Giacobbe Giusti, MASOLINO: Predica di San Pietro, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, MASOLINO:  Predica di San Pietro, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, MASOLINO:  Predica di San Pietro, Florence

Autore	Masolino
Data	1424–1425
Tecnica	affresco
Dimensioni	260×88 cm
Ubicazione	Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine, Firenze

La Predica di San Pietro è un affresco di Masolino che decora la Cappella Brancacci nella chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine a Firenze. L’opera, databile al 1424–1425 circa (260×88 cm), e ritrae una scena delle storie di san Pietro tratta dagli Atti degli Apostoli (II, 14-41).

Storia

Gli affreschi della Cappella Brancacci sono un enigma per gli studiosi nella mancanza di documentazione ufficiale. Commissionati forse a Masolino, che aveva come aiutante il più giovane Masaccio, si sa solo che, tramite testimonianze indirette, dovevano essere iniziati nel 1424 e che nel 1425 vennero portati avanti dal solo Masaccio per la partenza di Masolino per l’Ungheria.

Questa scena, salvata dalla ridipintura barocca della volta, uscì annerita dall’incendio del 1771 che distrusse gran parte della basilica. Solo con il restauro del 1983–1990 si è potuta riscoprire la brillante cromia originale e sono state eliminate le ridipinture.

Descrizione e stile

La scena della Predica si trova sulla parete di sfondo nel registro mediano, lato sinistro, confinante con il Tributo di Masaccio. Il racconto evangelico di riferimento è quello di san Pietro che si mette a predicare alla folla dopo la Pentecoste, esortando il popolo al battesimo. In questa scena, come nella Predica, Pietro è raffigurato solo, mentre nel testo evangelico egli era in compagnia degli altri apostoli: questa scelta sottolinea fortemente il suo primato e la sua personificazione con la Chiesa intera.

Paesaggio montano di Masolino in un affresco di Castiglione Olona, palazzo Branda

Dettaglio

Masolino eseguì l’affresco in otto giornate e si ipotizza un aiuto di Masaccio nella pittura delle montagne dello sfondo, che si ricollegano a quelle del Tributo e che sono così diverse da quelle dipinte da Masolino in altre opere (come a Castiglione Olona), legate allo stile giottesco delle rocce spigolose.

Pietro è raffigurato come un ardente oratore vestito alla romana (ricorda il San Giovannidi Giotto nella scena della Resurrezione di Drusiana nella cappella Peruzzi a Firenze). Egli si trova davanti a una folla mentre, con un gesto eloquente, fa una predica. Questa figura energica era stata in passato attribuita a Masaccio, ma il trattamento da miniatore dei riccioli della chioma e della barba, oltre ai volti miti e uniformi degli astanti, sono chiari segni dell’arte di Masolino.

Le espressioni degli astanti sono le più varie, dalla dolce attenzione della monaca velata in primo piano, al torpore della fanciulla e del vecchio con la barba, fino al timore della donna in secondo piano, della quale si vedono solo gli occhi accigliati.

Le tre teste di giovani dietro al santo sono probabilmente ritratti di contemporanei, come anche i due frati a destra, forse due carmelitani del convento del Carmine, e in passato erano pure stati attribuiti a Masaccio.

Probabilmente solo le montagne sono di Masaccio, che sembrano proseguire dalla scena precedente del Tributo, e sono ben diverse dalle irte rocce spigolose tipiche di Masolino. Esse sono trattate come masse informi e gonfie, con un contorno sfumato da alberi e cespugli dipinti a secco.

Bibliografia

• John T. Spike, Masaccio, Rizzoli libri illustrati, Milano 2002 ISBN 88-7423-007-9
• Mario Carniani, La Cappella Brancacci a Santa Maria del Carmine, in AA.VV., Cappelle del Rinascimento a Firenze, Editrice Giusti, Firenze 1998.
• Pierluigi De Vecchi ed Elda Cerchiari, I tempi dell’arte, volume 2, Bompiani, Milano 1999. ISBN 88-451-7212-0

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predica_di_san_Pietro

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, MASOLINO and MASACCIO: Adam and Eve

Giacobbe Giusti, MASOLINO and MASACCIO: Adam and Eve

Masolino da Panicale – book: La Cappella Brancacci a Santa Maria del Carmine, in AA.VV., Cappelle del Rinascimento a Firenze, Editrice Giusti, Firenze

Giacobbe Giusti, MASOLINO and MASACCIO: Adam and Eve

Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Masaccio.

Giacobbe Giusti, ルネサンス期のイタリア絵画

『モナ・リザ』（1503年 – 1519年頃）、レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ
ルーヴル美術館（パリ）

ルネサンス期のイタリア絵画（ルネサンスきのイタリアかいが）では、13世紀終わりに勃興し、15世紀初めから16世紀半ばにかけて最盛期を迎えた芸術運動であるルネサンスにおいて、当時多くの都市国家に分裂していたイタリアで描かれた絵画作品を解説する。ルネサンス美術は、黎明期（1300年 – 1400年）、初期（1400年 – 1475年）、盛期（1475年 – 1525年）、そして後期のマニエリスム期（1525年 – 1600年）に大別することができる。しかしながら、個々の画家たちの独自表現、作風が複数の時代区分にまたがっていることもあり、作品に明確な相違が見られるわけではない。

イタリアでのルネサンス絵画の黎明期はジョットに始まるとされ、その後、タッデオ・ガッディ、オルカーニャ、アルティキエーロら、ジョットの弟子がその作風を受け継いでいった。初期イタリアルネサンスで重要な画家として、マサッチオ、フラ・アンジェリコ、パオロ・ウッチェロ、ピエロ・デッラ・フランチェスカ、ヴェロッキオらの名前があげられる。盛期ルネサンスではレオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ、ミケランジェロ、ラファエロ、マニエリスム期ではアンドレア・デル・サルト、ポントルモ、ティントレットらがとくに重要な画家である。

ルネサンス期にイタリアで描かれた絵画作品は、芸術分野以外でのルネサンス運動、例えば哲学、文学、建築、神学、科学など様々な要素を反映している。さらには当時の社会情勢も、絵画作品へ大きな影響を与えた。また、ルネサンス期にイタリアで活動していた画家たちは、特定の宮廷、あるいは都市と強く結びつくこともあったが、それでもなお多くの画家はイタリア中を訪れ、ときには外交特使の役目を担って、芸術と哲学の伝播に重要な役割を果たした^[1]。

