Melozzo da Forlì, Musician Angel with Lute

Description

The Musician Angels are a group of detached frescoes by Melozzo da Forlï¿1/2, datable to 1472, or, according to others, to 1478-1480, and coming from the vault of the apse of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Rome. The subject of the fresco decoration was the Ascension of Christ. The figure of Christ was so well highlighted and so admirable was the effect of the foreshortening, that the Redeemer seemed to "leap through the vault". It was surrounded by musician angels, apostles and other figures, all in perspective "from below upwards", that is, from bottom to top. The figures are monumental and integrate illusionistically with the background. The clear light that soaks the colors and lightens the shadows, together with the solemn volumes, derive from Piero della Francesca's models, softened, however, by a greater naturalness, especially in the portraits, which was typical of the painter from Forlì.