San Marco

Saturday we went to the Museum of San Marco. It was a Dominican convent where Beato (Fra) Angelico was prior in the early 1400's  He was also an artist who painted frescoes in every cell as well as many other works of art. Later it was the seat of Savonarola, a fiery religious reformer who fought against corruption in the Church.

San Marco is the first of the major museums of Florence that we have gone into (other than the Duomo interior, which is not considered major in its own right). There were definitely more people than we've been seeing, but it wasn't crowded at all. We also saw more people on the street than in the past week; I suspect it is because of the weekend—we'll find out on Monday.

Fra Angelico's The Annunciation is probably his most famous work. It is on the wall at the top of the stairs from the main floor to the monks' cells. 

Every cell had a fresco similar to this. The majority were crucifixion scenes, but other stories from the life of Jesus were also depicted. Most cells had no doors or windows; this one might have belonged to one of the higher-up officials.

This large crucifixion scene was in a large room that housed the gift shop.

One area of the museum housed a number of illuminated manuscripts. There was also a display showing the tools and ingredients for creating one.

A room on the main floor had many paintings. This panel was very bright and had interesting scenes. The first item is Ezekiel's wheel, so the sign said.