Pieta, or Lamentation, by Fra Angelico, depicts the entombment of Christ. Fra Angelico does an excellent job here of conveying a sense of sadness. The rectangular void of the tomb yawns wide, waiting to accept Christ’s body. In addition to darkening the tone of the painting, the sepulcher creates a sense of gravity. The hole seems to drag the background of the painting and all of the characters towards it. Nicodemus, a Pharisee sympathetic to Jesus’ cause, drags him into the tomb. Even though he is not actually a follower of Jesus, his face still betrays a deep agony. When looked at close up, the eyes in particular haunt the viewer. St. John the Evangelist flanks Jesus to his left. St. John holds Jesus’ hand close to his face as his eyes well up with tears. Fra Angelico paints this work in his typical style, displaying a mastery of perspective, with all lines vanishing into the middle of the tomb. The bright colors and sharp lines cause the painting to pop, lending Angelico’s work his typical vivacity. The shading is beautiful—Fra Angelico does a particularly good job on the blanket beneath Jesus.

Fra Angelico’s work here exemplifies the new style of painting that accompanied the Renaissance. The trees flanking the tomb lose their form and gravitate toward the center of the canvas as they recede, creating the illusion of perspective. This single innovation represents a huge improvement over the works of older masters such as Giotto. Fra Angelico’s characters also benefit from Renaissance discoveries. A new knowledge of human proportions, as Da Vinci lays out in his notebooks, lends Angelico’s figures life and allows the viewer to feel immersed. While he stands tall on the work of previous artists such as Giotto and Duccio, Fra Angelico’s groundbreaking work with perspective and shape epitomizes the spirit of the Renaissance and represents a major step forward for western art.