In the arch of the hospice the painter has represented two Dominicans welcoming Christ, to remind the brethren that to offer hospitality to the poor and the pilgrims, was the same as receiving Christ.
The Redeemer with his hat hanging behind His shoulders leans on His pilgrim's staff; one of the brethren presses His left hand, and taking Him by the right arm invites Him to rest. The heads of the two devotees are full of character and expression, and on their faces beam the joy and love they feel for their unexpected guest. The second monk who clasps the Saviour's arm with both hands as though he can scarcely believe his own eyes, is drawn with such natural feeling that nothing greater can be desired or attained.
Equally beautiful is the pilgrim Christ with His long beard and curls flowing on His shoulders; the whole scene in fact is given with great nobility and exquisite grace.
In the chapter-house of the convent Fra Angelico repeated the scene of the Crucifixion. Vasari writes of it thus: "Fra Giovanni was so greatly beloved for his admirable qualities by Cosimo de' Medici, that the latter had no sooner completed the church and convent of San Marco, than he caused the good father to paint the whole story of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ on one of the walls of the chapter-house. In this work figures of all those saints who have been heads and founders of religious bodies, are mourning and bewailing at the foot of the cross on one side; and on the other, St. Mark the Evangelist beside the Mother of the Son of God, who has fainted at sight of the crucified Saviour. Around the Virgin are the Maries, who are sorrowing with and supporting her; they are accompanied by the saints Cosimo and Damian.
"Beneath this work, in a frieze above the dado the master executed a figure of St. Dominic standing at the foot of a tree; on the branches of which are medallions, wherein are all the popes, cardinals, bishops, saints, and masters in theology who had belonged to Fra Giovanni's Order of the Preaching Friars, down to his own day."[44]
In this masterly work Fra Angelico pours out with full hands the most vivid and intense feelings of his soul, and if he does not attain to grand dramatic power, he at least succeeds in depicting with rare ingenuity the varied expressions of sorrow, despair, hope and faith which animate each person, and in giving natural and life-like character and attitude to the various heads.
