Early Renaissance painting of Masaccio's expulsion from paradise. Italian artist Masaccio: paintings and biography of the creator

Masaccio (real name Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Guidi), a Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, was born on December 21, 1401 in the town of San Giovanni di Valdarno near Florence.

His father, the young notary Giovanni di Monet Cassai, died in 1406, and the widow Mona Jacopa soon remarried an elderly, wealthy pharmacist. Tommaso and his younger brother Giovanni, who later also became an artist, lived with their family in own home, surrounded by a small plot of land.

The short life of Masaccio is in his work, since biographical information Almost nothing has been preserved about him. He was a man obsessed with art, indifferent to everything that lay beyond his borders, careless and absent-minded, and for this absent-mindedness he was nicknamed Masaccio (Italian - muff), but he was respected by his comrades. Masaccio's work opens with the 15th century, which was the century of the highest flowering of Florentine art.

Masaccio's supposed teacher is the Florentine Masolino. The art of Giotto, as well as creative contact with the sculptor Donatello and the architect, had a huge impact on the young artist Brunelleschi, who was one of the most significant figures of the Florentine Quattrocento (XV century). Apparently Brunelleschi helped Masaccio develop the complex problem of perspective.

At the time Masaccio began his career, in Florence great success reached the sculpture.

In painting, despite Giotto’s reform, the traditions of the old were still strong. Masaccio, together with Brunelleschi and Donatello, headed realistic direction in Florentine Renaissance art.

The earliest surviving creative legacy of Masaccio is a painting painted around 1420 for the Church of Sant'Ambrogio, Madonna and Child with St. Anna" (Uffizi, Florence). Already here he boldly poses those problems (composition, perspective, modeling and proportions of the human body) that artists would work on solving throughout the 15th century.

In 1422, Masaccio joined the guild of physicians and pharmacists, which also accepted artists, and in 1424 he joined the St. Luke.

In 1426 he executed a large altarpiece consisting of several parts (the so-called polyptych) for the Church of the Carmine in Pisa, parts of which are now scattered in museums and collections different countries world (London, Naples, Pisa, Vienna, Berlin).

The main work of the artist’s entire life was the painting of the Brancacci Chapel. In Florence, on the left bank of the Arno, stands the ancient church of Santa Maria del Carmine. Here, in 1424, Masolino began painting the chapel located on the right side of the transept. Then Masaccio continued the work, and after his death, many years later, it was completed by Filippino Lippi.

Two frescoes - "The Expulsion from Paradise" and "The Miracle of the Denarius" (the so-called "Il tributo", sometimes translated as "The Miracle of the Statir") - were undoubtedly painted in Masaccio's own hand around 1427. He also partially executed some other frescoes based on legends about the life of St. Peter.

In “Expulsion from Paradise” (208 by 88 cm), Masaccio solved the most difficult task of his time in correctly depicting and staging a nude figure. While other painters medieval tradition depicted human figures in such a way that “the feet did not step on the ground and did not contract, but stood on tiptoe” (Vasari), Masaccio gave them stability.

The naked bodies of Adam and Eve are not only anatomically correct, but their movements are natural and their poses are expressive. They wander, stumbling, overwhelmed by hopeless despair, resigned to fate, pursued by an angel hovering above their heads with a sword in his hands. The figure of the angel is presented in a complex perspective: he rushes from the depths forward towards the viewer, which enhances the illusion of space.

Masaccio. Expulsion from paradise. Fresco of the Brancacci Chapel, 1426-27

Another monumental composition “II tributo” (255 by 598 cm) conveys the Gospel legend, which tells that a tax collector, stopping Christ walking with his disciples, demanded a tax from him. Christ ordered his disciple the Apostle Peter to catch a fish from the lake, take out a denarius (statir) from it and give the coin to the collector. These three episodes are presented within one fresco: in the center - Christ in the circle of disciples and the collector blocking his path; on the left - the Apostle Peter takes a denarius out of a fish; on the right - Peter hands the money to the collector.

Masaccio. Miracle of the statir in the Brancacci Chapel

Masaccio does not pile up figures in rows, as his predecessors did, but groups them in accordance with the intent of his narrative and places them freely in the landscape. The clothes lie in a few calm folds, not hiding, but emphasizing the “physicality” of the figures and giving them a strict monumentality. Using light and color, he confidently and softly sculpts the shape of objects. Moreover, the light, as in “Expulsion from Paradise,” falls according to the direction of natural light, the source of which is the windows of the chapel, located high on the right.

