Ruskin challenged the disparagement of Angelico which was common in nineteenth century accounts of Angelico. Ruskin's diary entry of 8 September 1849 associates Angelico with Titian and Veronese. In an Appendix to Volume 1 of The Stones of Venice (1851) he writes that 'a man trained here in England in our Sir Joshua School, will not and cannot allow that there is any art at all in the technical work of Angelico.' However he asserts there in opposition to such judgements:
The art of Angelico, both as a colourist and a draughtsman, is consummate; so perfect and beautiful that his work may be recognised at any distance by the rainbow play and brilliancy of it.( Works, 9.449)
Compare the reference to Fra Angelico in Ruskin's account of Orcagna in Modern Painters III. He provides there a summary of what he sees as the particular religious quality of Orcagna and Angelico, and associates Holman Hunt with them.
For Ruskin 's letter objecting to the absence of Italian painters, including Angelico, from the National Gallery, and the purchase instead of a 'coarse and unnecessary Rubens' see Works, 12.405. In 1857 the National Gallery purchased Angelico's Adoration of the Magi, together with 30 other Italian paintings from the Lombardi-Baldi collection in Florence, and in 1860 Angelico's Resurrection was bought for £3,500.