3-084-833 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Madonna and Child Enthroned and Twelve Angels, c1420-1430. This panel by the Florentine artist-monk shows the Madonna enthroned, surrounded by twelve angels. Executed with fine brushwork and lavish gilding, the work will no doubt have served equally as a picture for individual devotions and as a demonstration of cultivated art connoisseurship. In this small-format masterpiece of the early Renaissance, Fra Angelico pulled out all the stops with regard to his skills. This is evident in particular in the perspectival design of the canopy above the throne and the wide range of poses and gestures of the angels.