Fra Angelico and His Circle: the Materials and Techniques of Book Illumination

Guido di Piero, better known as Beato Angelico, Fra Giovanni da Fiesole or Fra Angelico (c.1400-1455), was one of the most important artists of the fifteenth century. He excelled in manuscript illumination as well as fresco and panel painting. Angelico's talent was celebrated ten years ago at the San Marco Museum in Florence with the exhibition, 'Fra Giovanni Angelico. Pittore miniatore o miniatore pittore?', which showcased and compared the painting materials and techniques used by the artist for illuminated manuscripts and panel paintings. This comparative study was later expanded to include some of his frescoes in the San Marco Museum. This paper reports the most significant results obtained within a multidisciplinary research project on Angelico's illumination techniques - a project which involved curators, conservators and scientists. The discussion will focus particularly on one of the artist's masterpieces in the permanent collection of the San Marco Museum: the Gradual of St Dominic (hereafter Gradual 558). The overall results of the research project will also be compared to data obtained on two other manuscripts, illuminated by artists belonging to Angelico's circle: an Antiphoner by Battista di Biagio Sanguigni and a Gradual by Zanobi Strozzi and Filippo di Matteo Torelli