OXFORD, England — The Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford has raised £4.5 million to save an early Renaissance painting by Fra Angelico. The painting will now be safe from an overseas sale and on display in an English public art collection.
The painting, dated to the 1420s, is believed to be the earliest surviving panel painting by the celebrated Italian artist. It depicts the Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, the Evangelist, And The Magdalen.
The acquisition came after months of fundraising following the sale of the work by a private British collection to an international buyer who wanted to remove the painting from this country. The painting has been in the country for over 200 years.
The purchase has been made possible thanks to lead donations from the Ashmolean’s Chairman, The Lord Lupton CBE, and David and Molly Lowell Borthwick; significant grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, and The Headley Trust; the generosity of over fifty significant donors; and a successful public appeal.
Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar and one of the most renowned painters of the Italian Renaissance. He is better known in Italy as Beato Angelico, or “Blessed Angelic One.” His work demonstrates psychological intensity, an enchanting naturalism, and an unmistakable colour palette in its liberal use of blue, pink-red, and gold. The Crucifixion is a potent manifestation of beauty and sensitivity, a precursor to his later works. His large frescoes and monumental altarpieces remain in Dominican churches and convents throughout Florence and the Vatican.
Fra Angelico (active 1417; died 1455) was a Dominican friar and one of the most renowned artists of the Italian Renaissance. In Italy, he is celebrated as Beato Angelico, or “Blessed Angelic One.” His artwork is notable for its remarkable psychological depth, captivating naturalism, and distinctive colour palette that prominently features blue, pink-red, and gold.
Unlike most of his large-scale frescoes or monumental altarpieces, which remain in Dominican churches and convents throughout Florence and even in the Vatican, this painting represents one of the artist’s few surviving small-scale panel works. It provides valuable insight into Fra Angelico’s innovative style and the broader evolution of European painting.
There are very few examples of Fra Angelico’s paintings in British public collections, a point recognized by the Reviewing Committee during their assessment. Aside from London, only the Ashmolean Museum houses a work by this master and his workshop. This piece, a hinged triptych featuring the Virgin and Child with angels alongside a Dominican saint and Saints Peter and Paul, is currently displayed in the Museum’s Early Italian Art gallery. With the addition of The Crucifixion, visitors will be able to appreciate the evolution of the artist’s style throughout his career while also witnessing how the 1420s already formed his delicate and dynamic approach.
Fra Angelico’s Crucifixion is an important acquisition to the Ashmolean’s prestigious collection of Italian Renaissance artworks, including pieces by Paolo Uccello and Titian and notable drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo. This tryptic enriches the collection and completes a rehang of the Museum’s Italian Renaissance galleries, which have not been updated since 2009. The addition of The Crucifixion highlights the Ashmolean’s significant role in studying and appreciating Italian Renaissance art..
The U.K. government placed an export bar on the piece last January, giving Ashmolean a nine-month window to raise the funds it needed before the bar expired on October 29. The masterpiece will go on public display in December.