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Why did Guido di Pietro become known as Fra Angelico?
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Fra Angelico
Madonna of Humility, tempera on panel by Fra Angelico, c. 1440; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Guido di Pietro, who later became a Dominican friar and took the name Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, earned the name Fra Angelico due to his moral virtues.
According to the biographer Giorgio Vasari, the painter was described as "saintly and excellent." Not long after his death, he was called angelico (meaning "angelic") in recognition of these qualities. This title eventually became the name by which he is best known, often preceded by the term beato ("blessed").1