Fra Angelico, Resurrection of Christ (detail)

Description

The scene takes place inside a dark cavern that houses the tomb of Jesus, located parallel to the entrance: this is already a place of grace, in which the Lord's kingship is manifested in all its winning force. The sobriety and simplicity of the work is certainly influenced by the particular destination of the environment in which it is located, where the friars lived a life of contemplation, prayer and meditation. This leads to a more essential and therefore more effective reading of the Gospel episode, free from superfluous decorative distractions and more adequate than ever to narrative immediacy. The bodies of the characters are sculpted by crystalline light, which gives a strong sensation, through chiaroscuro, of plastic relief. The physiognomies are sweet, but incisive, the drapery realistic, the spatial location is solid and well calibrated.