メディチ家による銀行の創設と、それに続く貿易の隆盛は、メディチ家が根拠としていたフィレンツェに莫大な富をもたらした。それまで芸術家の重要なパトロンは教会や君主だったが、メディチ家当主コジモ・デ・メディチ（1389年 – 1464年）が、それらとは無関係なルネサンス期の典型ともいえる新たな芸術パトロン像を確立した。

ルネサンス期を通じてフィレンツェは、ジョット、マサッチオ、ブルネレスキ、ピエロ・デッラ・フランチェスカ、レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ、ミケランジェロら、錚々たる芸術家を輩出している。これらの芸術家は新しい絵画様式を確立し、一流の技量を持つとはいえないその他の芸術家たちにも大きな影響を与え、フィレンツェの絵画界全体の技量と品質向上に大きな役割を果たした^[2]。ヴェネツィアでもフィレンツェと同様に芸術分野での大きな向上が見られ、ベリーニ一族^{[注釈 1]}、マンテーニャ、ジョルジョーネ、ティツィアーノ、ティントレットらが、ルネサンス期のヴェネツィアを代表する画家たちである^[2][3][4]。

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Renaissance_painting#Proto-Renaissance_painting

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

The Tribute Money, fresco by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel.

The Brancacci Chapel (in Italian, « Cappella dei Brancacci ») is a chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, central Italy. It is sometimes called the « Sistine Chapel of the early Renaissance« ^[1] for its painting cycle, among the most famous and influential of the period. Construction of the chapel was commissioned by Pietro Brancacci and begun in 1386. Public access is currently gained via the neighbouring convent, designed by Brunelleschi. The church and the chapel are treated as separate places to visit and as such have different opening times and it is quite difficult to see the rest of the church from the chapel.

The patron of the pictorial decoration was Felice Brancacci, descendant of Pietro, who had served as the Florentine ambassador to Cairo until 1423.^[2] Upon his return to Florence, he hired Masolino da Panicaleto paint his chapel. Masolino’s associate, 21-year-old Masaccio, 18 years younger than Masolino, assisted, but during painting Masolino left to Hungary, where he was painter to the king, and the commission was given to Masaccio. By the time Masolino returned he was learning from his talented former student. However, Masaccio was called to Rome before he could finish the chapel, and died in Rome at the age of 27. Portions of the chapel were completed later by Filippino Lippi. Unfortunately during the Baroque period some of the paintings were seen as unfashionable and a tomb was placed in front of them.

The paintings

Schematics of the Brancacci Chapel paintings.

In his frescos, Masaccio carries out a radical break from the medieval pictorial tradition, by adhering to the new Renaissanceperspectival conception of space. Thus, perspective and light create deep spaces where volumetrically constructed figures move in a strongly individualised human dimension. Masaccio therefore continues on Giotto’s path, detaching himself from a symbolic vision of man and propounding a greater realistic painting.^[3] The cycle from the life of Saint Peter was commissioned as patron saint from Pietro Brancacci, the original owner of the chapel.^[4]

The paintings are explained below in their narrative order.

The Temptation of Adam and Eve

By Masolino da Panicale.

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

The Temptation of Adam and Eve, by Masolino da Panicale.

In contrast with Masaccio’s Expulsion, this is a serene and innocent raffiguration.

The cycle begins with this painting by Masolino, placed on the higher rectangle of the arch delimiting the Chapel, within the pillar thickness. This scene and the opposite one (the Expulsion) are the premises to the story narrated in the frescos, showing the moment in which man severed his friendship with God, later reconciled by Christ with Peter’s mediation.

The painting shows Adam standing near Eve: they look at each other with measured postures, as she prepares to bite on the apple, just offered to her by the serpent near her arm around the tree. The snake has a head with thick blond hair, much idealised. The scene is aulic in its presentation, with gestures and style conveying tones of late International Gothic. Light, which models the figures without sharp angles, is soft and embracing; the dark background makes the body stand out in their sensual plasticity, almost suspended in space.

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (Masaccio)

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, after restoration.

Masaccio’s masterpiece Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is the first fresco on the upper part of the chapel, on the left wall, just at the left of the Tribute Money. It is famous for its vivid energy and unprecedented emotional realism. It contrasts dramatically with Masolino’s delicate and decorative image of Adam and Eve before the fall, painted on the opposite wall. It presents a dramatic intensity, with an armed angel who hovers over Adam and Eve indicating the way out of the Garden of Eden: the crying fornicators leave at their backs the gates of Paradise.

This work represents a neat separation from the past International Gothicstyle; Masolino’s serene composures are also left behind, and the two biblical progenitors are portrayed in dark desperation, weighed down under the angel’s stern sight, who, with his unsheathed sword, forcibly expels them, with such a tension never seen before in painting. Gestures are eloquent enough: on exiting Paradise’s Gates, from where some divine rays are shooting forward, Adam covers his face in desperation and guilt; Eve covers her nudity with shame and cries out, with a pained face. The bodies’ dynamism, especially Adam’s, gives an unprecedented passion to the figures, firmly planted on ground and projecting shadows from the violent light modelling them. Many are the details which increase the emotional drama: Adam’s damp and sticky hair (on Earth, he’ll struggle with hard labour and dirt), the angel’s posture, foreshortened as if diving down from above. Eve’s position is from an ancient representation, that of Venus Pudica (modest Venus). The foliage covering the couple’s nudities was removed during a restoration in 1990.^[5]

Peter’s Calling

By Masolino.

In the left lunette, destroyed in 1746-48, Masolino had painted the Calling of Peter and Andrew, or Vocation, known thanks to some indications by past witnesses such as Vasari, Bocchi and Baldinucci. Roberto Longhi first identified an image of this lost fresco in a later drawing, which does not conform to the lunette’s upper curvature, but appears today as a very probable hypothesis. In this scene, Masolino had divided his composition into two expanses, of sea and sky.

La Navicella

The opposite lunette housed the fresco of the Navicella, a traditional title for the scene where Christ, walking on water, rescues Peter from the surging waves of a storm and pulls him aboard the boat. This lunette again proposed a marine setting, on balance with the opposite scene and thus creating a sort of parable of Creation: from the skies of the Evangelists in the vault, to the seas of the upper register, to the lands and towns of the middle and lower registers, precisely like in Genesis. In a way, the viewer’s sight shifts from Paradise to the terrene world in a consequential manner. Sources attribute this lunette to Masolino, but considering the alternating turns taken by the two artists on the scaffolding, some propound for a Masaccio fresco.^[6]

Peter’s Repentance

Sinopia of Peter’s Repentance

Peter’s Repentance is found in the left semi-lunette of the upper register, where a very schematic preparatory drawing of the sinopia^[7] was hosted. The scene was attributed to Masaccio, on the basis of its greater incisiveness in the treatment as against Masolino’s work.

