Masaccio
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Masaccio (born Tommaso Cassai or in some accounts Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Mone; December 21, 1401 – autumn 1428), was the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. His frescoes are the earliest monuments of Humanism, and introduce a plasticity previously unseen in figure painting.
Masaccio's scenes show his reference to Giotto especially. The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, depicting a distressed Adam and Eve nude, had a huge influence on Michelangelo.
The name Masaccio is a humorous version of Tommaso, meaning "big", "clumsy" or "messy" Tom. The name was created to distinguish him from his principal collaborator, also called Tommaso, who came to be known as Masolino ("little/delicate Tom").
Despite his brief career, he had a profound influence on other artists. He was one of the first to use scientific perspective in his painting. He also moved away from the Gothic style and elaborate ornamentation of artists like Gentile da Fabriano to a more naturalistic mode which employed perspective for greater realism.
Main works
- Crucifixion (c. 1426) - oil on table, 83 x 63 cm, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
- Cascia Altarpiece (1422, dubious) oil on table, 108 x 153 cm, Cascia di Reggello
- The Tribute Money (1424-1428) - fresco, 247 x 597 cm, Brancacci Chapel, Florence
- Madonna with Child and St. Anne (1424-1425) - tempera on panel, 175 x 103 cm, Uffizi, Florence
- Madonna with Child (1424) - tempera on panel, 24 x 18 cm, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
- Portrait of a Young Man (1425) - wood, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- St. Paul (1426) - tempera on wood, 51 x 30 cm, Museo Nazionale, Pisa
- Holy Trinity (1425-1428) - fresco, 667 x 317 cm, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
- Madonna with Child and Angel (1426) - oil on table, National Gallery, London
- Nativity (Berlin Tondo) (1427-1428) - tempera on wood, diameter 56 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
- St. Jerome and St. John the Baptist (c. 1426-1428) panel, 114 x 55 cm, National Gallery, London
- St Andrew - oil on table, 51 x 31 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles