Fra Angelico’s Altarpiece of St Nicolas

The Dominican Order has always had a strong devotion to St Nicholas, partly because in the high Middle Ages, everybody had a strong devotion to St Nicholas; as the late Fr Hunwicke put it so well, his portfolio of patronages was like that of a Renaissance cardinal. But the Dominicans also have a special attachment to him because one of their very first churches, in the city of Bologna, was originally dedicated to him, although it is now named for their founder, who died there, and whose tomb is in one of the side-chapels.

Around the year 1438, the Dominican friar and painter Fra Angelico (1395 ca. - 1455) was commissioned by his order to make an altarpiece of St Nicholas for a chapel dedicated to him within their church in the Umbrian city of Perugia. Like countless other works of that era, it was dismantled, and the pieces dispersed, at the beginning of the 19th century, entailing also the loss of the original frame. In 1915, however, the panels were reassembled in a modern recreation of an appropriately Gothic frame, with copies of the first two sections of the predella, the originals of which are in the Vatican Museums. The altarpiece is now in the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia, one of the best museums in all of Italy.

In the central section, a classic Angelico Madonna and Child with Angels. The Virgin is dressed in a blue garment over a red one, to symbolize the royal dignity which is added to her human nature by becoming the Mother of God. The angels surrounding them are holding red and white flowers, which are also seen in the vases at Her feet, white to symbolize purity, and red the Passion.

On the left, Saints Dominic and Nicholas; the three bags of money from the story of the dowries which made Nicholas into Santa Claus are at his feet on the right, but not very noticeable. Note the apparel on his alb, which was pretty much standard in that era; the border of his cope is decorated with very finely detailed faces of angels. 

To the right of the central panel, Ss John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria; the latter, as a patron Saint of scholars and philosophers, is also a major patron of the scholarly Dominican Order. Her traditional legend says that she was of noble lineage, so, in contrast to the Virgin Mary, her blue garment is covered by a red one, to symbolize that her martyrdom is more important.  

The first predella panel shows three episodes from the life of St Nicholas: his birth; his conversion at hearing the preaching of a bishop; the episode of the dowries. (This panel and the following one are the two that belong to the Vatican Museums. In the picture of the complete altarpiece given above, you can see that they have been replaced with copies, which were deliberately made darker so that they would be recognized as such.)

In the second panel, St Nicholas multiplies a shipment of grain which had just come in to Myra in a period of scarcity; on the right, he saves a ship in danger of being wrecked in the middle of a storm. Both of these miracles, and the first episode of the next panel, are referred to in the antiphons of the proper Office of St Nicholas which is used by the Dominicans (and many others).

In the third panel, on the left, Nicholas saves three men from being unjustly executed; on the right is shown his death and the ascent of his soul to heaven.

Above Ss Dominic and Nicholas, the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, kneeling down before...

the Virgin Mary on the opposite side, above Ss John the Baptist and Catherine.

In the small panels on the left side, Ss Peter and Paul...

Louis of Toulouse and Mary of Egypt

and Benedict and Peter the Martyr, the latter being, of course, also a Dominican. (At the time this altarpiece was made, Ss Dominic, Peter Martyr and Thomas Aquinas were the only three canonized Saints of the Order, although they would be followed very shortly by Ss Vincent Ferrer and Catherine of Siena.)

On the right side, an elderly St John the Evangelist and St Stephen, whose feasts are next to other on the first two days after Christmas...

St Catherine (an anticipatory artistic canonization) and St Jerome

and Ss Thomas Aquinas and Lawrence.