The Tribute Money

The Tribute Money (Masaccio)

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Detail of Jesus’ face in the Tribute Money.

The most famous painting in the chapel is Tribute Money, on the upper right wall, with figures of Jesus and Peter shown in a three part narrative. The painting, largely attributed to Masaccio, represents the story of Peter and the tax collector from Matthew 17:24-27. The left side shows Peter getting a coin from the mouth of a fish and the right side shows Peter paying his taxes. The whole appears to be related to the establishment of the Catasto, the first income tax in Florence, in the time the painting was being executed.^[8]

The miracle is not represented in a hagiographic key, but as a human occurrence that posits a divine decision: a historical event, then, with an explicit and indubitable moral meaning. On the narrational plane, the Tribute is developed in three stages: in the central part, Christ, from whom the tax collector asks a tribute for the Temple, orders Peter to go and fetch a coin from the mouth of the first fish he can catch; on the left, Peter, squatting on the shore, takes the coin from the fish; on the right, Peter tenders the coin to the tax collector. The three stages unite and the temporal sequences are expressed in spatial measures. The absence of a chronological scansion in the narrative, is to be sought in the fact that the painting’s salient motif is not so much the miracle, as the actuation of the Divine Will, expressed by Jesus’ the imperative gesture. His will becomes Peter’s will who, by repeating his Lord’s gesture, simultaneously indicates the fulfillment of Christ’s will. The apostles’ solidarity is shown by their serrated grouping around Jesus, as if to form a ring, a « coliseum of men ».^[9] However, the very task is given to Peter: he alone will have to deal with mundane institutions. The portico’s pillar becomes a symbolic element of separation between the grouped apostles and the conclusive delivery of tribute to the tax collector on Peter’s part.

In the central group, the transverse directions formed by Christ’s gesture with his right arm — replicated by that of Peter and, in opposite, by the turned collector — cross with those formed by the gestures of the right group, emphasizing escape points placed in the deepest space.^[10]

Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha

The upper scene on the right wall shows, on the left side, the Healing of the Cripple and, on the right side, the Raising of Tabitha. The fresco is generally attributed to Masolino,^[11] although Masaccio’s hand has been discovered by some scholars. The scene shows two different episodes, with St. Peter appearing in both of them enclosed in a scenario of a typical Tuscan city of the 15th century depicted according to the strict rules of central perspective. The latter is generally regarded as Masaccio’s main contribution, whereas the two central figures show Gothic influences.

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

St Peter Preaching, by Masolino, restored.

St Peter Preaching

By Masolino da Panicale.

On the upper left wall one can see St Peter Preaching by Masolino, completed in eight days. Peter is shown, with an expressive gesture, preaching in front of a crowd. The people in the group have many and varied demeanours, from the sweet attention of the veiled nun in the foreground, to the sleepiness of both the girl behind her and the bearded old man, to the fear of the woman at back, whose worried eyes only can be seen. Mountains seem to continue from the preceding scene, with a spatial unity that was one of Masaccio trademarks. The three heads behind St Peter are probably portraits of contemporary people, same as the two friars on the right: all were formerly attributed to Masaccio.^[12]

Baptism of the Neophytes

By Masaccio.

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Baptism of the Neophytes, by Masaccio.

The whole composition presents details of astounding realism: the trembling neophyte, the water droplets from the baptised hair, the white sheet being removed in the background. Chromatic effects of « cangiantismo »,^[13] where drapery is modelled using contrasting colours to create an effect that simulates cangiante textiles, is achieved by Masaccio through a pictorial technique based on the juxtaposition of complementary colours, later reprised by Michelangelo.^[14]

St Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

St Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow, by Masaccio.

Lower centre wall, left side, by Masaccio. The episode depicted is from a brief passage Acts 5:12-16.

The fresco’s authenticity by Masaccio is proven by the perspective structure of the street flanked by medieval buildings (the first palazzo however is of a Renaissance style), the perfect realism of the old man and the cripple, and by the physiognomy of some recurring faces. John, behind Peter, allegedly has the features of Giovanni the Scheggia, Masaccio’s brother, whereas the old bearded man in the background should represent Donatello.^[15] The ashlar palazzo reminds of Palazzo Vecchio in the lower part, and Palazzo Pitti in the larger windows framed by brick stones.^[16]

The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias, by Masaccio.

Lower centre wall, right side, by Masaccio.

According to the narrative in Acts 4:32;5:1-11, each Christian, after selling their own possessions, would bring the proceeds to the apostles, who distributed to everyone according to need. Only Ananias « kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. » Severely reprimanded by Peter, he fell to the ground and died. The composition concentrates on the moment in which Ananias lies on the ground, whilst the woman with child receives alms from Peter, accompanied by John. The compositional structure is quite tight and emotional, involving the viewer in the heart of the event.^[17]

Raising of the Son of Theophilus and St Peter Enthroned

Lower left wall, by Masaccio, completed by Filippino Lippi approximately fifty years later.

Filippino composed the five bystanders on the left, the Carmelites’ drapery and the central part of St Peter’s arm in the « enthroned » representation. According to the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) by Jacobus de Voragine, after release from prison, St Peter resuscitates, with St Paul‘s assistance, Theophilus’s son, who had died fourteen years before.^[18] So, people venerated St Peter and erected a new church to him, where he is enthroned so as to be revered and prayed by all.^[19] However, the true meaning of this fresco rests with the politics of the time: that is, in the conflict between Florence and the Duchy of Milan.^[20]

Raising of the Son of Theophilus and St Peter Enthroned, by Masaccio.

There is a precise iconographic resemblance between Theophilus (seated on the left, in an elevated position within a niche) and Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Florence’s bitter enemy. The latter was a feared tyrant, whose thirst for power pushed him to start a war with Florence, almost destroying its freedom. Memory of this episode returned in all its crude vividness, when Florence had to confront a dispute with Filippo Maria Visconti, Gian Galeazzo’s son. The figure sitting on Theophilus’ (i.e., Gian Galeazzo’s) right would be the Florentine chancellor Coluccio Salutati, author of an invective against the Lombard lord. St Peter’s presence, therefore, symbolizes the mediating role of the Church in the person of Pope Martin V, to sedate the conflict between Milan and Florence. At the extreme right, a group of four bystanders should personify Masaccio (looking away from the painting), Masolino (the shortest one), Leon Battista Alberti(in the foreground); and Filippo Brunelleschi (the last). The frequent use of portraiture makes the imaginary world of painting and the viewer’s personal experience converge. For Masaccio’s contemporaries it should have been easier to read this scene as a reflection of themselves and their own social realities. The fresco’s figures populate a dilated space of their own world and have a natural demeanor: they stretch their necks to see better, they look over their neighbour’s shoulder, gesticulate, observe and gossip the event with the next bystander.^[21]

St Paul Visiting St Peter in Prison

St Peter Being Freed from Prison

St Paul Visiting St Peter in Prison

By Filippino Lippi.

