Madonna and Child Enthroned and Twelve Angels, ca. 1420 – 1430

About the Work

This panel by the Florentine artist-monk was probably created in the 1420s. It 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.