Fra Angelico’s Earliest Altarpiece Returns to Fiesole after Repair and Cleaning
5Aug. 6, 2026
Fra Angelico’sFiesole Altarpiece, made between 1420 and 1423, has been returned to its original setting at the convent of San Domenico following a lengthyrestoration. The two-year process, funded by the cultural-preservation nonprofitFriends of Florence, rehabilitated the work from a prior sixteenth century restoration, and repaired the altarpiece’s painting as well as wooden support.
The work is Fra Angelico’s earliest surviving altarpiece and likely his first large-scale painting, created for the church at San Domenico in Fiesole, just north of Florence. He entered the convent of the new church and was commissioned with creating its altarpiece. The painting depicts an enthroned Madonna cradling Christ, who reaches out for a small bouquet in her hand. They are surrounded by eight angels and flanked by four saints: St. Barnabas, St, Thomas Aquinas, St. Dominic, and St. Peter Martyr.
The Art Newspaper reports that the restoration team, using infrared reflectography, made surprising discoveries about Fra Angelico’s original designs underneath changes made in the sixteenth century by Lorenzo di Credi, who was tasked with “modernizing” the work. Below di Credi’s application of lapis lazuli, they found Fra Angelico’s egg tempera rendering of the Madonna’s throne, which, conservator Daniele Rossi explained, was depicted “as if it were made of stone, and coloured marble, like Masaccio’s throne on the San Giovenale triptych.”
The altarpiece’s restoration was completed in time for a major Fra Angelico exhibition at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco in Florence last fall.