The cycle continues towards the left, on the pillar, in the lower register, with the scene of St Peter in Prison visited by St Paul, painted by Filippino Lippi. St Peter is visible at a window with bars, while the visitor gives his back to the viewer. Perhaps the scene followed a drawing by Masaccio, as shown by the perfect architectural continuity with the adjacent scene of the Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus.

Decoration of the Brancacci Chapel stayed incomplete due to Masaccio’s departure to Rome in 1427, where he died a year later. Moreover, the commissioning patron’s exile in 1436 hindered any possibility of the frescos completion by other artists; in fact, it is probable that some parts already painted by Masaccio were removed as a sort of damnatio memoriae, because of their portraiture of the Brancaccifamily members. Only with the return of this family to Florence in 1480, the frescos could be resumed, by commissioning the artist closer and more faithful to the great Masaccio tradition, that is to say, Filippino Lippi, his first apprentice. Filippino’s intervention is not documented with precision, but is datable to ca. 1485 thanks to some indications given by Giorgio Vasari.^[22]

St Peter Being Freed from Prison

Lower right wall, right side. By Filippino Lippi.

This is the last scene, to be related to the imprisoned saint on the opposite wall. In fact, it shows St Peter’s liberation from prison by an angel, and it’s entirely attributable to Filippino Lippi. Here too the architecture is connected with that of the adjacent depiction. The sword-armed guard sleeps in the foreground, leaning on a stick, whilst the miracolous rescue is happening — this implies Christian salvation, as well as perhaps Florence’s recovered autonomy after the contention with Milan.

Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St Peter

Lower right wall, centre. By Filippino Lippi.

The large panel in the lower register, right wall, is by Filippino Lippi. Outside the city walls, (in Rome, as indicated by the Pyramid of Cestius along the Aurelian Walls and by the edifices peeking from the merlons) one may see, on the right, the disputation between Simon Magus and St Peter in front of Nero, with a pagan idol lying at the latter’s feet. On the left, Peter’s crucifixion is taking place: the saint is hanging upside down because he refused to be crucified in the same position as Christ’s. The scene is replete with portraits: the youth with a beret on the extreme right is Filippino’s self-portrait. The old man with a red hat in the group near St Peter and Simon Magus, is Antonio del Pollaiolo. The young man below the archway and looking towards the viewer, is a portrait of Sandro Botticelli, Filippino’s friend and teacher. In Simon Magus, some critics wish to see the poet Dante Alighieri, celebrated as the creator of the renowned Italianvernacular used by Lorenzo il Magnifico and Agnolo Poliziano.

Layout of the painting complex

Left wall

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Left wall, higher partII. Expulsion of Adam and Eve (Masaccio), V. Tribute (Masaccio), IX. St Peter Preaching (Masolino, detail)

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Left wall, lower partXIII. St Paul Visiting St Peter in Prison (Filippino Lippi, unrestored), XV. Raising of the Son of Theophilus and St Peter Enthroned (Masaccio and Filippino Lippi), XI. St Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow (Masaccio)

Right wall

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Right wall, higher partX. Baptism of the Neophytes (Masaccio), VI. Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha (Masolino), I=Original Sin (Masolino)

Giacobbe Giusti, Brancacci Chapel

Right wall, lower partXII. The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias (Masaccio), XVI. Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St Peter (Filippino Lippi), XIV. St Peter Being Freed from Prison (Filippino Lippi)

Influence

Masaccio’s application of scientific perspective, unified lighting, use of chiaroscuro and skill in rendering the figures naturalistically established new traditions in Renaissance Florence that some scholars credit with helping to found the new Renaissance style.^[23]

The young Michelangelo was one of the many artists who received his artistic training by copying Masaccio’s work in the chapel. The chapel was also the site of an assault on Michelangelo by rival sculptor Pietro Torrigiano, who resented Michelangelo’s critical remarks about his draughtsmanship. He punched the artist so severely that he « crushed his nose like a biscuit » (according to Benvenuto Cellini)^[24] which deformed Michelangelo’s face into that of a boxer’s.

Restoration

The first restoration of the chapel frescoes was in 1481-1482, by Filippino Lippi, who was also responsible for completing the cycle. Due to the lamps used for lighting the dark chapel, the frescoes were relatively quickly coated in dust and dirt from the smoke. Another restoration was conducted at the end of the 16th century. Around 1670, sculptures were added, and the fresco-secco additions were made to the frescoes, to hide the various cases of nudity. Late 20th century restoration removed the overpainting and collected dust and dirt. Some critics, including professor and art historian James H. Beck,^[25] have criticised these efforts, while others, including professors, historians and restorers, have praised the work done on the chapel.

