Scenes from the Lives of the Desert Fathers (Thebaid)

Scenes from the Lives of the Desert Fathers (Thebaid) is an unusually complex work attributed to Fra Angelico or his workshop, combining dozens of small vignettes of early Christian hermits and monks within a rocky landscape setting. The subject derives from the fourth and fifth-century Egyptian and Syrian desert tradition of ascetic withdrawal that became the foundation of Christian monasticism. As a Dominican friar deeply invested in the spiritual life of his community, Angelico would have found particular resonance in depicting the founding fathers of communal religious devotion in their cells, caves, and desert retreats.

The panoramic landscape accommodates multiple simultaneous narrative episodes in a format borrowed from Florentine Trecento painting. Figures are tiny in relation to the rocky terrain, which dominates in shades of grey, ochre, and pale blue.