this subject, the Saviour
and the thieves, with the executioners, there are holy women, the founders
of various orders, the patrons of the convent, and companies of saints. In
the frame there are medallions with several saints and a Sibyl, each
bearing an inscription from the prophecies relating to Christ's death;
while below all, St. Dominic, the founder of the artist's order, bears a
genealogical tree with many portraits of those who had been eminent among
his followers. For this reason this picture has great historic value.

At last, in 1445, Pope Eugenius IV., who had dedicated the new convent of
San Marco and seen the works of Angelico, summoned him to Rome. It is said
that the Pope not only wished for some of his paintings, but he also
desired to honor Angelico by giving him the archbishopric of Florence; but
when this high position was offered him, Fra Angelico would not accept of
it: he declared himself unequal to its duties, and begged the Pope to
appoint Fra Antonino in his stead. This request was granted, and Angelico
went on with his work as before, in all humility fulfilling his
heaven-born mission to lead men to better lives through the sweet
influence of his divine art.

The honor which had been tendered him was great--one which the noblest men
were striving for--but if he realized this he did not regret his decision,
neither was he made bold or vain by the royal tribute which the Pope had
paid him.

From this time the most important works of Fra Angelico were done in the
chapel of Pope Nicholas V., in the Vatican, and in the chapel which he
decorated in the Cathedral of Orvieto. He worked there one summer, and the
work was continued by Luca Signorelli. The remainder of his life was
passed so quietly that little can be told of it. It is not even known with
certainty whether he ever returned to Florence, and by some strange fate
the key to the chapel which he painted in the Vatican was lost during two
centuries, and the pictures could only be seen by entering through a
window. Thus it would seem that his last years were passed in the quiet
work which he best loved.

[Illustration: FIG. 32.--AN ANGEL. _In the Uffizi, Florence. By Fra
Angelico._]

When his final illness was upon him, the brethren of Santa Maria Sopra
Minerva, where he resided, gathered about him, and chanted the _Salve
Regina_. He died on the 18th of February, 1455, when sixty-seven years
old. His tombstone is in the church of Santa Ma