A painted wall for reflection

Let your gaze follow the tall shape of the fresco towards its arched top. More than four metres high, this painting was made to belong to a wall. Fra Angelico, a fifteenth-century Italian painter and Dominican friar, painted it for the dining room of the monastery of San Domenico at Fiesole, near Florence. The scene shows Calvary, the place of Christ's crucifixion, with Saint Dominic at prayer. Notice the kneeling figure and the direction of his attention. That devotional gesture gives you a way into the picture, while its height reminds you that it once shaped a whole room. Imagine the painting remaining in place as the community gathered to eat. Its religious subject brought reflection into an everyday setting. The fresco has since been detached from its original wall, which changes the way we encounter it. Here you can study it as an individual work; remembering its first setting helps you understand why the scale, the upward movement and the act of prayer matter together.