Deposition of Christ

It is recorded as the work of Fra Angelico and Lorenzo Monaco. Materials recorded for it are tempera, panel and poplar wood. The record gives 1432 as its date of establishment or first appearance. It is associated with Italian Renaissance and Early Renaissance. Recorded genres are religious art. The recorded subject matter is Descent from the Cross. It is recorded in the collection of Museum of San Marco and Sacristy of Santa Trinita.

• Title — Deposition of Christ by Fra Angelico • Artist — Fra Angelico and Lorenzo Monaco • Year — c. 1432–1434 • Medium — Tempera on panel • Movement — Early Italian Renaissance • Subject — Removal of Christ from the Cross • Height Metric — 176 • Width Metric — 185 • Metric Unit — cm • Imperial Unit — in • Condition — Restored 2025 • Museum — National Museum of San Marco • City — Florence

The altarpiece was originally commissioned to Lorenzo Monaco by the wealthy Florentine banker, humanist and rival of Cosimo de' Medici, Palla Strozzi, for the Strozzi Chapel in the church of Santa Trinita. The commission specified it had to be made in the same dimensions as the one he had commissioned from Gentile da Fabriano: the Adoration of the Magi. Monaco allegedly completed the paintings in the pinnacles and the predella, but died suddenly in 1425. As a result, Fra Angelico was asked to complete it. The dating of the altarpiece completion by Fra Angelico is debated by scholars. The commission had a political motivation. Palla Strozzi was one of the richest men in Florence and a leader of the oligarchic faction opposing the Medici. The opulence of the work and its location in a prominent church asserted the Strozzi family's status and piety. However, Palla Strozzi was exiled from Florence in 1434, the same year the altarpiece was likely completed or shortly thereafter.

Fra Angelico's mastery of tempera is evident in the luminosity and transparency of the colors, qualities recently recovered in a major restoration completed in 2024. The restoration revealed the brilliance of the landscape, which depicts the Tuscan hills and a turreted city representing both Jerusalem and Florence. The use of light is not merely decorative but theological, enveloping the scene in a divine clarity that enhances the monumentality of the figures. The representation successfully combines the gravity appropriate to the sacred scene with the picturesque liveliness of the environmental recreation. The attention to detail in the character's faces and the background landscapes increases the realism of the scene. Their sharply outlined features are precisely traced, which suggests they are portraits. Elements of composition in da Fabriano's Adoration of the Magi altarpiece are referenced in Fra Angelico's Deposition, like the layering of figures to create an illusion of dimensionality and the use of the space under the arches to depelop a continuous landscape horizon. Even the fortified city at the top left is an element taken from de Fabriano's altarpiece. However, Fra Angelico's Deposition differs from da Fabriano's work in its wide spatial layout and creating a more contemplative atmosphere, as opposed to the Adoration's luxurious excess.

From left to right, the pinnacles of the altarpiece, painted by Monaco, has depictions of the following scenes of the life of Christ: Noli me tangere, The Resurrection and Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre. The figures are depicted in the traditional Gothic medieval style, with elongated bodies and a primitive perspective, in a gold, solid background. • — — • — — Paintings in the pinnacles and predella of the Deposition (before 2025 restoration) The three predella images of the altar are also he work of Lorenzo Monaco. From left to right they depict: Saint Onophrius (the patron saint of Palla Strozzi, the donor of the altarpiece), the Nativity and a scene of a ship in rough waters.

One of the most interesting features of the altarpiece is the intact lateral pilasters and their decoration, with twelve full-length figures of saints and eight medallions with busts, arranged both on the front and the side elevations. The full-length saints rest on gilded bases that have a different inclination depending on their height: those at the bottom reveal the face of the base on which they rest, while those at the top are foreshortened to create the illusion of them being higher than they are.

A restoration effort including technical was carried out from 2023 to 2025. It was determined that the last restoration was made in the late 19th century. The main objective was to recover the transparency and luminosity of the painting, especially in the evocative landscape. The other aim was to understand which part of the work was done by Lorenzo Monaco and which by Fra Angelico. The restoration effort was finished just in time to include the altarpiece in a major Fra Angelico exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, in September 2025.