Cristo in croce con la Vergine, san Giovanni Evangelista e il cardinale Torquemada

The kneeling man in red at the foot of the cross is a real person: Juan de Torquemada, a Spanish cardinal and Dominican friar, shown having taken off his broad red hat to pray. Fra Angelico, himself a Dominican friar, lived in the same Roman convent as the cardinal and painted this small panel for him. It is thought to be the last work from the painter's own hand. Near the top of the cross a pelican pecks its own breast to feed its young, an old symbol of Christ giving his blood for humankind. Both men were buried in the same church in Rome, Santa Maria sopra Minerva.