A beautiful Arundel Society reproduction of one of Fra Angelico’s San Marco Frescoes. It shows Christ’s crucifixion, surrounded by saints; to the left Cosmas and Damian, Lawrence, Mark the Evangelist, John the Baptist, the Virgin and the pious women; to the right, kneeling, are Dominic, Jerome, Francis, Bernard, John Gualberto and Peter the Martyr, standing are Ambrose, Augustin, Benedict, Romuald and Thomas of Aquino. Around the fresco, on the border, are the busts of the Prophets and Sybils in ten hexagons; in the centre, above the Crucifixion the pelican, symbol of the redemption. Below, there are 17 medallions with portraits of the most illustrious members of the Dominican Order. 405 x 670mm. Housed in an oak and gilt frame under Artglass UV 99.
 
A very good example.
 
An Arundel Society chromolithograph of one of Fra Angelico’s frescoes from the Convent of San Marco. When Cosimo de’ Medici rebuilt the convent around 1440, he commissioned Fra Angelico to decorate the walls with intricate frescos. The present Crucifixion occupies the entire wall opposite to the entrance of the Chapter Room. The Arundel Society (1848-1897) was founded with the goal of preserving European art from decay and neglect by producing reproductions of it. They began by working with frescoes, reproducing them in wood or steel engravings in black and white.  As the society grew, they decided to create reproductions in colour through chromolithography. A copyist would make a watercolour copy of the original paitning, and then oil paints were applied to the stones for the final printing, giving the finished product a feeling of the originals, and making them far superior to both contemporary and modern attempts at reproduction. Writing of the society in 1910, R.M. Burch described it as, “the most important non-commercial application of chromolithography”. Members of the Society paid an annual subscription, and in turn received each print they produced - four a year on average. They quickly rose in value after the dissolution of the Society, with prices ranging from 30s for the smaller simpler pieces, up to 300s for more monumental items.