Notes and references

1. Jump up^ Cf. B. Berenson, The Italian Painters Of The Renaissance, Pahidon (1952).
2. Jump up^ K. Shulman, Anatomy of a Restoration: The Brancacci Chapel (1991), p. 6. Cf. also A. Ladis, Masaccio: la Cappella Brancacci (1994), passim.
3. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, Rizzoli (1999), p. 28.
4. Jump up^ The Brancacci Chapel and the Use of Linear Perspective
5. Jump up^ Cf. John Spike, Masaccio, cit. (2002); Mario Carniani, La Cappella Brancacci a Santa Maria del Carmine, cit., (1998).
6. Jump up^ Cf. John Spike, Masaccio, Rizzoli, Milan (2002), s.v. « Navicella ».
7. Jump up^ The sinopia is the underdrawing for fresco made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water brushed on the arriccio layer, over which the intonaco is applied before painting. Red earth (iron oxide) mined by the town of Sinopia during the Renaissance period (present Turkey), currently depleted, gave the name to the method. During Giotto times and before Sinopia was the main preparatory drawing – the entire fresco was designed in Sinopia directly on the wall. Cartoons were implemented later after the perspective was « invented » and more thorough composition development became essential. Arriccio (Ariccio; Arricciato, Arriccato) or Browncoat is a layer of plaster over the roughcoat (Trullisatio) and just under the finish coat of plaster (Intonaco) which will be painted. The sinopia or full scale composition is laid out on the arriccio.
8. Jump up^ Cf. F. Antal, La pittura fiorentina e il suo ambiente sociale nel Trecento e nel primo Quattrocento, Turin(1960), s.v. « Catasto » and passim; see also R. C. Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, Ithaca (1980), Pt. 1, Ch. 1, pp. 9-33.
9. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., pp. 30-31.
10. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., p. 31.
11. Jump up^ Cf. U. Baldini, O. Casazza, La Cappella Brancacci, Milan (1990).
12. Jump up^ U. Procacci, Masaccio. La Capella Brancacci, Florence (1965), s.v. « Predica di san Pietro ».
13. Jump up^ Cf. definition at « Archived copy ». Archived from the original on 6 June 2015. Retrieved 2012-11-13..
14. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., p. 29.
15. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., p. 32.
16. Jump up^ Ibidem.
17. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., p. 33.
18. Jump up^ Jacobus de Voragine. “44. The Chair of Saint Peter.” In The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, translated by William Granger Ryan, 1.162–1.166. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1993. Theophilus was a prefect of Antioch.
19. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., pp. 34-35.
20. Jump up^ Cf. R. C. Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, cit., s.v. « Milan »
21. Jump up^ Cf. Federico Zeri, Masaccio: Trinità, cit., pp. 34-35; see also F. Antal, La pittura fiorentina e il suo ambiente sociale nel Trecento e nel primo Quattrocento, cit., ibid.; M. Carniani, « La Cappella Brancacci a Santa Maria del Carmine », in AA.VV., Cappelle del Rinascimento a Firenze, Florence (1998).
22. Jump up^ M. Carniani, « La Cappella Brancacci a Santa Maria del Carmine », cit.
23. Jump up^ Cf. O. Casazza, Masaccio, Florence (1990), s.v. « Stile rinascimentale ».
24. Jump up^ Cf. H. Hibbard, Michelangelo, Folio Society (2007), p. 12.
25. Jump up^ Cf. int. al. Philadelphia Museum of Art, article « Italian Paintings 1250-1450 »; see also The Florentine Badia by Anne Leader (2000).

o Brancacci Chapel.

• Official site
• Frescoes in the Cappella Brancacci of Santa Maria della Carmine in Florence by Masaccio
• Frescoes in the Cappella Brancacci of Santa Maria della Carmine in Florence by Filippino Lippi
• abcgallery.com:The Brancacci Chapel
• Smarthistory: 2. Expulsion from Paradise (Masaccio)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brancacci_Chapel

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, MASACCIO et MASOLINO: Vierge à l’Enfant avec sainte Anne

Giacobbe Giusti, MASACCIO et MASOLINO: Vierge à l’Enfant avec sainte Anne

Giacobbe Giusti, MASACCIO et MASOLINO: Vierge à l’Enfant avec sainte Anne

Sant’Anna Metterza

Artiste	Masaccio et Masolino da Panicale
Date	1424-1425
Type	tempera sur bois
Dimensions (H × L)	175 × 103 cm
Mouvement	Renaissance italienne
Localisation	Galerie des Offices, Florence(Italie)

Vierge à l’Enfant avec sainte Anne dite Sant’Anna Metterza¹, est une peinture à temperasur bois (175 × 103 cm) réalisée par Masaccio et Masolino da Panicale en 1424-1425, conservée aux Offices, à Florence.

 

Historique

La Vierge et l’Enfant avec Saint Anne a été initialement commandée pour l’église Sant’Ambrogio de Florence² où Giorgio Vasari la vit en 1568 et l’attribua à Masaccio. Selon Vasari, «  Le tableau a été placé dans la chapelle dont la porte mène au salon des moniales ». Vers 1813, l’œuvre rejoint la collection de la Galerie de l’Académie et en 1919, celle des Offices.

Attribution

En 1940 l’historien de l’art Roberto Longhi émet l’hypothèse, comme Crowe et Cavalcaselle, que l’œuvre serait le fruit de « deux mains différentes » en attribuant la Vierge, l’Enfant et l’ange habillé en vert/grenat à Masaccio et sainte Anne, ainsi que tous les autres anges, aux formes plus conventionnelles à Masolino. Cette théorie est actuellement unanimement admise.

Description

Iconographiquement c’est une « Sainte Anne trinitaire » (sainte Anne dominant sa fille Marie, placée elle-même au-dessus de son fils Jésus).

L’ensemble des personnages saints est placé sur un trône complété d’un tissu en dais en fond entouré d’anges, le tout dans une composition en mandorle.

Style

Le groupe La Vierge et l’Enfant qui avec son puissant volume remplit puissamment l’espace au moyen d’une structure perspectiviste assurée, est l’un des premiers ouvrages crédités à Masaccio.

Plutôt qu’un ange gothique, la figure du Christ est désormais celle d’un jeune enfant, plus réaliste. C’est également l’un des premiers tableaux qui montre l’effet de la lumière naturelle sur la figure. Ces nouveautés qui constituent des caractéristiques fondamentales du style de Masaccio auront une influence profonde sur la peinture de la Renaissance italienne.

Notes et références

1. ↑ Metterza est un terme issu de la langue vulgaire médiévale se référant à sainte Anne, mère de Marie qui figure en troisième position (terza) dans la hiérarchie de la famille divine, à côté de Marie et Jésus
2. ↑ Le commanditaire du tableau est probablement un certain Nofri d’Agnolo Buonamici, fabriquant de draps, qui assurait le patronat de l’autel de sainte Anne de l’église Sant’Ambrogio de Florence.

Bibliographie

• (it) Roberto Longhi, Masolino et Masaccio, 1983
• (en) John T. Spike, Masaccio, Milan, Rizzoli, 2002 (ISBN 88-7423-007-9)
• (it) AA.VV., Galleria degli Uffizi, collana I Grandi Musei del Mondo, Rome, 2003
• (it) Pierluigi De Vecchi et Elda Cerchiari, I tempi dell’arte, vol. 2, Milan, Bompiani, 1999(ISBN 88-451-7212-0)

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant%27Anna_Metterza

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, FRA FILIPPO LIPPI: PIETA’

Giacobbe Giusti, FRA FILIPPO LIPPI: PIETA’

Pietà, 1435-1440
Musée Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fra_Filippo_Lippi

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, MASACCIO: Adoration des mages

 

Adoration des mages, prédelle, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyptyque_de_Pise

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Chapelle Brancacci fresques de MASACCIO

XII=La distribuzione dei beni e la morte di Anania e Saffira, Masaccio (restaurato)

Giacobbe Giusti, Chapelle Brancacci fresques de MASACCIO

XI=San Pietro che risana con l’ombra, Masaccio (restaurato)

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapelle_Brancacci

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, La Trinité de Masaccio

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Santa Maria Novella

Un article de Wikipédia, l’encyclopédie libre.

