ious
instruments, singing: _laudate Dominum..., laudate eum in sono tubae,
laudate eum in psalterio et cithara, laudate eum in timpano et
choro..._; or else with their fair curly heads downcast they
reverently worship the divine majesty. What a feast of light and
colour is in these panels, gleaming with azure and gold like a hymn to
religion and faith!

"We know from him how the pious imagination of the men of his time
pictured the Kingdom of Heaven, with the angels, saints, and blessed
ones, and on this account alone his pictures would have been of
extraordinary importance in the history of religion. Not to love Fra
Angelico would mean to lack the true sentiment of ancient art, for
though we recognize the pious _naivete_ of the monk, there is in the
heavenly beauty of his figures, and the joy of youthful faith which
animates the artist, a charm unequalled in the whole history of
Art!"[2]

Whether Fra Angelico ever actually had a master, it is impossible to
ascertain. There are critics who affirm that if anyone initiated him
in art, imbuing him with his own sentiment and style, it might have
been the Camaldolese monk Lorenzo Monaco; but Cavalcaselle justly
observes that between Angelico and Lorenzo Monaco there only exists
that affinity which in coetaneous artists results from community of
thought, social conditions, and religious sentiments. Two monks like
the Camaldolese and the Dominican might well show the same ideas,
without implying a relation of master and scholar between them.[3]

Both critics and historians, however, agree in the assertion that he
began his career in art by illuminating codices and choral books.
Baldinucci and Rosini judge that his master in painting was the
Florentine Gherardo Starnina, whom Lanzi designates as "a painter of
life-like style." But Padre Marchese refuting this opinion observes
that "not to mention Vasari's silence on the matter, the fact is very
doubtful, because Gherardo passed many years in Spain, and returning
to his native land died in 1403, when little Guido of Mugello[4] was
only 16 years old, an age which scarcely admits of the first steps in
Art."[5] But the date of Starnina's death is now corrected and proved
to have been in 1408, so, taking into account the character of our
artist's works, nothing need now be opposed to the theory that Fra
Giovanni may have profited by the teaching of that master, while
living in Florence after his return from Spain; besides it is