REDISCOVERING THE BEAUTY OF GRAZIA'S LIFE THROUGH THE WORK OF BEATO ANGELICO

The feast of Beato Angelico remembers that every man, illuminated by grace, Although called to walk on steep paths, continually rediscover one's nature as a divine masterpiece. Creation, although disfigured by sin and the difficulties of life, it is always the place where the chiaroscuro of human existence intertwines with true and profound love.

 

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Fra Angelico, born Giovanni da Fiesole, he was a Dominican friar who lived his religious life between torment and ecstasy. Through this writing I would like to share some thoughts on this Dominican brother famous throughout the world for his art and his faith.

To illustrate life, Angelico's works and pictorial style I made use of the precious advice of the Dominican brothers Sister Paola Gobbo and Brother Manuel Russo. So let's start from life: Giovanni da Fiesole was born in the last years of the 14th century, between 1395 and the beginning of 1400, in Vicchio, a town in Mugello, today in the province of Florence. Since I was young, one of his most obvious gifts was painting. To follow this talent, he decided to leave his home. It is known with certainty that he moved to Florence for his apprenticeship. Experts maintain that his teacher was Lorenzo Monaco, a Camaldolese from the Florentine abbey of Santa Maria degli Angeli. His stay at Monaco lasted until 1417. As was typical of the shops of the time, in his early years Giovanni learned the art of miniature painting, of the panel and the fresco, depending on the master's commissions. The master took care of the most important parts of the works, leaving the secondary ones to his boys, who also had the task of preparing the materials and grinding the pigments. In this way, the disciples learned the trade by observing and practicing.

During the apprenticeship period, the composition of the works followed rigorous rules established by the iconographic tradition of Byzantine origin. The hierarchy established the size of the characters in proportion to their dignity, with the central place reserved for Christ. Even the scenic environment, the number and role of the characters, their attitudes were all set. The artists used traditional patterns, as if they had a ready-to-use manual that indicated the methods and subjects to paint. Even the color, fundamental for its expressive and iconographic value, was subject to significant limitations. For example, the gold background of the panels prevented a naturalistic setting and the colors of the clothes were fixed: yellow indicated Pietro, red and blue indicated Mary, blue and red indicated Christ.

In this context, artistic genius was expressed through rigid legislation, but with full creative freedom. The risk was high, since the works could be rejected by clients not ready for such innovations, or they could bring fame, precisely because novelty attracted and fascinated. This was the most important lesson that Giovanni learned in the Monk's workshop. The latter had drawn from the masters of the past, like Duccio da Buoninsegna, Simone Martini, the Lorenzetti brothers, Cimabue and Giotto. Giovanni Monaco's art took place in the transition between Gothic and Renaissance Humanism, learning from the greats of the past to "go beyond" tradition and studying the innovations of his time.

The first document concerning Fra Angelico it is dated 1417 and concerns his enrollment in the Company of San Nicolò, at the Carmine church in Florence, sign of a spiritual journey undertaken. In this document he is recognized as a «painter”. On that date, thanks to a posthumous gloss that reports the wording: «Fecesi friar of Saint Domenicho», we know he was still secular. He entered the reformed Dominican convent of Fiesole between 1420 and the 1422, by joining the Order of Preachers. We'll see you again, a few years later, also his brother Benedetto, miniaturist.

There were two Dominican convents in Florence: Santa Maria Novella and San Domenico in Fiesole. Of the first it is written that the priesthood was not granted to artists because they were considered servile workers. Beato Angelico instead fully entered the Fiesole convent. Religious education had a decisive impact on Fra Giovanni's life and art. To religious profession, he found himself at a crossroads: become a lay brother, today we would call him a lay brother, which would have ensured him greater freedom in his work, or friar cleric. He chose, with his superiors, the second street, probably because they judged him capable of being an authentic friar, priest and preacher through art. For this we must thank Saint Antoninus of Florence, who glimpsed the genius of Angelico and allowed it to develop and bear fruit.

In his works we find these themes predominant: the centrality of Christ, knowledge of the Holy Scripture, the magisterium of the Church, adherence to Thomistic theology, the exemplary nature of the saints and the attention to the requests and expectations of the people, and finally the simplicity of his creations. Among the numerous commissions that Angelico received, there was that of his prior Sant'Antonino, who wanted to create a series of wall paintings in the convent of the observants of San Marco. Work began in 1437 e, between 1439 and the 1445, Beato Angelico painted in fresco 54 compositions with over 320 figure umane.

Inside a convent they were legal, indeed requests, sacred images accompanying the common rooms, of the dormitory and cells. Non-sacred images were prohibited and precious materials were excluded. For this reason Fra Giovanni chose the fresco technique, whose compositional materials are simple, lowly, natural: lime, sand, terre. The beauty of these wall paintings is that they are found in the places intended by the artist. This is an advantage for us because we can grasp Angelico's thought, who created them in those precise places according to a project and a message that was very clear in his mind. For example, outside the entrance to the guesthouse of the convent he painted Christ the pilgrim welcomed by two friars. In the novitiate the figures of the crucified Christ stand out, support for those who entered religious life and an invitation to recognize and unite with love. Everything was designed to recall the minds of the friars to the divine, the divine that inhabits the human. It was a sort of help to maintain that climate of contemplation and deep listening that inhabited Dominican homes.