Basilique Santa Maria Novella
Façade de l’église Santa Maria Novella
Présentation
Nom local	Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
Culte	Catholicisme
Type	Basilique
Début de la construction	1278
Style dominant	Architecture gothique
Géographie
Pays	Italie
Région	Toscane
Ville	Florence
Coordonnées	43° 46′ 29″ nord, 11° 14′ 58″ est
Géolocalisation sur la carte : Italie Basilique Santa Maria Novella Géolocalisation sur la carte : Florence Basilique Santa Maria Novella (Voir situation sur carte : Italie) (Voir situation sur carte : Florence)

L’église Santa Maria Novella, la première basilique de Florence, est située sur la Piazza Santa Maria Novella.

Histoire

Construite à partir de 1246 par les frères Sisto et Ristoro, dominicains, l’église Santa Maria Novella remplace l’oratoire Santa Maria delle Vigne, édifié sur le même emplacement dès le IX^e siècle (d’où son qualificatif de Novella).

Au début du XIV^e siècle, le couvent Santa Maria Novella est^[1] :

« l’un des centres de la vie florentine. Foyer de vie intellectuelle, le couvent est une vraie université, déclarée depuis peu studium generale… Le couvent est aussi un centre de prédication fameux… À l’intérieur du couvent ce sont des échanges permanents entre les Frères théologiens, juristes, philosophes, artistes, prédicateurs, anciens missionnaires, tous bénéficient des compétences et des informations de leurs confrères »

— J.-M. Mérigoux

La pensée de Rémi de Florence diffusée à l’intérieur du couvent rayonnait aussi sans doute sur la ville. Dante Alighieri, ami du couvent de Santa Maria Novella, a bénéficié de la culture théologique qui s’y diffusait, et on admet qu’il aurait suivi certains cours de Rémi.

Rémi fut enseveli à Santa Maria Novella et son portrait se trouve peint à fresque dans le grand cloître.

 

L’église doit notamment sa célébrité aux fabuleuses fresques qu’elle possède : Giotto, Brunelleschi, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Benedetto da Maiano, Masaccio, Domenico Ghirlandaio pour sa fresque dans la chapelle Tornabuoni, Filippino Lippi, Andrea Orcagna pour son retable de la chapelle Strozzi.

Un crucifix de Giotto est visible sur une des colonnes de la nef.

La façade renaissance de l’édifice, en marbres blanc et noir, commencée en 1300, est terminée par Leone Battista Alberti, en 1470. Une inscription sous le fronton triangulaire indique que les travaux ont été financés par Giovanni Rucellai.

À côté de l’église se trouve un cimetière dans lequel reposent nombre de nobles florentins qui ont financé l’édifice.

Architecture

L’arrière de l’église du côté de la gare homonyme.

La nef centrale

La Trinité de Masaccio.

Extérieur

La façade, aux motifs géométriques légers en marbres vert et blanc, date, dans sa partie inférieure, du milieu du XIV^e siècle. Elle donne sur la Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Leon Battista Alberti reprit l’œuvre en 1458 et maria harmonieusement éléments gothiques et Renaissance, ce qui en fait une des premières façades Renaissance au monde. Sur la droite s’étend un petit cimetière (fermé) où repose Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Intérieur

À Florence, elle fut la seconde basilique – après l’église de la sainte Trinité – à utiliser des éléments de l’architecture gothique, en particulier les caractères typiques de l’architecture gothique cistercienne.

Elle est longue de 99,20 mètres, large de 28,30 mètres alors que le transept mesure au maximum 61,54 mètres. Son plan en croix latine avec un chevet plat^[2] est divisé en trois nefs avec six amples travées qui se rétrécissent vers l’autel. Les larges arcades de la nef centrale donnent l’impression au visiteur de se trouver dans une salle unique. La couverture de l’édifice est soutenue par des piliers reliés à des voûtes d’ogives décorés de bandes peintes bicolores noires et blanches ; le jeu de lignes complexe des différents arcs des ogives produit un certain dynamisme à l’espace intérieur de l’édifice.

Une grande cloison séparait autrefois le presbytère, des nefs longitudinales où prenaient place les fidèles, mais elle fut démolie entre 1565 et 1571, quand y travailla Giorgio Vasari sur la demande de Cosme I^er. Jadis, le parterre accueillait de nombreuses pierres funéraires, qui furent déplacées lors de la restauration de 1857–1861, et en partie placées entre les pilastres latéraux. Toujours au XIX^e siècle, l’autel central fut reconstruit en style néogothique, ainsi que les fenêtres et les autels latéraux, qui donnèrent à l’église son aspect actuel.

Vitraux

Intérieur de Santa Maria Novella, peinture de Fabio Borbottoni (1820-1902)

Ils datent des XIV^e et XV^e siècles

Cette section est vide, insuffisamment détaillée ou incomplète. Votre aide est la bienvenue !

Envers de la façade

• La Nativité sur le tympan interne, fresque de Sandro Botticelli.

• Portail de gauche, Annunciazione sur toile, dernière œuvre de Santi di Tito.

Autels de la nef gauche

Le premier autel est décoré de la Resurrezione di Lazzaro, retable de Santi di Tito,

Le deuxième présente la Samaritana al pozzo d’Alessandro Allori (1575),

Sous la troisième travée  : La Trinité de Masaccio (1428), qui était cachée, fut recouverte, ensuite déplacée puis remise en place après sa redécouverte (1861) et sa restauration (1952).

Sur le quatrième, se trouve la Resurrezione e quattro santi de Giorgio Vasari,

Le cinquième retable montre la Storie di Santa Caterina de Bernardino Poccetti.

Autels de la nef droite

Cette section est vide, insuffisamment détaillée ou incomplète. Votre aide est la bienvenue !

Transept

Sur le côté droit :

• Le tombeau di Tedice Aliotti, évêque de di Fiesole, mort en 1336, attribué à Maso di Banco.
• Le tombeau di fra’ Aldobrando Cavalcanti, évêque d’Orvieto mort à Florence en 1279.
• Le tombeau di Giuseppe, patriarche de Constantinople, mort à Florence pendant le Concile de Ferrare-Florence en 1440.

