Fra Angelico: gold and peaceful

Fra Angelico, who was an Italian monk was one of the greatest painters of the early Renaissance. He was asked to paint the walls of the monastery in which he lived with the other monks. His paintings depict stories from the Bible, such as the Annunciation and Christ rising from death in a very beautiful manner, filled with delicate colours and a feeling of peaceful serenity.

Artists of his era often gave halos to the angels and people in the paintings. This golden ring around a figure's head was meant to show an inner goodness shining out for everyone to see. Halos were often made of real gold, not with gold paint. Gold metal was pounded into a very thin sheet called "gold leaf", then glued onto the wall or canvas with varnish. Hence, inspired by Fra Angelico, the children had a look at the angels found in his paintings, and then produced their own on canvas using tempera including gold tempera paint and gold leaf for the halo or for decorating the angel's attire.