Annunciation Triptych

Fra Angelico's San Pietro Martire Triptych, painted around 1420, is one of his earliest documented works and shows the Dominican friar already in command of the devotional painting style that would win him lasting fame. The triptych format served the needs of Dominican church altars where the three-panel structure framed liturgical celebration. Lorenzo Monaco — Piero di Giovanni — was a Camaldolese monk who became one of Florence's most gifted painters in the transition between the Gothic and the Early Renaissance.

The triptych displays the luminous color harmonies and refined figure modeling that characterize Fra Angelico's early style, with the gold ground and carefully tooled halos reflecting the continued importance of the decorative tradition in early Quattrocento painting.