Près des gradins de la Chapelle Rucellai, la pierre tombale de Corrado della Penna, évêque de Fiesole, mort en 1312, est une œuvre du cercle d’Arnolfo di Cambio.

Chapelle du transept

Cappella Maggiore

La Cappella Maggiore ou Chapelle Tornabuoni se trouve au centre de l’église derrière le maître-autel. Elle comporte un Crucifix de Giambologna. Le chœur conserve un important cycle de fresques de Domenico Ghirlandaio (Vie de la Vierge, Vie de saint Jean-Baptiste, 1485-1490), avec probablement un travail du jeune Michel-Ange, alors en son atelier. Sur la voûte sont peints, dans quatre compartiments, les Evangélistes, avec leurs attributs traditionnels. Sur les parois sont traitées les scènes suivantes :

Paroi de gauche :

1. Joachim chassé du Temple ;
2. Nativité de Marie ;
3. Présentation de Marie au Temple ;
4. Mariage de Marie ;
5. Nativité et Adoration des mages (fresque presque entièrement perdue) ;
6. Massacre des Innocents (très endommagée) ;
7. (tympan) L’Assomption.

Paroi de droite :

1. L’Ange apparaît à Zacharie dans le Temple ;
2. La Visitation ;
3. Naissance de saint Jean ;
4. Son Père lui donne le nom de Jean ;
5. Prédication de saint Jean ;
6. Saint Jean baptise le Christ ;
7. (tympan) Le Festin d’Hérode.

Article détaillé : Chapelle Tornabuoni.

Chapelles de droite

• La Cappella di Filippo Strozzi
• La Cappella Bardi
• La Cappella Rucellai (it), qui abrita entre 1591 et 1937, la Madone Rucellai de Duccio, aujourd’hui visible à la Galerie des Offices.

Chapelles de gauche

• La Cappella Gondi (it),
• La Cappella Strozzi di Mantova (it),

Sacristie

La sacristie est dotée d’un lavabo composé d’une vasque en marbre surmontée d’une niche en terre cuite émaillée, œuvre de Giovanni della Robbia.

Le couvent

Il Chiostro Verde.

Article détaillé : Musée de Santa Maria Novella.

Fresque d’Uccello.

Il comporte trois cloîtres monumentaux et des salles annexes,

• Le Chiostro Verde construit après 1350 par Jacopo Talenti avec les fresques de Paolo Uccello.

• La Chapelle des Espagnols (ou Cappellone degli Spagnoli) l’ancienne salle capitulaire du monastère. Elle tient son nom des Espagnols de la suite de Éléonore de Tolède, épouse de Cosme I^er de Toscane qui la fréquentèrent au XVI^e siècle. Elle est située du côté nord du Chiostro Verde. Sa construction, par Talenti, débuta vers 1343 et fut finie en 1345. Elle a été décorée de 1365 à 1367 par Andrea di Bonaiuto, dit Andrea de Florence, et ses aides. Le sujet en aurait été donné par le prieur Jacopo Passavanti. La grande fresque sur le mur droit met en scène l’allégorie de l’Église Triomphante et de l’ordre dominicain (domine cane, les chiens du seigneur surveillant le troupeau de brebis).

 

Fresques du Cappellone degli Spagnoli

• Le Réfectoire où sont exposés de collections d’objets religieux
• Le Chiostro dei Morti avec :
  • La Cappella di Sant’Anna, avec la Storie di Sant’Anna e di Maria, et les fresques du cercle de Nardo di Cione (1345-1355).
  • La Cappella di San Paolo, avec la Crocefissione et San Domenico, fresques de l’école d’Andrea Orcagna.
• Le Chiostro Grande. Le plus grand de la ville, il est construit entre 1562 et 1592 par l’architecte Giulio Parigi pour Éléonore de Tolède (fresques des Storie di Cristo e di santi domenicani par les artistes florentins Poccetti, Santi di Tito, Ludovico Cigoli, Alessandro Allori, etc.)
• La chapelle des Papes
• L’ancienne Officina di profumeria e farmaceutica dite « Pharmacie de Santa Maria Novella »

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilique_Santa_Maria_Novella

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, The Tribute Money (MASACCIO)

Detail from the painting showing the use of chiaroscuro. The heads are possibly those of Judas (2nd from left) and Masaccio himself as Thomas (right).

 

Giacobbe Giusti, The Tribute Money (MASACCIO)

Christ with disciples in the painting.

Giacobbe Giusti, The Tribute Money (MASACCIO)

Peter removing money from a fish’s mouth

 

Giacobbe Giusti, The Tribute Money (MASACCIO)

Painting with drawn-in lines showing how the single-point perspective converges on the head of Christ

 

Giacobbe Giusti, The Tribute Money (MASACCIO)

Artist	Masaccio
Year	1425
Type	Fresco
Dimensions	247 cm × 597 cm (97.2 in × 235 in)
Location	Brancacci Chapel, Florence

 

 

The Tribute Money is a fresco by the Italian renaissance painter Masaccio, located in the Brancacci Chapel of the basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, and completed by his senior collaborator, Masolino. Painted in the 1420s, it is widely considered among Masaccio’s best work, and a vital part of the development of renaissance art.^[1][2]

The painting is part of a cycle on the life of Saint Peter, and describes a scene from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus directs Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish in order to pay the temple tax. It owes its importance in particular to its revolutionary use of perspective and chiaroscuro. The Tribute Money suffered great damage in the centuries after its creation, until the chapel went through a thorough restoration in the 1980s.

 

 

The Brancacci Chapel

Christ with disciples in the painting.

The Brancacci Chapel, in the basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine, was founded around 1366/7 by Piero di Piuvichese Brancacci.^[3] The chapel passed to Piero’s nephew, Felice Brancacci, who some time between 1423 and 1425 commissioned the painter Masolino to decorate the walls with a series of frescoes from the life of Saint Peter. Peter was the name-saint of the founder, and the patron saint of the Brancacci family, but the choice also reflected support for the Roman papacy during the Great Schism.^[4]

At some point Masolino was joined by another artist, the eighteen years younger Masaccio. Masolino eventually left, either for Hungary in 1425 or for Rome in 1427, leaving the completion of the chapel to Masaccio. In 1427 or 28, before the chapel was completed, Masaccio joined Masolino in Rome. Only in the 1480s was the work finished, by Filippino Lippi.^[5] The Tribute Money, though, is considered Masaccio’s work entirely.^[6]

