By Alexandros Dimiropoulos
“Non fece mai Crucifisso che non si bagnasse le gote di lagrime”.
“Never painted a crucifix without tears running down his cheeks” (Vasari – Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, et architetti).
With these words Giorgio Vasari, an important 16th century artist, describes Fra Angelico and this is exactly what Paul Hippolyte Flandrin depicts in this painting.
Fra Angelico moved by the subject of his painting, with one hand he holds his brushes and with the other he holds his face, weeping. Next to him there is a small book, obviously a religious book, while the whole scene is made even more dramatic by the expression of the angels watching him. Truly a scene of great intensity which also gives us an insight into the life of Fra Angelico, this very important painter of the 15th century.
But let’s start from the beginning. Paul Hippolyte Flandrin (1856 – 1921) (who painted this painting) is the son of Hippolyte Flandrin a talented painter, who was considered one of the most important “religious painters” of his time although today he is not particularly well known. In fact, Hippolyte Flandrin (the father) is mentioned by some as the Fra Angelico of his time. Below we see one of his paintings:
So, the family background may have played a role in why Paul Hippolyte Flandrin chose to paint such a subject depicting Fra Angelico. And also why, especially at the beginning of his career, many of his works have a religious theme. It is important to mention also that he studied next to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, a great painter, with whom his father had also studied.
Today Paul-Hippolyte Flandrin is a rather unknown painter, although he has painted great paintings like this work with Fra Angelico. Below we see another painting by him with Joan of Arc:
Returning to the subject of our original painting, we must dive a little deeper into Fra Angelico and his life. Fra Angelico in our painting is depicted as a monk with angels next to him. The impression one gets from the painting is that he was a religious man who had dedicated his life to God.
And this is true. His real name was Guido di Pietro while later he chose the name Fra Giovanni, when he became a Dominican monk. 14 years after his death he was called for the first time “pictor angelicus” (angelic painter) a description that when it was given to him referred to “doctor angelicus” a title attributed to Thomas Aquinas reflecting the purity and power of his spirit. Later Vasari extends the “angelicus” to the painter’s technique, which through the vividness of his paintings, the expressions of the figures, the bright colors, is as if his paintings were made by an angel.
Most of the information about the life of Fra Angelico comes from Giorgio Vasari (who also wrote the biography of many other painters and artists of his time). That’s where the quote I mentioned at the beginning comes from (“Never painted a crucifix without tears running down his cheeks”) and which is also the subject that Paul Hippolyte Flandrin depicts in this painting.
But Vasari was a painter and not a historian, so parts of the biography may not be historically accurate.
Vasari describes Fra Angelico as a humble, pious man who had dedicated his life to God and narrate scenes from his life as a Dominican monk that present him as a model of faith. Almost a hagiography. But since there are not many sources related to the life of Fra Angelico we cannot be sure that all the events mentioned are real (although he was probably a humble and pious man).
In the article “THE STORY OF FRA ANGELICO: REFLECTIONS IN MIRRORS” (Gerbron, Cyril. “THE STORY OF FRA ANGELICO: REFLECTIONS IN MIRRORS.” Mitteilungen Des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, vol. 57, no. 3, 2015, pp. 292–319) we can read that 3 things can be invoked without any doubt about Fra Angelico:
1) The fact that he only painted religious paintings in his life shows that he did not paint to please his “audience” or for reasons of aesthetic beauty, but as a way of devotion to God.
2) When he became a Dominican monk at a young age, he chose the stricter branch of the Observant rather than the Conventual, which among other things meant that he could not make a personal fortune from his works.
3) Giuliano Lapacini, in his work Cronaca di San Marco (which was written while Fra Angelico was alive), describes Fra Angelico as a very modest man who lived a religious life.
So, all this converges to the fact that Fra Angelico was a humble man dedicated to God. And even if Vasari’s words that ” Never painted a crucifix without tears running down his cheeks ” or that he “never took a brush in his hands without first saying a prayer”, though they seem exaggerated perhaps they may be true.
And it is precisely this devotion that Paul Hippolyte Flandrin presented in this painting in a truly extraordinary way.
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