Masaccio. Il tributo. (“Collection of tribute.” “Miracle with the statir”). Fresco of the Brancacci Chapel, 1426-27

Masaccio's heroes are stern, courageous people. Their faces are portraits: one of the apostles - the Apostle Thomas - is an image of the customer Felice Brancacci, in another fresco ("Peter's Sermon from the Pulpit") a beardless young man in red clothes resembles the artist himself.

Now both frescoes have faded, their colors seem to have been erased, but at one time they were masterpieces that opened new era in painting. The Brancacci Chapel became a school for many generations of Tuscan artists. Leonardo, Botticelli, and Raphael came here to study. Here, in the heat of a fierce creative dispute, the young sculptor Pietro Torrigiano dealt Michelangelo a terrible blow, which disfigured his face forever.

In 1428, Masaccio went to Rome, from where news of his death soon arrived. He was barely twenty-seven years old.

Sudden death genius artist at such a young age caused rumors that he was poisoned out of envy. This version is reported Vasari.

Masaccio was one of those whose work provided Florence leading place among art schools Italy of the 15th century. “The Florentine Tomaso, nicknamed Masaccio, showed with his perfect work that those who were not inspired by nature, the teacher of teachers, worked in vain,” wrote Leonardo da Vinci.

Masaccio(1401-1428). Real name: Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai. According to Vasari, he received the nickname Masaccio (“slob”) because, being immersed in the problems of creativity, he paid absolutely no attention to worldly concerns, in particular appearance.

Born on December 21 in the Tuscan town of Castel San Giovanni. Unfortunately, practically nothing is known about the artist’s childhood and youth. In 1422, in Florence, Masaccio joined the guild of doctors and pharmacists, which also included artists. In his early period of creativity, he created a number of altarpieces, including the composition “Madonna and Child and Saints” for the small church of San Giovenale in Casadi Reggello, as well as the polyptych “Madonna and Child and Angels” (1426) for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa.

The artist's decisive break with his predecessor artistic tradition fully emerged while working on the fresco “Trinity” (c. 1427) for the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella. The artist placed an image of the three hypostases of God in a small vaulted chapel, creating an illusionistic image of architecture on the wall, which became the first successful attempt to use the principle in painting linear perspective with a single vanishing point. At the bottom of the composition, the artist depicted a skeleton lying on a sarcophagus under the inscription: “I was once what you are, and what I am, you will yet become,” which adds drama to the main theme of the fresco - the victory of faith over death.

Masaccio's most ambitious work was the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, written in collaboration with Masolino da Panicale. Begun in 1427, they for a long time remained unfinished (both artists left for Rome in 1428) until Filippino Lippi completed the painting of the entire chapel around 1484. In this complex, the frescoes “Expulsion from Paradise”, “Miracle of the Statir”, “Baptism of Neophytes by Peter”, “Apostle Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow”, “Apostle Peter Distributing the Property of the Community Among the Poor”, “Resurrection of the Son of the King of Antioch” are attributed to Masaccio. ”, and also partially - “Healing the Cripple” and “The Resurrection of Theophilus”. Painted with an energetic and bold hand, the characters in Masaccio's frescoes are filled with a heroic spirit, which distinguishes them from the fragile and graceful images Late Gothic painting. Powerful light and shadow modeling gives the figures volume and fullness; they are masterfully integrated into the surrounding landscape, painted taking into account the light-air perspective.

The artist died in Rome in 1428 at the age of 27, but what he managed to do can be called, without exaggeration, a revolution in painting. The name Masaccio ranks with such masters as Brunelleschi, Donatello and Ghiberti, considered the founders of the Italian Renaissance.

December 6th, 2010

Masaccio(1401-1428), real name Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai (Guidi) - is rightfully considered one of the most important artists of the early 15th century.

Masaccio was born in 1401 in the provincial Tuscan town of San Giovanni Valdarno. His real name is Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai. For his carelessness, absent-mindedness and impracticality, which distinguished him from early childhood, future artist and received the nickname Masaccio, which roughly means “awkward eccentric” or “clumsy.” Obviously, these character traits of Masaccio explain the fact that, having become famous early, he was never able to achieve material well-being and was in difficult circumstances until the end of his life .
His life was very short - he died in Rome at the age of twenty-eight, but the mark left by the artist in art is difficult to overestimate.

The first mention of Masaccio as an artist dates back to 1418, when young artist arrived in Florence. Apparently, there he studied in one of the most famous painting workshops of that time with Bicci di Lorenzo*. In 1422, Masaccio joined the guild of doctors and pharmacists, and in 1424, as a sign of recognition of his mature master, Masaccio was admitted to the guild association of artists Brotherhood of Saint Luke*.

