subject is a Glory, Christ with the banner of the Resurrection, and
a multitude of saints, including, at the extremities, the saints or
beati of the Dominican order; here are no fewer than 266 figures
or portions of figures, many of them having names inscribed. This
predella was highly lauded by Vasari; still more highly another
picture which used to form an altarpiece in Fiesole, and which now
obtains world-wide celebrity in the Louvre--the "Coronation of the
Virgin," with eight predella subjects of the miracles of St. Dominic.
For the church of Santa Trinita, Florence, Angelico executed a
"Deposition from the Cross," and for the church of the Angeli, a "Last
Judgment," both now in the Florentine academy; for S. Maria Novella, a
"Coronation of the Virgin," with a predella in three sections, now
in the Uffizi,--this again is one of his masterpieces. In Orvieto
cathedral he painted three triangular divisions of the ceiling,
portraying respectively Christ in a glory of angels, sixteen saints
and prophets, and the virgin and apostles: all these are now much
repainted and damaged. In Rome, in the Chapel of Nicholas V., the acts
of Saints Stephen and Lawrence; also various figures of saints, and
on the ceiling the four evangelists. These works of the painter's
advanced age, which have suffered somewhat from restorations, show
vigour superior to that of his youth, along with a more adequate
treatment of the architectural perspectives. Naturally, there are a
number of works currently attributed to Angelico, but not really his;
for instance, a "St Thomas with the Madonna's girdle," in the Lateran
museum, and a "Virgin enthroned," in the church of S. Girolamo,
Fiesole. It has often been said that he commenced and frequently
practised as an illuminator; this is dubious and a presumption arises
that illuminations executed by Giovanni's brother, Benedetto, also
a Dominican, who died in 1448, have been ascribed to the more famous
artist. Benedetto may perhaps have assisted Giovanni in the frescoes