Fra Angelico Born in 1395 in Vicchio, Italy, Fra Angelico was known as Guido di, Pietro. In his existence, Fra Angelico was also called Fra Giovanni da Fiesole and Beato Angelico. On 17 October 1417, Fra joined a confraternity at the Carmine Church while still going by the name Guido di Pietro. At that period, he had started his work as a painter as seen in the records of the church of Santo Stefano del Ponte. In 1418 while still a young lad, he and his brother Benedetto took the vow to become Monks according to the order of Dominican Preachers. Consequently, he chose the name Fra Angelico while at the convent of San Domenico in Fiosele. (Tabucchi and Tim, 98) At around 1425, Fra Giovanni became a friar going under the name Giovanni da Fiesole. Not much has been recorded about his parents but presumably, he was from a wealthy background. By 1418, he had completed his novitiate in Cortona.
Fra Angelico nurtured a profound religious love for humanity and an appreciation of humility before his God. Angelico started out training together with his brother as an illuminator of missals and other religious books before later pursuing fresco painting. At around 1420, he and his brother opened a painter's workshop in Fiesole. The Order of Preachers belonged to the two new mendicant orders of the era. Unlike their predecessors, the two orders kept in close contact with the community mostly as priests, teachers, or inquisitors. Hence, Fra believed that his work created a medium for all people experience their faith much more intensely.
Many of Angelico's works came into creation while at the monastery. While at Fiesole, the teachings of Giovanni Dominici played a huge role in his work. Lorenzo Monaco, the Camaldolese monk painter, may have laid the groundwork to Fra's painting career especially in rhythmic line and predella panels. His styles included international Gothic combined with a more realistic style of the Renaissance. His first work includes a painting of the Carthusian Monastery of Florence and an altarpiece. Between 1408 and 1418 Fra Angelico while at the Dominican friary of Cortona, he painted frescoes. During this period, there are notions that he might have been Gherardo Starnina's follower or apprentice. Fra's consolidation might have been St. Antoninus Pierozzi, the archbishop of Florence, who inspired some of his compositions.
Fra Angelico's contemporaries included Benozzo Gozzoli, Gentile da Fabriano, Masaccio, and Masolino. In his stay at the convent of Fiesole between 1418 and 1436, he painted a couple of frescoes and the Altarpiece. (Mutter, 54) He moved into the Friary of San Marco in Florence in 1436. During his stay here, he began the decoration of the monastery with including the Chapter House fresco, Annunciation, the Maesta with Saints together with the other devotional frescoes illuminating aspects of the Life of Christ on the walls of each cell. At this time, his patron was Cosimo de' Medici, a wealthy and influential member of the then ruling authority, the Signoria. Pope Eugenius IV summoned Fra to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's in 1445. From 1447 to 1449, he went back to the Vatican to design the frescoes for the Niccoline Chapel.
From 1449 to 1452, he was back at his convent of Fiesole and became the Prior. He died in 1455 during his stay at a Dominican convent in Rome. It is thought he was about to work on Pope Nicholas' chapel. His burial ground is at He the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. His cause of death was leprosy at the age of 60. His works emanate a religious feeling and the conscientiousness in his devotion. He captured his spiritual life in his creations. He was passionate about the Gospel of Christ, and he believed that, "He who occupies himself with the things of Christ, must ever dwell with Christ.” (Addison, 143) His work always illuminated the values and virtues he stood for and the unquestioning belief in Christ. Pope John Paul II beatified him on October 3, 1982 and in 1984, he was declared patron of Catholic artists.

Works Cited
Addison, Julia W. G. Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages a Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance. Hamburg: tredition, 2012.
Mutter, Rosalind. Fra Angelico: Art and Religion in the Renaissance. Kent: Crescent Moon Publishing, 2013.
Tabucchi, Antonio, and Tim Parks. The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico. Brooklyn, NY: Archipelago Books, 2013.