The Vision of Ezekiel

The Vision of Ezekiel, painted around 1450 and held in the Museum of San Marco, is an unusual subject for Fra Angelico—an Old Testament prophetic vision rather than a New Testament narrative or saint's life. Ezekiel's vision of the divine chariot—the Merkabah—was one of the most complex and mystically charged passages in Hebrew scripture, featuring four living creatures, wheels within wheels, and the throne of God. The Dominicans' theological tradition included serious engagement with biblical prophecy as prefiguration of Christ, which may explain the inclusion of this subject within the San Marco programme.

Ezekiel's vision is one of the most compositionally challenging subjects in religious painting—the multiple creatures, wheels, and celestial phenomena resist simple pictorial organisation. Fra Angelico likely reduces the vision to its most essential symbolic elements, using gold and intense colour to convey the supernatural character of the apparition.