Fra Angelico’s Crucifixion Was Sold by Christie’s Auction House For Over £5 million.
Foto: Christie’s
Newsroom (07/11/2023 15:00, Gaudium Press) Fra Angelico’s pioneering work, The Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist and St. Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, was sold on July 6, by Christie’s auction house in London for more than £5 million (about L$31 million) – a new auction record for this painter – to an unknown buyer.
Fra Angelico’s works at auction are rare – only two have been recorded this century – as his paintings are still mostly attached to walls. In fact, many are in the convent of San Marco in Florence.
This panel was discovered and published by Francis Russell, vice-president of Christie’s in the UK, in Burlington Magazine in May 1996. The discovery aroused widespread interest among scholars. The work had previously been attributed to Lorenzo Monaco, in whose workshop Fra Angelico was said to have been apprenticed. The panel is believed to have been acquired by William Bingham Baring, 2nd Lord Ashburton, in the 18th century.
Fra Angelico, Christie’s explains, “was one of the first painters to learn the lessons of contemporary sculpture and this work presents his significant evolution in painted perspective: depicting the cross in a straight line, in correct, logical perspective, without the false addition of showing the depth of the right part of the cross, which was standard at the time. The work conveys an emotional expression and intensity that is amplified by the exemplary original condition of the figures which, having not been cleaned in recent times, provide the 21st century viewer with an extraordinary opportunity to experience the artist’s wonderful sense of color.”
Upon taking his vows as a Dominican friar in the small town of Fiesole, just outside Florence, Guido di Piero adopted the name Fra Giovanni da Fiesole. As a painter, the friar was unparalleled. Giorgio Vasari described him as having “a rare and perfect talent”, and of great impact on Florentine Renaissance painting and the history of art. His piety and modesty earned him the posthumous name “Fra Angelico” or “Blessed Angelico” and in 1982 Pope John Paul II beatified him, formally recognizing the painter’s dedication to God during his lifetime.
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Compiled by Florence MacDonald
