1442, Fra Angelico, Crucifixion with Saints -- San Marco Museum (Florence)
From the museum label:
This is indeed the grandes fresco, both in terms of size and concept, that Fra [Angelico] painted in San Marco. Document sources lead us to believe that it was painted between 1441 and 1442 since, by then the room was ready to host the friars' Chapter meetings.
The fact that he included all the patron saints from those of the Medici family who commissioned the fresco, to those of the convent and the city along with the founder of the Order and Dominican saints, the Fathers of the Church and, above all, the founders of the main monastic orders among the observers, gives the image a very special meaning: it is a call to join in meditation on the Passion of Christ. This fresco is also an outstanding achievement in the history of restorations.
Between 1967 and 1974, a new method of consolidating the paint layer was used on it for the very first time. Known as the ammonium-barium method, it makes it possible to keep the fresco on the wall without having to make recourse to the process known as strappo - literally tearing it away.
1442, Fra Angelico, Crucifixion with Saints -- San Marco Museum (Florence)
From the museum label:
This is indeed the grandes fresco, both in terms of size and concept, that Fra [Angelico] painted in San Marco. Document sources lead us to believe that it was painted between 1441 and 1442 since, by then the room was ready to host the friars' Chapter meetings.
The fact that he included all the patron saints from those of the Medici family who commissioned the fresco, to those of the convent and the city along with the founder of the Order and Dominican saints, the Fathers of the Church and, above all, the founders of the main monastic orders among the observers, gives the image a very special meaning: it is a call to join in meditation on the Passion of Christ. This fresco is also an outstanding achievement in the history of restorations.
Between 1967 and 1974, a new method of consolidating the paint layer was used on it for the very first time. Known as the ammonium-barium method, it makes it possible to keep the fresco on the wall without having to make recourse to the process known as strappo - literally tearing it away.