Musées de Langres – Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire

In this large work by the Lyon painter Michel Dumas, the iconic persona of Fra Angelico incarnates both the figure of the artist and the painter’s art, through his mastery of his craft. This is a portrait of a painter, as much as a friar. We see a pensive man caught in a private moment – is he concentrating, weary, or in the throes of doubt? Notice the pot of spilt paint at his feet. Fra Angelico looks very human, fragile even. The execution is three-dimensional and clear, and the composition careful if somewhat stilted. Dumas belonged to a generation when painters were master craftsmen capable of wielding the brush with utmost precision.