St. Peter Preaching in the Presence of St. Mark 1433

Fra Angelico painted "St. Peter Preaching in the Presence of St. Mark" sometime in the 1400s for the Basilica di San Marco. Fra Angelico, a friar, lived in a Florence that was undergoing a transformation, the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance. Consider the power dynamics at play. St. Peter, elevated and radiant, preaches to a diverse crowd. Note how the figures are divided, a kneeling woman in the foreground separating the men from the women and the religious figures from the lay people. St. Mark sits to Peter's right taking notes, the very act of recording history adding another layer to the scene. Paintings like these were intended to communicate and reinforce specific social and religious structures. The emotional resonance lies in the image's ability to inspire devotion and reinforce faith. The artist uses these representations to maintain traditional roles, and to express the personal and the communal belief that the church was the path to salvation.