Head of an Angel

Head of an Angel, painted around 1447 and held at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, is likely a fragment or study from a larger composition rather than an independent work. Angel heads—isolated from altarpieces or fresco cycles through later cutting—were popular collectors' items by the nineteenth century, when their tender expressiveness was particularly appreciated. Fra Angelico's angels are among the most celebrated in Italian Renaissance painting: their expressions combine spiritual joy with childlike innocence, and their technical execution is exceptionally refined. The Wadsworth Atheneum's version belongs to the period of his Roman work.

The isolated angel head demonstrates Fra Angelico's refined approach to facial modelling: smooth flesh tones built up in thin layers over a green underpainting, with delicate handling of the transition from lit to shadow areas. The curling hair and soft features show his command of fine brushwork in tempera or oil.