We went to Palazzo Strozzi for a one hour private viewing of the Mostra di Beato Angelico (Fra Angelico exhibition) before it opened to the public.

The exhibition is organized thematically, not chronologically and is split between Palazzo Strozzi and the convento di San Marco.

The Palazzo Strozzi part starts with looking at the influence of Lorenzo Monaco. Both worked on the below altarpiece. Fra Angelico’s is the main panel showing the influence of the classics, ie ancient art, in the sculptural look of the bodies. The perspective in the background indicates Renaissance concerns.

The exhibition tries to show that Fra Angelico was early Renaissance, and not Gothic as he often was classified. His work shows the influence of the naturalism of Netherlandish painters like Jan Van Eyck even when his painting included gold leaf in the Gothic style.

Some areas in his paintings look modern. A traditional subject, the Annunciation, includes abtract-like marble patterned flooring.

Many of Fra Angelico’s works were taken by Napoleon. They were often taken apart and the various pieces later distributed and not return to their original location. The exhibition includes paintings loaned from museums around the world and reassembled as best they can.

The exhibition included a crucifixion that had been cut up and parts sold but semi-reunited for the exhibition. A lone Christ crucified was an invention of Fra Angelico.

The praedella pieces, the small paintings that create a shelf running along the bottom of some altarpieces were particularly interesting.

This large altarpiece done for Cosimo the elder, considered the main founder of the Medici family, shows Renaissance perspective and contemporary details. It shows the story of Cosmos and Damien in the praedella.

Cosmos and Damien were Christian brothers who were doctors and refused to worship an idol. The sultan tried to kill them but methods like stoning and arrows did not work as the stones or arrows hit the people throwing or shooting them instead of Cosmos and Damien. The panel is rather amusing as it shows the pain of one guy in the bottom left corner getting hit by stone.

Another shows them being thrown into the sea and then rescued by angels. Eventually, the sultan killed them by decapitation. This seems to be a tale repeated for other saints.

Seeing rarely displayed drawings from King Charles’ collection at Winsor castle was a treat.

There were more curious objects like painted doors for a cupboard or armoire that used to be at Santissima Annunziata.

And a box that enclosed a mobile devotional piece.