"San Marco Altarpiece"

Previous artists had depicted the Madonna and child in a setting of heaven with ethereal saints and angels  floating around them.  Fra Angelico has them the standing naturally and grouped  as if conversing about their shared witness of the Virgin in glory.

The San Marco Altarpiece is known as one of the best early Renaissance paintings for its employment of metaphor and perspective, trompe-l'œil, and the intertwining of Dominican religious themes and symbols with contemporary, political messages.