Let's look briefly at Angelico's pictorial work. It is transmitted to us by Vasari that he:

«He would never have put his hand to the brushes without first praying. He never made a crucifix that didn't wet his cheeks with tears.".

This tells us how mystical the soul of Beato Angelico was and how much his art came from deep contemplation, from an experience that becomes a message. Some authors tell us that he painted in a state of ecstasy. Obviously it's not the ecstasy we think it is, but something similar to a "kidnapping"; that is, being totally immersed, in what you are doing and thinking, with utmost dedication, placing all our faculties at that service. Angelico was immersed in the Mystery that he intended to celebrate with his art where he found that vital center where God lives and speaks to the heart.

Paola Mancinelli writes: «Artistic creation is always an event of truth and generosity as well as the possibility of humbly giving shape to the mystery of being after having received the call as a thirst for beauty» (cf.. The amazement of beauty, Oristampa, Florence, 2008). It's a wait, conceive and give birth to an intuition, an image that almost suddenly generates in our mind, before our eyes. Certain that what we produce will only be a reflection of that Beauty that flashed in our spirit.

As for the other aspect of tears that he indicates to us, he was reminiscent of Vasari, they are an expression of love, of pain, of involvement so Angelico was moved to the deepest fibers of his soul. If it is true that "the tongue speaks of the abundance of the heart", this also applies to artistic expression, through which Fra Giovanni showed his entire interior world. We cannot separate the man from the artist, the man from the consecrated, this unity which is not separable.

Il Beato Angelico seppe to touche dalla "gracias gracias facens" (the grace that makes us welcome), a gift that illuminates the path of humanity, guiding her through the challenges and darknesses of life. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

«Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free help that God gives us because we respond to his invitation: become children of God, adopted children, participate in the divine nature, of eternal life. Grace is a participation in the life of God; introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life. Through Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, Head of his body. As an “adopted son”, he can now call God “Father”, in union with the only begotten Son. He receives the life of the Spirit which instills charity in him and forms the Church. This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on the free initiative of God, since he alone can reveal himself and give himself. It surpasses the capabilities of man's intelligence and willpower, as of every creature" (cf.. CCC 1996, 1997, 1998).

Jesus Christ, with his sacrifice, he gave us "grace upon grace" (GV 1,16), a continuous flow of love and redemption that manifests divine glory. This is why Fra Angelico, with his art, continues to speak to our hearts, offering a path of beauty and light that shines in the darkest moments. His party, today, takes on an even deeper meaning, especially in an era marked by war, the division and isolation produced even by social media, when instead spiritual rebirth and beauty, including the artistic one, they are essential for all humanity.

God's grace is both a concept and a reality which truly expresses and represents the unconditional love and divine favor that is offered to us without merit. This grace makes the glory of God present, visible through the works of Christ and his followers.

Fra Angelico, with his art, he was able to capture this glory, transferring divine grace into his works with representations that speak directly to the soul. His works, such as «The Annunciation» and «The Last Judgment», they are visual testimonies of that grace, and they call us inviting us to reflect on our relationship with the divine.

In times of crisis like ours, beauty plays a fundamental role for our spiritual and moral rebirth, that of the rediscovery of the Good of Beauty. Scriveva Hans Urs Von Balthasar:

«In a world without beauty, in a world that is perhaps not without them, but he is no longer able to see her, to deal with it, even good has lost its attractive force, the evidence of its must-be-fulfilled; and man remains perplexed by it and wonders why he shouldn't rather prefer evil" (cf.. Gloria 1 – Perception of Form, Jaca Book, Milan, 2012, 18).

Fra Angelico, with his being an artist, he showed how beauty can be a vehicle of grace and redemption. Even the light that illuminates his paintings is a symbol of the divine light that guides our steps, even in the darkest moments.

The feast of Beato Angelico remembers that every man, illuminated by grace, Although called to walk on steep paths, continually rediscover one's nature as a divine masterpiece. Creation, although disfigured by sin and the difficulties of life, it is always the place where the chiaroscuro of human existence intertwines with true and profound love. Fra Angelico, with his art, invites us to see beyond appearances, to discover the beauty hidden in every corner of our lives.

The artists, like Fra Angelico, they have the gift of dragging us beyond immanence, beyond the paths of pure rationality and theoresis. Their art takes us between torment and ecstasy, making us live experiences that go beyond simply seeing. Beauty, in this sense, it becomes a way of knowing and experiencing the divine. It is a path that invites us to let ourselves be transformed by grace, to see the world with new eyes, illuminated by the light of faith.

In conclusion, the path of light through grace is a journey we are all called to take. Fra Angelico, offers us invaluable guidance on this journey, showing us how beauty and light can illuminate our darkest paths. His party, today, invites us to rediscover our nature as divine masterpieces, to let ourselves be transformed by grace and to walk with confidence towards glory. This celebration can be a time of rebirth for all of us, especially for artists who, with their work, continue to bring light and hope to the world.

The hope, which is also the guiding theme of this jubilee, as Holy Scripture reminds us, when it comes from God it is always founded and does not confuse. Hope, like art and the beauty that is its necessary corollary, is harmonious, integral and proportionate. So that we all become beautiful and hopeful, let's rediscover the art of Beato Angelico who depicted the beauty and uniqueness of Christ for us.

 

Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 18 February 2025

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