In the early period of his work, Masaccio often collaborated with; a clear separation of the works of Masaccio and Masolino is one of the most difficult tasks of modern art history.

The earliest reliable work by the artist is "Madonna and Child and St. Anna"(Uffizi Gallery, Florence) - created around 1424 together with Masolino.

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne. 1424 Masaccio. Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Tempera.

Triptych of San Giovenale- all modern researchers consider this triptych to be a reliable work of Masaccio. In the center of the altar is the Madonna and Child with two angels, to her right are Saints Bartholomew and Blaise, and to her left are Saints Ambrose and Juvenal. At the bottom of the work there is an inscription made not in Gothic font, but modern letters, used by humanists in their letters. This the first Gothic inscription in Europe: ANNO DOMINI MCCCCXXII A DI VENTITRE D’AP(PRILE). (April 23, 1422 from the Nativity of Christ). However, the reaction against the Gothic, from which the golden backgrounds of the triptych remained as a legacy, was not only in the inscription. With a high point of view, usual for trecento, the compositional and spatial construction of the triptych is subject to the laws of perspective, and may even be overly geometrically rectilinear. The plasticity of forms and the boldness of angles create the impression of massive volume, which Italian painting didn't exist before.
According to research archival documents, the work was commissioned by the Florentine Vanni Castellani, who patronized the Church of San Giovenale. The monogram of his name is the letter V, which researchers see in the folded wings of angels. The triptych was painted in Florence and remained there for several years until it appeared in the inventory of the Church of San Giovenale in 1441. No memoirs have survived about this work, although Vasari mentions two works by the young Masaccio in the area of ​​​​San Giovanni Valdarno. The triptych is now kept in the church of San Pietro a Cascia di Reggello.

Triptych of San Giovenale. 1422 Masaccio. San Pietro a Cascia di Reggello.

In the first half of the 15th century. appears in painting independent genre painting - a secular portrait created according to a single type: bust-length profile images. In his Life of Masaccio, Vasari mentions three portraits. Art historians subsequently identified them with three "portraits of a young man": from the Gardner Museum, Boston, from the Museum fine arts, Chambery and from the National Gallery, Washington. Majority modern critics believes that the last two are not works of Masaccio, since they feel secondary and more low quality. They were painted later, or perhaps copied from the works of Masaccio. A number of researchers consider only the portrait from the Gardner Museum to be reliable - some researchers believe that it depicts a young Leon Battista Alberti*. The portrait is dated to the period between 1423 and 1425; Masaccio created it earlier than another portrait by Alberti, whose characteristic profile can be seen in his fresco "St. Peter on the throne" in the Brancacci Chapel, where he is depicted to the right of Masaccio himself.

Portrait of a young man. 1423-25 Masaccio. . Gardner Museum, Boston.

Portrait of a young man. 1425 Masaccio (?). . National Gallery Arts, Washington.

In 1426 Masaccio executed a large altarpiece consisting of several parts for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa, called "Pisan polyptych"(“Madonna and Child with Four Angels”). In these works the beginnings of the artist's new, reformist style are already evident - energetic light and shadow modeling, a sense of plastic three-dimensionality of figures, a desire to depict the depth of space. The Pisa polyptych is the only precisely dated work by the artist; the dating of all his other works is approximate.
On February 19, 1426, Masaccio accepted the obligation to paint this multi-part altarpiece for the chapel of St. Julian in Pisa's Church del Carmine for the modest sum of 80 florins. The order came from the Pisan notary Giuliano di Colino Degli Scarsi da San Giusto, who from 1414 to 1425 assumed patronage rights over this chapel. December 26, 1426 polyptych, judging by payment document, dated this date, was ready. Masaccio’s assistants, his brother Giovanni and Andrea del Giusto, took part in the work on it. The frame for this multi-part composition was made by the carver Antonio di Biagio (possibly based on a sketch by Masaccio).

In the 18th century The Pisa polyptych was divided into parts and these individual works spread all over the world, and at the end of the 19th century. its surviving 11 parts were identified in different museums and in private collections. This altar includes Madonna and Child with Four Angels(London, National Gallery), Crucifixion(Naples, Capodimonte Gallery), Adoration of the Magi And Torment of Saints Peter and John(Berlin-Dahlem, Art Gallery State Museum).

Madonna and Child with Four Angels. Pisa polyptych. 1426 Masaccio.

Crucifixion Masaccio. National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples.

