Portrait of Masaccio

Masaccio

Italian painter, 1401–1428

Masaccio, born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at imitating nature, recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense of three-dimensionality. He employed nudes and foreshortenings in his figures. This had seldom been done before him.
Walk the 3D gallery · 10 works →See on the timeline
St. Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow, painting by the artist

St. Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow

1425230 × 162 cmSanta Maria del Carmine
The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias, painting by the artist

The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias

1425230 × 162 cmSanta Maria del Carmine
Crucifixion, painting by the artist

Crucifixion

142683 × 63 cmMuseo di Capodimonte

The Pisa Altarpiece was a large multi-paneled altarpiece produced by Masaccio for the chapel of Saint Julian in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa. The chapel was owned by the notary Giuliano di Colino, who commissioned the work on February 19, 1426 for the sum of 80 florins. Payment for the work was recorded on December 26 of that year.

Eleven surviving panels of the altarpiece, which is the only documented work by Masaccio, are in various museums. Scholars hypothesize the reconstruction of the altarpiece based on a very complete description by Vasari. Surviving panels →

The Crucifixion was placed above the central panel of the altarpiece, underlining the sacrificial (Eucharistic) nature of the central panel. Crucifixion →

Now in the Museo Nazionale di Pisa, the panel of Paul of Tarsus is the only portion of the commissioned work which remains in Pisa. It is usually reconstructed as being one of two flanking panels to the left of the Crucifixion. Saints →

Madonna and Child, painting by the artist

Madonna and Child

1426135 × 74 cmNational Gallery

The Pisa Altarpiece was a large multi-paneled altarpiece produced by Masaccio for the chapel of Saint Julian in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa. The chapel was owned by the notary Giuliano di Colino, who commissioned the work on February 19, 1426 for the sum of 80 florins. Payment for the work was recorded on December 26 of that year.

Eleven surviving panels of the altarpiece, which is the only documented work by Masaccio, are in various museums. Scholars hypothesize the reconstruction of the altarpiece based on a very complete description by Vasari. Surviving panels →

The Crucifixion was placed above the central panel of the altarpiece, underlining the sacrificial (Eucharistic) nature of the central panel. Crucifixion →

Now in the Museo Nazionale di Pisa, the panel of Paul of Tarsus is the only portion of the commissioned work which remains in Pisa. It is usually reconstructed as being one of two flanking panels to the left of the Crucifixion. Saints →

Saint Paul, painting by the artist

Saint Paul

142651 × 30 cmNational Museum of San Matteo

The Pisa Altarpiece was a large multi-paneled altarpiece produced by Masaccio for the chapel of Saint Julian in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa. The chapel was owned by the notary Giuliano di Colino, who commissioned the work on February 19, 1426 for the sum of 80 florins. Payment for the work was recorded on December 26 of that year.

Eleven surviving panels of the altarpiece, which is the only documented work by Masaccio, are in various museums. Scholars hypothesize the reconstruction of the altarpiece based on a very complete description by Vasari. Surviving panels →

The Crucifixion was placed above the central panel of the altarpiece, underlining the sacrificial (Eucharistic) nature of the central panel. Crucifixion →

Now in the Museo Nazionale di Pisa, the panel of Paul of Tarsus is the only portion of the commissioned work which remains in Pisa. It is usually reconstructed as being one of two flanking panels to the left of the Crucifixion. Saints →

The Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist, painting by the artist

The Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist

142630 × 21 cmGemäldegalerie Berlin
A Bearded Carmelite Saint, painting by the artist

A Bearded Carmelite Saint

142638 × 12 cmGemäldegalerie Berlin
A Beardless Carmelite Saint, painting by the artist

A Beardless Carmelite Saint

142638 × 12 cmGemäldegalerie Berlin
Raising of the Son of Teophilus and St. Peter Enthroned, painting by the artist

Raising of the Son of Teophilus and St. Peter Enthroned

1427230 × 599 cmSanta Maria del Carmine
Desco da parto, painting by the artist

Desco da parto

1500Gemäldegalerie Berlin

This painting, also commonly known as The Berlin Tondo, is a desco da parto, or birth tray, painted by the Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio. Stylistic analysis shows similarities with his San Giovenale Triptych, an early work of the painter from 1422, and the birth tray is dated a short time after it at around 1423. With the frame around it, the tondo has a diameter of 66 cm.

The upper side of the tray shows a scene soon (probably a few days) after the actual birth of a child. It takes place on the ground floor of a well-to-do contemporary house, a palace with white and black stone facings in a very modern style for Tuscan architecture. Top side →

On the reverse side of the tray is a painting of a naked baby boy, a common feature of birthing trays, probably exposed during the pregnancy to encourage the birth of a healthy boy. He is in a meadow playing with a cat (possibly a dog). Reverse →

Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Images: Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Part of The Museum at THEODORA