Ecstasy of Saint Benedict in the Desert

Localisation : The Giotto Room
Année de création :Circa 1430
Artiste :Guido di Pietro, Fra Giovanni, known as Fra Angelico

Description

This small panel is a fragment of a painting depicting scenes of the Thebaid, the desert region of Thebes in Egypt, where pious men lived as hermits, marking the origins of monasticism. It was perhaps intended for the Santa Maria degli Angeli monastery in Florence. In the centre, it featured the Three Dead and the Three Living, and scenes depicting the life of cenobitic monks. The panel was cut into several parts and today its fragments are dispersed among several international museums. Dismantling works in this way made it possible for art dealers, particularly in the 19th century, to make a higher profit by selling works with smaller formats, which were easier to sell. The luminous inventiveness of this landscape, surrounded by sea, and the gentleness emanating from the characters is typical of Fra Angelico, who was one of the great innovators of the first half of the 15th century in Florence, in particular in the area of altar paintings.