellow cloak in the centre of the middle row may be Saint Barnabas, the patron saint of the altarpiece’s donor, Barnaba degli Agli. The saint also appears on the panel’s main tier, which is still in San Domenico in Fiesole.
Behind this group is another gathering of saints. Their clothes reflect their occupations and status, and they carry objects associated with events in their lives – or the instruments of their death. In the top row, wearing the black and white habit of the Dominican Order is Saint Dominic, its founder. He carries a lily, his usual symbol. In the same row are several bishop saints, identified by their hats, called mitres. One, in a blue cope decorated with gold fleur-de-lis, carries three golden balls on a red book. This is Saint Nicholas of Bari, and the balls represent the bags of gold that, according to his legend, he secretly donated to three poor sisters, throwing them through the women’s open window at night.
At the head of the middle row is Saint Jerome, who lived in the fourth century. Jerome, as here, was often depicted in the outfit of a cardinal – including the red hat – even though the role of cardinal did not exist in his lifetime; it was an indication of his status in the Church as an advisor to Pope Damasus I. He carries a pen and an open book. The legible inscription bears the name Eustochium, the saint to whom he wrote letters.
The front row is dominated by saints from religious orders: Carmelite monks (the order was founded on Mount Carmel, in the Holy Land) dressed in white, with others in brown habits, possibly Hieronymites (an Augustinian order of hermits inspired by Saint Jerome). The monks are tonsured – their hair is shaved, leaving only a ring of hair around the edges – a sign of religious devotion. The ageing man with long grey hair and beard is Saint Paul, the First Hermit. His extraordinary dress is not fabric but a textile made from woven palm leaves.
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The Virgin Mary with the Apostles and Other Saints
Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece
These panels come from the predella (lowest part) of the altarpiece made for the high altar of San Domenico, Fiesole. Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar (a member of the religious order founded by Saint Dominic) as well as a painter. The church was attached to his own convent – so although he made two other altarpieces for it, he was not paid for his work.
Predellas usually showed narrative scenes of the lives of the saints who were depicted in the main part of the altarpiece. This one is unusual: it shows Christ in glory in heaven, surrounded in the central scene by angels. This is framed by two panels showing rows of saints and Old Testament figures. These in turn are enclosed on either side by Dominican ‘Blessed’ figures who were holy and revered but not saints.
The mass of saints includes Dominicans and reflects their interest in the saints of their order and the place of the Dominicans in the broader church.
These panels once formed part of an altarpiece made for the church of Fra Angelico’s own convent (San Domenico) in Fiesole, a town near Florence. Fra Angelico painted two other altarpieces for San Domenico: the Annunciation (Prado, Madrid) and the Coronation of the Virgin (Louvre, Paris). As a member of the Dominican order, Fra Angelico would not have been paid for his work. He had a workshop of assistants helping him, including his pupil, Zanobi Strozzi. Fra Angelico seems to contributed more to certain panels than others; he appears to have painted the central panel with very little assistance, for example.
The main part of the altarpiece remains in San Domenico in Fiesole. It shows the Virgin and Child seated on a throne surrounded on either side by adoring angels and Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr. Apart from Barnabas, the apostle, the other three were Dominican saints.
The three horizontal rectangular panels in the National Gallery’s collection formed the predella, the lowest structural element of the altarpiece. They show Christ, resurrected, surrounded by angels in the central panel, the Virgin Mary and saints to the left and Old Testament figures and martyr saints to the right. Two panels (left and right) show members of the Dominican Beati (‘Blessed’), those who were venerated but had not yet been made saints. These last two panels most probably formed the lowest part of the two pilasters that supported the altarpiece on either side of the predella. They would have been on the same level as the predella, framing it on both sides.
Although there are a few examples of paintings and frescoes showing Dominican saints and ‘Blessed’ in the court of heaven, the imagery is unique for a predella – but it clearly relates to the order and its mission. Although there is no known or surviving visual parallel for the images, we know from written sources that the Dominicans were deeply interested in the saints of their order and many lists of Dominican saints – ordered according to their importance – were compiled. Fra Angelico himself made a series of frescoes including portraits of Dominican friars for the chapter house of San Marco, Florence. Another idea is that the predella reflects scenes of the Last Judgement where the saints are arranged in neat rows surrounding Christ.
Surviving documents tell us that Barnaba degli Agli (d.1418) left money in his will for the completion and furnishings of the convent church which was founded in 1406. Some of this money might have been used to pay for this altarpiece and the predella in its original frame.
The altarpiece was originally a polyptych (made up of lots of separate panels) joined together by an elaborate frame. In 1502 the Florentine painter Lorenzo di Credi removed the framing elements and repainted the main tier of pictures so that all the holy figures were shown together in a single image. At this stage the predella and the panels that topped the main tier were removed. Two of these upper pinnacle panels have been identified in other collections including the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate (both in the Von Tucher collection, Vienna). Between them was the Blessing Redeemer (Royal Collection, London). The pilasters probably also included roundels with bishop saints; one of these, Saint Romulus, is now in the National Gallery’s collection. In front of the predella was a tabernacle (Prado, Madrid) which held the Host – the bread of the Eucharist.






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