[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO: CORONATION (detail)]
In sweetness of type and depth of feeling, the angels of Fra Angelico
are more profound than Perugino's. Besides, they seem to have more
sincerity about them. The monk-painter in his cell saw visions of
heavenly things, and as he saw so he recorded in art. All his faces
seem filled with divine tenderness. He painted only one face, one type.
His pictures show men with beards and monks in cowls, and angels in
flowing robes with bright wings; but there is always the same face,
the same sentiment. His trumpet-blowing angels, of which there are
countless copies in existence, are epitomes of this conception and
sentiment. They have great purity and beauty. Fra Angelico was a man
of pure thought to start with, and everything he touched reflected his
purity.