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Art Notes: Fra Angelico's Sermon on the Mount

We contemplate a beautiful illustration used in the Compendium to introduce the section on the Ten Commandments, a fresco by Guido di Pietro (Fra Angelico).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Fra_Angelico_-_Die_Be...

In his Lives of the Artists, published in 1550, Giorgio Vasari tells us that ‘to portray holy and spiritual things, a man must have a holy and pious mind’. No one in the history of art satisfies that requirement more fully than Guido di Pietro, known in the religious life as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, but better known to us as Fra Angelico. A man of outstanding holiness, he only ever began painting after long periods spent in prayer, and it is said that he could never paint a crucifixion without weeping. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1984.

The fresco we are studying was made by Fra Angelico between 1440 and 1450, as part of the decoration of the Monastery of St Marco in Florence. It is to be found in the north wing in cell 32.

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Dr. Lionel Gracey is an international speaker and writer on art and Catholicism, and a Fellow of Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, UK.

This article is from The Sower and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of Maryvale Institute. Contact [email protected]

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28.3

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The Catechetics Degree Programs and the Catechetical Institute (CI) at Franciscan University of Steubenville work in concert to prepare clergy, religious and laity to join the “army of catechists” called for by St. John Paul II, eager to help the Church in her mission of making all nations joyful disciples of Jesus Christ. We combine a thorough formation in Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and Magisterial documents with training in effective pedagogical techniques to help those we serve to grasp the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Father’s plan, and to bear witness to others faithfully of the wonderful life of grace in the Holy Spirit.

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