Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/136

108 doubt these regions were familiar to him during the years that he spent at Cortona, and, although a friar of the rival Order, no painter had a deeper reverence for St. Francis, or was inspired with a larger share of his tender love and glowing devotion than Fra Angelico. The frequent repetition on these small panels of the story of Cosimo and Damiano is explained by the fact that these Saints were patrons of the Medici family, whose chief representative, Cosimo, had been one of Fra Giovanni's earliest patrons. After his return from exile in 1434, one of Cosimo de' Medici's first acts was to obtain the convent of San Marco for the Dominicans of Fiesole, and to employ his favourite architect, Michelozzo, to rebuild this ancient house of the Silvestrine monks. In 1436, the friars took possession of their new home, and Fra Angelico began the great work of his life, the decoration of the convent-walls.

The Chapter-house contains the large Crucifixion which, in spite of the injuries it has suffered, and of the total disappearance of the once blue sky, is still one of the most impressive pictures in the world. The death of Christ on the Cross is here represented, not as an historical event, but as a sacred mystery for the devout contemplation of the Christian believer, and the favourite Florentine Saints and founders of religious orders are introduced among the spectators. On the left we have first the traditional group of the fainting Virgin, supported by the Maries and St. John; then the Baptist and St. Mark, the protectors of the city and convent, and Cosimo and Damiano, the patrons of the Medici. On the right, Dominic kneels with outstretched arms at the