fra angelico was working at a time when the style of painting was in a state of change. the changes had begun a hundred years before his time with the works of giotto. fra angelico would have seen the famous pictures of the "life of saint francis" that giotto did for the church of santa croce in florence. in giotto's paintings the figures look more real and solid and lifelike than in the pictures of other painters of the 1300s. giotto was also very good at painting the emotions on peoples faces and the actions that showed how they were feeling. his work was a big influence on every artist who saw it.