Lamentation (cell 2)

This fresco of the Lamentation (1438-1443) over the body of Christ, is by Fra Angelico, and features the three Mary's and St John. The figure of St Dominic, who appears frequently as an observer in most of the frescoes, stand in the background. The setting is simple and is painted with a mute colour palette.

This work tone is devotional contemplation rather than raw emotion. The figures are calm, reflective, and idealized — consistent with his Dominican spirituality and monastic setting. Whereas the works of contemporary artist in Northern Europe depicted more visceral grief: tear-streaked faces, twisting bodies, and dramatic gestures. Meanwhile his Italian contemporaries like Fra Filippo Lippi and Andrea del Castagno also began introducing more expressive movement. However, Angelico's restraint contrasts sharply with the emotional realism of his contemporaries. His aim is meditative piety, not dramatic empathy.

Compositionally Angelico's figures are symmetrically arranged in a shallow, stage like space. The tomb and cave form a balanced backdrop, focusing the viewer’s attention on Christ’s body. Perspective is simple and devotional rather than naturalistic. Angelico’s composition remains rooted in earlier Gothic conventions — orderly, flattened, symbolic. Even as Renaissance painters like Masaccio and van der Weyden were already experimenting with deeper perspective, spatial complexity, and foreshortening. 

Most Lamentations of the time focused solely on the biblical figures. The presence of St. Dominic in this painting links the biblical event to the viewer’s contemporary devotional practice, reinforcing the fresco’s function as a tool for meditation, and this integration of religious order imagery makes Angelico’s version more didactic and personal to his community.