Masaccio: summary of the life and description of the works Saint Anna Matterza, Expulsion from Paradise, Tribute and Trinity.
Masaccio , nickname of Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Mòne di Andreuccio Cassài, was an Italian painter active during the fifteenth century . He was born in San Giovanni Valdarno in 1401. His artistic and cultural education took place in Florence. We do not have much information about him but we know that he attended Masolino’s workshop. He conceived a new painting style, being part of the artistic revolution of the early fifteenth century with Brunelleschi and Donatello . In addition to Florence, he also frequented Pisa and Rome, where he died at the age of 27. Despite his short life, his artistic production was very rich and ranged from tempera on wood to fresco.
Saint Anna Matterza
Madonna Enthroned with Child and Four Angels
In the Madonna Enthroned with Child and Four Angels , the Virgin is highlighted by heavy, chiaroscuro drapery. In the representation of the face, Masaccio decides to draw inspiration from a copy of the real thing, like Donatello, and not from models; in fact, Mary’s face appears tired and marked, as if she already knew her son’s fate. The Child is caught in the act of eating a grape that his mother gave him. His halo obeys the same rules of perspective as the surrounding world, so it appears elliptical for the first time.
Fresco of the Tribute
In the fresco of the Tribute, Masaccio refers to an episode of the Gospel of Matthew in which the entry of Christ and the apostles into the city of Capernaum is described. The tax collector demands a tribute from them for the Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus, even though he jokes about the fact that he has to pay to enter his father’s house, decides to pay the tribute and orders Peter to fish a fish in whose mouth he will find a silver coin to pay the tax. Masaccio concentrates 3 different moments in the same painting: in the center he places the 1st scene in which the tax collector asks Jesus for the tribute, who tells Peter to go and fish the coin; on the left on the shore he represents the 2nd scene in which Peter fishes the prodigious fish; on the right he represents the 3rd scene in which Peter pays the tribute.
-The characters have their own almost sculptural volume defined with chiaroscuro .
The perspective adopted is always the same, despite representing three successive actions at the same time and to accentuate it the mountains have different colors: green the closest ones and gray-blue the distant ones. The shadows cast are all in the same direction so the light source is unique coming from the right outside the limits of the fresco.
