Fra Angelico (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) [Hardcover]

Laurence Kanter (Author), Pia Palladino (Author), Magnolia Scudieri (Contributor), Carl Brandon Strehlke (Contributor), Victor M. Schmidt (Contributor), Anneke de Vries (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Metropolitan Museum of Art Series | Publication Date: November 11, 2005

This beautiful book, published in conjunction with the first major exhibition of Fra Angelico’s work since the cinquecentenary exhibition of 1955 in Florence, will feature more than seventy paintings, drawings, and manuscript illuminations covering all periods of the artist’s career, from round 1410 to 1455. Also included will be fifty selected works by his assistants and closest followers.

Fra Angelico (“the angelic friar”; ca. 1390/95–1455) was one of Renaissance Florence’s leading painters. In addition to his celebrated altarpieces and frescos in Florence, Fiesole, Cortona, Perugia, and Rome, Fra Angelico also  completed many masterpieces on a small scale. His predella panels, the small narrative scenes included beneath large altarpieces, are among the most innovative creations in fifteenthcentury Florence, while his images of the Virgin and Child still retain the inspirational immediacy and presence that first secured the artist’s reputation as the premier painter of his age.

Research undertaken in the last fifty years now allows scholars to reconstruct a more historically reliable biography of Fra Angelico that goes beyond the legends and traditions to establish his position not only as one of the greatest masters of the fifteenth century, but also as one of the most intellectually accomplished painters who ever lived.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This beautiful book presents more than seventy paintings, drawings, and manuscript illuminations from all periods in the career of Fra Angelico, one of Renaissance Florence’s premier painters. Selected works by his assistants and followers are also included, along with a historically reliable biography of the "angelic friar" whose innovative works retain their inspirational power today.

About the Author

Laurence Kanter is Curator-in-Charge of the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and is Lionel Goldfrank III Curator of Early European Art at the Yale University Art Gallery. Pia Palladino is Associate Curator of the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Magnolia Scudieri is Director of the Museo di San Marco in Florence. Carl Strehlke is Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Victor Schmidt is Professor of Fine Arts at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Anneke de Vries is an independent art historian.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art (November 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300111401
• ISBN-13: 978-0300111408
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 10.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #936,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fra Angelico: A Reevaluation and Appreciation, October 29, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fra Angelico (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Hardcover)

FRA ANGELICO may be a museum catalogue for the current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but it is also one of the more impressive historical documents on this important painter and his influence on the world of art in the library today. The book is a masterwork of scholarship and visual examples of this 15th Century artist.

Words fail in describing the degree of integrity of scholarship of the contributors. Under the curatorial guidance of Laurence Kanter the museum has gathered seventy-odd paintings, drawings and illuminations from books by Fra Angelico, and then to add to the dimension of the great master's influence, they have added some fifty works by his students and disciples. While Fra Angelico shines in his extraordinary sense of detail and representational art in a period when art was flattened decor and just entering the blossoming of the Renaissance, the works included by his pupils are quite staggeringly beautiful. Some would say comparison to the master is unfair: history offers another vantage, that being the concept that the truly great teachers enlighten their pupils to exceed the teacher's creations!

While the visual components of this fine book are incomparable, the various written sections by not only Laurence Kanter, but also by Pia Palladino, Magnolia Scudieri, Carl Strehlke, Victor M. Schmidt, and Anneke de Vries not only inform - they also read like a novel of the life and times in 15th Century Florence. In every way this is a magnum opus that represents well the Museum's exemplary exhibition of the work of Fra Angelico. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fra Angelico: A Breathtaking Glimpse, January 30, 2006

By 

Madelyn Edelson "M.Edelson book collector" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fra Angelico (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Hardcover)

This is much more than a coffee table book because of the extensive coverage of the artist: his life, his contemporaties, influences on his style and his influence on the styles of others. The lavish illustrations in glorious color emphasize the other-worldliness of the subject matter.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SIZE Does Matter, June 24, 2010

By 

Roberto II (Roma) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fra Angelico (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Hardcover)

Having expected to receive a book covering most of Fra Angelico's works I was quite satisfied as the book delivers its promise in this respect.
The drawback is too SMALL size of many of the paintings. Using a magnifying glass to see details results in seeing images broken into printing dots that are pretty BIG. This way one has an impression of seeing paintings without really seeing them as they break down upon a closer look. This is an interesting phenomena in itself but it's decreasing the book's value as of a document. Of course this doesn't apply to all reproductions.

Another matter is color quality, although this complaint could apply to the majority of art books.

Suggestion:
As for this reviewer art books published by an Italian house "Electa" reproduce colors to such a standard, other publisher should blush. "Electa" had published a book containing images from San Marco, that was also published in English. If you can put your paws on that one, you'll get my point, I hope.