Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven 1430

Fra Angelico painted "Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven" sometime in the first half of the 15th century, using tempera on wood. The panel comes alive through the delicate application of paint, and the many layers of gesso that would have provided a smooth ground for the detailed work. Look closely, and you will see the exquisite tooling of the halos, a craft tradition that elevates the spiritual figures into the ethereal realm. The artist would have applied gold leaf using techniques that go back centuries, a laborious process, connecting the painting to wider histories of artisanal making. The deep blues, reds, and golds aren’t just aesthetic choices; they are the result of grinding precious minerals like lapis lazuli, or alchemizing metals. The amount of work involved in the production process, the skills and traditions it embodies, reminds us that even the most spiritual art is grounded in material reality.