The Youthful Master

            The Brancacci Chapel in Florence was commissioned by Felice Brancacci, begun by the painter Masolino and his twenty-one year old student, Masaccio, in 1386 and later completed Filippino Lippi in 1481-82.  The Chapel was part of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, which burned almost completely in 1771.  Amazingly, the Brancacci Chapel remained unharmed, allowing the frescoes of an artist who lived a short but talented life to be preserved.

Baptism of Neophytes, Masaccio, photo courtesy of
Wikipedia Creative Commons

Expulsion from Paradise
Masaccio, photo courtesy
of Wikipedia Creative
Commons

        Masaccio’s frescoes here consist of The Expusion from Paradise, The Tribute Money, Baptism of Neophytes, St. Peter Healing the Sick with his Shadow, The Distribution of Alms and Death of Anias, as well as parts of Raising of the Son of Theophilus and St. Peter Enthroned and Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha.  The most famous of his frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel is The Tribute Money, most well known for its precise realism in perspective and figures.  The painting depicts the scene from the gospels in which Jesus directs St. Peter to fetch a coin out of the mouth of a fish with which to pay a tax collector, and is divided into three segments – on the left St. Peter crouches by the water to catch the fish, in the center Jesus stands with the apostles and tax collector (who wears a short tunic and faces the group) and on the right St. Peter delivers the coin to the   tax collector. 

The Tribute Money, Masaccio, photo courtesy of Wikipedia Creative Commons

            In this fresco, Masaccio utilizes his single-point perspective for the entire painting, so that even though it is divided into three segments, the painting exists harmoniously as one whole piece.  Another technique attributed to Masaccio is atmospheric perspective, which is seen in the slight blueing of the mountains in the distance.  Lastly, Masaccio was the first to create a specific light source, creating a unique three-dimensionality, especially in the figures.  Altogether, Masaccio’s techniques form a realism previously unseen in painting; and this is the reason why Masaccio is known as one of the forerunners of the Renaissance.