ANGELICO, Fra
(b. ca. 1400, Vicchio nell Mugello, d. 1455, Roma)

Missal 558 (Folio 41v)

c. 1430
Tempera and gold on parchment, 475 x 350 mm (page size)
Museo di San Marco, Florence

Some eighteen pages of the San Marco Missal 558, kept in the Museo di San Marco in Florence, bear illuminations by Angelico's hand and a further eleven those by other members of his workshop. This picture shows an initial P from folio 41v enclosing a scene with the Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr. The initial begins the introit to the Mass for the feast of St Peter Martyr.

Although Angelico's early training was undoubtedly with Lorenzo Monaco at Santa Maria degli Angeli and may have included a period in that convent's scriptorium, he is never called a miniatore (illuminator). The two fields were always distinguished from each other in writings of the time, and therefore Angelico probably only occasionally painted illuminations. The San Marco Missal 558 contains most miniatures that are likely to be by Angelico's hand. About eighteen folios can be considered for the most part autograph, the rest, although very close in conception, are not by his hand, more than one artist (including Zanobi Strozzi) may have illuminated them.




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