Welcome! This site is dedicated to Renaissance and Impressionist art history. Here you can find concise, well-rounded artist biographies, related quotes, and art works; there is a guide to name pronunciation as well as a dictionary full of terms specific to the Renaissance and Impressionism.       Guido di Pietro (1387-1455), also known as Fra Angelico (Angelic) or Beato (Blessed) Angelico, was a devoted friar as well as painter. He was given his nickname because of the many religious themes he was known to have painted. He was born in Vicchio, Tuscany and entered a Dominican convent at the age of 18. In 1425, he became friar Giovanni da Fiesole. During his stay at the convent, he created illuminated religious books and painted altarpieces. His art work was loved because its colors were pure and uncomplicated and any light was portrayed with the most delicacy. In 1437, he moved to the Convent of San Marco. There he was appointed by Cosimo de' Medici to decorate the interior. He made over 50 frescoes in the process. The Pope attended the inauguration of the convent and in that instance Fra Angelico became famous. Among his most celebrated works are Crucifiction and Last Judgment. Other accomplishments besides his art work included inheriting Niccolina Chapel and serving as Prior of the Convent San Dominico at Fiesole. Fra Angelico is perhaps one of the most loved artists of the Renaissance. He would often say that whoever practised art needed a quiet life and freedom from care, and that he who occupied himself with the things of Christ ought always to be with Christ. -Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Painters (1568) [Of a painting from S. Domenico, Fiesole, now in the Louvre] It appears that the spirits of the blessed in heaven cannot be otherwise than these, or to put it better, they could not if they were corporeal, for all the saints there are not only full of life with their sweet and delicate ways, but the entire colouring appears to be the work of a saint or an angel like themselves. -Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Painters (1568)   Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven 1428-1430 Transfiguration 1440-1441 Noli Me Tangere 1440-1441 Saint Lawrence Distributing Alms 1447-1449 Coronation of the Virgin Alterpiece from San Domenico 1450-1453