Over the centuries the frescoes were greatly altered and damaged. In 1746 the upper levels were painted over by the artist Vincenzo Meucci, covering up most of Masolino’s work. Then, in 1771, the church was ruined by fire. The Brancacci Chapel, though structurally undamaged by the fire, suffered great damages to its frescoes.^[7] It was not until the years 1981-1990 that a full-scale restoration of the chapel was undertaken, restoring the frescoes to approximately their original state.^[8] The paintings had suffered some irreparable damage though, particularly the parts that were painted a secco: in The Tribute Money, the leaves on the trees were gone, while Christ‘s robe had lost much of its original azure brilliance.^[9]

Subject matter

The scene depicted in The Tribute Money is drawn from Matthew 17:24–27:

Peter removing money from a fish’s mouth

24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25. He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26. Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

— Matthew 17:24–27

The story is only found in Matthew, who was himself a tax collector according to Matthew 9:9-13. The passage has been used as a Christian justification for the legitimacy of secular authority, and is often seen in conjunction with another passage, the « render unto Caesar… » story.^[10] In Matthew 22:15–22, a group of Pharisees try to trick Christ into incriminating himself, by asking if it is « lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not. » Pointing out Caesar’s image on the coin, he replies « Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. »^[11]

Composition

Painting with drawn-in lines showing how the single-point perspective converges on the head of Christ.

The painting diverges somewhat from the biblical story, in that the tax collector confronts the whole group of Christ and the disciples, and the entire scene takes place outdoors. The story is told in three parts that do not occur sequentially, but the narrative logic is still maintained, through compositional devises. The central scene is that of the tax collector demanding the tribute. The head of Christ is the vanishing point of the painting, drawing the eyes of the spectator there. Both Christ and Peter then point to the left hand part of the painting, where the next scene takes place in the middle background: Peter taking the money out of the mouth of the fish. The final scene – where Peter pays the tax collector – is at the right, set apart by the framework of an architectural structure.^[12]

This work maintains a heavy importance in the Art History world, as it is widely believed to be the first painting, since the fall of Rome (ca. 476 A.D.), to use Scientific Linear One Point Perspective, or, all the orthogonals point to one vanishing point, in this case, Christ. Also, it is one of the first paintings that does away with the use of a head-cluster. A technique employed by earlier Proto-Renaissance artists, such as Giotto or Duccio. If you were to walk into the painting, you could walk around Jesus Christ, in the semicircle created, and back out the painting again with ease.

Christ and the disciples are placed in a semicircle, reflecting the shape of the chapel’s apse. The tax collector, on the other hand, stands outside the holy space.^[12] While the group of holy men are dressed almost entirely in robes of pastel pink and blue, the official wears a shorter tunic of a striking vermilion. The colour adds to the impertinence expressed through his gestures.^[13] Another way contrast is achieved is in the way – both in the central scene and on the right – the tax collector’s postures are copying almost exactly those of Peter, only seen from the opposite angle. This gives a three-dimensional quality to the figures, allowing the spectator to view them from all sides.^[9]

Style

Peter with the tax collector

Masaccio is often compared to contemporaries like Donatello and Brunelleschi as a pioneer of the renaissance, particularly for his use of single-point perspective.^[1] One technique that was unique to Masaccio, however, was the use of atmospheric, or aerial perspective. Both the mountains in the background, and the figure of Peter on the left are dimmer and paler than the objects in the foreground, creating an illusion of depth. This technique was known in ancient Rome, but was considered lost until reinvented by Masaccio.^[1]

Masaccio’s use of light was also revolutionary. While earlier artists like Giotto had applied a flat, neutral light from an unidentifiable source, Masaccio’s light emanated from a specific location outside the picture, casting the figures in light and shadow. This created a chiaroscuro effect, sculpting the bodies into three-dimensional shapes.^[1]

Masaccio is often justly praised for the variety of his facial depictions. In the case of this painting the accolade is somewhat diminished, however, by the fact that the work was unfinished at the time of his death, and the heads of Jesus and St Peter were painted by his senior collaborator Masolino da Panicale, (who painted the corresponding perspective work on the other side of the Chapel, « Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha« .

Interpretations

Detail from the painting showing the use of chiaroscuro. The heads are possibly those of Judas (2nd from left) and Masaccio himself as Thomas (right).

Several theories have been proposed as to why this specific subject – not a very common theme in art history – was chosen.^[13] One suggestion sees the painting as a justification for the so-called catasto of 1427; a new form of income tax.^[14] This is not a very likely explanation, however, as Brancacci would stand to lose from the new taxation, and would probably rather have been among its opponents. A more probable explanation links the painting to Pope Martin V‘s 1423 agreement that the Florentine church be subjected to state tax.^[9] The money found in the fish’s mouth can also be seen as an expression of how Florence’s wealth came from the sea. Felice Brancacci, a silk merchant involved in Mediterranean trade, was also a member of the city’s Board of Maritime Consuls.^[10]

Central to an understanding of the painting, as well as the entire series, is the relationship the Brancaccis and the city of Florence had with the papacy in Rome. Florence was at the time at war with Milan, and needed the support of the Pope. The Brancacci frescos must therefore be seen in the context of a pro-papal policy, and as an attempt to legitimise the Roman see through its association with Saint Peter – the first bishop of Rome, and first pope.^[15]

External video

Masaccio’s The Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel, Smarthistory[16]

In the story, Peter is clearly singled out among the disciples, and his strong connection with Christ can be seen in Christ’s words « for me and thee ».^[10] Peter appears a majestic and energetic figure when he is with Christ and when he performs his work, in contrast to the diminutive shape on the left. This all points forward to his apostolic role as Christ’s vicar on earth.^[17] As such The Tribute Money represents a transitional scene in the chapel; in doing Christ’s bidding Peter goes from being a disciple to being the master.^[18]

Only two of the disciples can be identified with any degree of certainty: Peter with his iconographic grey hair and beard, and blue and yellow attire, and John; the young beardless man standing next to Christ. John’s head is reminiscent of Roman sculptures, and it is reflected in the very similar face of another disciple on the right. The person next to this disciple is assumed to be Judas, whose dark and sinister face mirrors that of the tax collector.^[12] It has been speculated – first by Vasari – that the face on the far right is a self-portrait of Masaccio himself, as Thomas.^[19]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tribute_Money_(Masaccio)

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, MASACCIO: Crucifixion

Autore	Masaccio
Data	1426
Tecnica	tavola
Dimensioni	83×63 cm
Ubicazione	Museo nazionale di Capodimonte, Napoli Musée Capodimonte de Naples https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocifissione_(Masaccio)#/media/File:Crucifix_Masaccio.jpg

ù

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com