priory of San Marco

priory, Florence, Italy

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July 13, 2026

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The priory of San Marco is a Dominican priory located in Florence, Italy. It is renowned for the extensive frescoes painted by the 15th-century artist Fra Angelico during his time there. These artworks, created between 1438 and 1440, represent a significant achievement of Early Renaissance art.12

The priory's rebuilding was supported by the Medici family, and Fra Angelico was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici the Elder to create an altarpiece and decorate the monks' cells. The frescoes in the cells, originally intended for private meditation, reveal the painter-friar's devotion and artistic vision. The priory of San Marco is a testament to the intersection of religious life and artistic expression during the Renaissance.1

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Fra Angelico
Years at the priory of San Marco
…1439, when he entered the priory of San Marco in Florence. There he worked mostly on frescoes. San Marco had been transferred from the Sylvestrine monks to the Dominicans in 1436, and the rebuilding of the church and its spacious priory began about 1438, from designs by the Florentine architect…
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…1439, when he entered the priory of San Marco in Florence. There he worked mostly on frescoes. San Marco had been transferred from the Sylvestrine monks to the Dominicans in 1436, and the rebuilding of the church and its spacious priory began about 1438, from designs by the Florentine architect…
Read More

Girolamo Savonarola
Career in Florence
…post of lecturer in the convent of San Marco, where he gained a great reputation for his learning and asceticism. As a preacher, he was unsuccessful until a sudden revelation inspired him to begin his prophetic sermons. At San Gimignano in Lent 1485 and 1486, he put forward his famous…
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…post of lecturer in the convent of San Marco, where he gained a great reputation for his learning and asceticism. As a preacher, he was unsuccessful until a sudden revelation inspired him to begin his prophetic sermons. At San Gimignano in Lent 1485 and 1486, he put forward his famous…
Read More