Piercing of Christ's Side

Piercing of Christ's Side, painted around 1450 and now in the Museum of San Marco in Florence, belongs to the large Passion cycle Fra Angelico produced for the Dominican friary of San Marco—works intended to support the contemplative practice of the friars who passed them in the corridors and cells of the convent. The piercing of Christ's side by the soldier Longinus—from which blood and water flowed, interpreted theologically as the origin of the sacraments—was a subject Fra Angelico approached with the same devout intensity he brought to all Passion imagery. These works were not made for public display but for private prayer.

For a small-scale devotional work, Fra Angelico concentrates the composition on the essential figures and action. His handling of Christ's body—the pale flesh of the dead Saviour against the dark costumes of attendant figures—creates the central tonal drama, with gold leaf used sparingly if at all in Passion scenes that emphasise suffering over glory.