Masaccio was responsible for developing naturalistic depiction of 3D space containing figures. In his paintings the newly discovered laws of perspective were applied, the drawing of foreshortened parts was correct, and the anatomy of the human body was well understood. According to Giorgio Vasari, Masaccio owed his artistic education to Masolino da Panicale, but Masaccio, although he died 20 years before his master, carried the advance in naturalism further. Much of his work has been destroyed, and what remains is often in poor condition, but undergoing some restoration. The largest remaining collection of work is the fresco decoration of the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. Here Masolino da Panicale had left unfinished a series of frescoes which Masaccio was asked to continue: his six paintings there created a sensation and became the training school of Florentine painters of the succeeding generations, of Michelangelo with the rest. Masaccio did not complete the decoration of the chapel. In 1428 he left for Rome, and was reported dead soon afterwards.Cf. Roberto Longhi, Fatti di Masolino e Masaccio, Sansoni, 1975.
What follows is an incomplete list of Masaccio's main paintings in chronological sequence.This listing is by no means complete, and is given as a figurative timeline of Masaccio's artistic output. For locations, refer to individual entries on Wikimedia Commons: "Masaccio". The arrangement is ordered by year and title, with brief comments and showing the artistic development of the artist.
Gallery of paintings by Masaccio
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" ! Image !! Year & Title !! Comment |- | || 1422 — San Giovenale Triptych || (Panel, 110 cm × 65 cm – central) — The San Giovenale altarpiece was only discovered in 1961 in the church of San Giovenale at Cascia di Reggello, which is very close to Masaccio's hometown. Now it's on display at the nearby Masaccio Museum of Sacred Art. It represents the Virgin and Child with angels in the central panel, Saints Bartholomew and Blaise on the left panel, and Saints Juvenal (i.e. San Giovenale) and Anthony Abbot in the right panel. The painting has lost much of its original framing, and its surface is damaged.Roberto Bellucci & Cecilia Frosinini, "The San Giovenale Altarpiece," in The Panel Paintings of Masolino and Masaccio, ed. Carl Brandon Strehlke, Milan, 2002, pp. 69–79; Dillian Gordon, "The Altarpieces of Masaccio," in The Cambridge Companion to Masaccio, ed. Diane Cole Ahl, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 124–126. Nevertheless, Masaccio's concern to suggest three-dimensionality through volumetric figures and foreshortened forms (a revival of Giotto's approach, rather than a continuation of contemporary trends) is already apparent. |- | || 1423–1425 — Portrait of a young man || (Wood, 42 cm × 32 cm) — An unknown wealthy young man with fashionable clothes and headgear, wearing a chaperon: the portrait shows an accurate sense of facial detail and general physical appearance. The lines are strong and well marked, the expression serious and pensive. The attribution to Masaccio, however, is disputed. |- | || 1424 — Sant'Anna Metterza || (Tempera on panel, 175 cm × 103 cm) — Masaccio's first collaboration with the older and already-renowned artist, Masolino da Panicale (1383/4-c. 1436). The circumstances of the two artists' collaboration are unclear; since Masolino was considerably older, it seems likely that he brought Masaccio under his wing, but the division of hands in the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is so marked – Masolino is believed to have painted the figure of St Anne and the angels that hold the cloth of honour behind her, while Masaccio painted the more important Virgin and Child on their throne – that it is hard to see the older artist as the controlling figure in this commission.Cf. Roberto Longhi, "Fatti di Masolino e di Masaccio," Critica d'arte 25-6 (1940) pp. 145–191. Masolino's figures are delicate, graceful and somewhat flat, while Masaccio's are solid and hefty. |- | || 1426 — Madonna with Child and Four Angels || (Wood, 136 cm × 73 cm) — Representation of the Virgin Mary with a pseudo-Arabic halo, and baby Jesus, surrounded by four angels: the painting is badly damaged, the altarpiece having been cut up and sold in pieces long ago. The panel has a gold ground, with the Virgin seated on a throne with a lowered point of view, in order to take into account the viewer's real perspective; she bends down, as if to form a protective cocoon around the Child eating a grape, a symbol of his future Passion; the imposing figures are shaped by chiaroscuro. In many ways the style of the painting is traditional; the expensive gold background and ultramarine draperies of the Virgin, her enlarged scale, and her hierarchical presentation (ceremoniously enthroned) all fit within the late-medieval formulas for the representation of Mary and Jesus in glory. In other ways, however, the painting is a step away from International Gothic in the sense that Masaccio has created a more realistic approach to the subject: The faces are more realistic and not idealised. The baby Jesus is less of a small man and more childlike. An attempt at creating depth has been attempted by Massacio's placement of the two background angels and through the use of linear perspective in the throne. Modeling is clearly visible as the light source is coming from the left of the painting. The Madonna is a bulky figure, deriving from classical models, and her drapery has larger and more naturalistic folds that shape her body. |- | || 1426 — Crucifixion || (Pisa Altarpiece – 83 cm × 63 cm) — A chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa commissioned this altarpiece from Masaccio on 19 February 1426 for the sum of 80 florins. Payment for the work was recorded on 26 December of that year. The altarpiece was dismantled and dispersed in the 18th century, but an attempted reconstruction was made possible due to a detailed description of the work by Vasari.Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, ed. Gaetano Milanesi, Florence, 1906, II, 292. Eleven pieces have been found as of 2010, and they are insufficient to reliably reconstruct the whole work. The Crucifixion is one of the surviving panels connected with the Pisa Altarpiece. The Crucifixion was placed above the central panel of the altarpiece, which represented the Virgin enthroned with the baby Jesus on her lap, flanked by two pairs of angels.Cf. Jill Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven, 1991, pp. 248–251. Although the panel unnaturalistically represents the narrative against a gold ground (a medieval formula for representing sacred scenes), Masaccio creates an effect of reality by depicting the event from below, as the viewer standing before the altar truly saw it. In this way, he attempts to tie the viewer to the scene, to make the sacred accessible to the ordinary Christian. |- | ———————————— || 1426 — Adoration of the Magi || (Pisa Altarpiece – PredellaA predella is the platform or step on which an altar stands (predella It. = kneeling stool). In painting, the predella is the painting or sculpture along the frame at the bottom of an altarpiece. In later medieval and Renaissance altarpieces, where the main panel consisted of a scene with large static figures, it was normal to include a predella below with a number of small-scale narrative paintings depicting events from the life of the dedicatee, whether the Life of Christ, the Virgin Mary or a saint. Typically there would be three to five small scenes, in a horizontal format. They are significant in art history, as the artist had more freedom from iconographic conventions than in the main panel; they could only be seen from close up. As the main panels themselves became more dramatic, during Mannerism, predellas were no longer painted, and they are rare by the middle of the 16th century. Predella scenes are now often separated from the rest of the altarpiece in museums. panel, poplar 21 cm × 61 cm, tempera) — The painting formed part of the predella in the centre section, below the Madonna and Child today at the National Gallery. The scene, as is customary, is presented in a profile perspective and is quite static, like a frieze. At left the viewer sees the hut, the ox and the donkey from the back, next to a mount for the donkey. Then follows the Holy Family, with halos in foreshortened perspective. Mary is seated on a golden stool with protomes and lion paws (the faldstool with the imperial lion heads), and holds in her arms the Child blessing the first of the Magi already kneeling and without crown (placed on the ground); his gift is already in St Joseph's hands. Behind him is a second Magus with pink tunic (much like the character in the fresco of St Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow in the Brancacci Chapel – see below, fig. 18); this Wise Man is also kneeling and his crown is held by a servant behind him. The third Magus is standing, his servant removing the crown while another nearby bears the gift. Behind the Magi are two emblematic figures, not taken from the traditional iconography, wearing fashionable headdress and long gray cloaks which leave uncovered their legs in red tights; probably they are representations of Masaccio's clients: the notary Ser Giuliano of Collino, taller and behind the first personage, likely his nephew, shorter and in the foreground, standing on a small mound. Finally, at right are the horses and servants. The artist's style is soft and mellow in the background, and strong and incisive elsewhere, as for instance in the capes of the two clients. The light and the rich colours unify the whole representation, without imbalances. |- | ———————————— || 1426 — Crucifixion of St Peter and Martyrdom of St John the Baptist || (Pisa Altarpiece – Predella panel, poplar 21 cm × 61 cm) — The first scene (left) shows a close up of the cross with Saint Peter in the inverted position with legs apart. The saint is impassive (with his halo foreshortened in perspective) while undergoing the nailing of hands; behind are two characters and a number of guards lined up, slightly smaller than the figures in the foreground. All lines (legs, looks) align the viewer's attention on the figure of Peter. In the Baptist's scene (right), the prophet is resigned, ready to accept his martyrdom by kneeling and offering his neck to the blade while praying in silent grief. In front of him, a basket is ready to receive his severed head. The scene is completed by two young guards who look on behind their long shields (originally friezed with ornaments, but now almost completely erased). Masaccio in both scenes tried to represent the executioners' violence by not showing their faces and thus their human side. The work is also notable for the architectural setting, the scene framed by two side foothills recalling Rome, the city where the martyrdom took place, in particular the Pyramid of Cestius and the Meta Romuli, a pyramidal mausoleum still in existence in the 15th century in the vicinity of the Vatican: the two buildings were traditionally linked to Peter's martyrdom. The work is a complete example of space painted illusionistically, where all elements are arranged rationally by following a unifying principle, bound by a rigorous mathematical construction of the perspective. Space is quickened by the light, which gives substance and volume to every element, from the body of the saints to the stones of the pavement. U. Procacci: 'Documenti e ricerche sopra Masaccio e la sua famiglia', Rivista d’arte, xiv (1932), pp. 489– 503; xvii (1935), pp. 91–111 |-