Image of the Apostle Paul- the only part remaining from the Pisan polyptych in Pisa (Museum of San Matteo). The painting was attributed to Masaccio already in the 17th century (there is an inscription on the side about this). For almost the entire 18th century it was kept in the Opera della Primaziale, and in 1796 it was transferred to the San Matteo Museum. Paul is depicted on a golden background in compliance with the iconographic tradition - in his right hand he holds a sword, in his left the book “The Acts of the Apostles”. In his type, he is more like an ancient philosopher than an apostle.

Apostle Paul. Pisa polyptych. 1426 Masaccio. National Museum, Pisa. Tempera.

The panel depicting the Apostle Andrew was kept in the Lankoronski collection (Vienna), then ended up in the royal collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein (Vaduz), and today is in the Paul Getty Museum (Malibu). The figure of the saint is given monumentality, the image is constructed as if we are looking at it from below. Right hand Andrew holds a cross, with his left hand “The Acts of the Apostles.”

Apostle Andrew. Pisa polyptych. 1426 Masaccio. Paul Getty Collection, Malibu.

Four small panels, each measuring 38 x 12 cm, were attributed to Masaccio when they were in the Butler collection (London). In 1906, the German researcher Schubring linked these four works to the Pisa polyptych, suggesting that they had previously decorated its side pilasters. Three saints (Augustine, Jerome and a Carmelite monk with a beard) look to the right, the fourth - also a monk - to the left.

Carmelite monks. Pisa polyptych. 1426 Masaccio.

St. Jerome and St. Augustine. Pisa polyptych. 1426 Masaccio. State museums, Berlin.

All three paintings of the predella have survived: "Adoration of the Magi", "The Crucifixion of St. Peter and the execution of John the Baptist" And "The History of St. Juliana and St. Nicholas."

Adoration of the Magi. Pisa Polytech. 1426 Masaccio. Tempera.

Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter*. Execution of John the Baptist. Pisa Polytech. 1426 Masaccio. State Museum, Berlin.

Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter. Pisa Polytech. 1426 Masaccio. State Museum, Berlin.

"The History of St. Juliana and St. Nicholas." Pisa Polytech. 1426 Masaccio. State Museum, Berlin.

(The story of St. Nicholas is obviously about a father and his three daughters, to whom the saint throws money out the window in order to save them from a rash act. As for St. Juliana*, then his story is as follows: Julian left his parents and soon married a girl from a noble family. When his parents came to visit him, he was hunting. The wife fed them and put them to bed. Meanwhile, Satan, turning into a man, met Julian and told him that his wife was cheating on him, and if Julian hurried, he would find her in bed with her lover. In anger, Julian burst into the bedroom, saw the outlines of a man and woman under the blanket, and in a rage hacked them to pieces with a sword. When he left the bedroom, he met his wife, who told him the good news about the arrival of his parents.
Julian was inconsolable, but his wife supported him, saying that he would find redemption in Christ. Since that time, Julian spent all his wealth on the construction of hospitals (he built 7 of them) and houses for pilgrims and needy travelers (25). One day Jesus Christ appeared to him in the form of a beggar, a pilgrim stricken with leprosy, and when Julian accepted him, he forgave him for his sins and blessed him along with his wife.

It is worth mentioning a small panel in the shape of a small altar from the Lindenau Museum, Altenburg. It contains two scenes: "Prayer for the Cup" And "The Penitent St. Jerome"- one of the iconographic types of the saint - beating himself in the chest with a stone before the crucifixion - the saint withdrew for four years into the desert and there he tirelessly struggled with temptations and carnal obsessions and described in one of his letters how he had to beat himself in the chest until this fever let him go. The stone he holds for this purpose is a later invention of artists - this is the “invented” stone we observe. The top story uses a gold background, while the bottom story has it completely written out. The figures of the three apostles on the right, with their outlines, repeat the shape of the picture. Most critics believe that it was written immediately after the Pisa polyptych.

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Penitent Saint Jerome. 1424-25 Masaccio. Lindenau Museum, Altenburg. Tempera on wood.

The artist’s break with the previous artistic tradition was fully manifested when working on the fresco "Trinity"(1426-27), created for the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. In this work, Masaccio, influenced by the work of Brunelleschi, used full perspective for the first time in wall painting. For the first time, both parts of the fresco were executed with precise mathematical calculations in a single perspective, the horizon line of which corresponds to the viewer’s level of vision, creating the illusion of the reality of the depicted space, architecture, and figures, unknown in painting at that time.

The perspective construction of the fresco was a means of revealing the concept of the work. The centric orientation of the perspective emphasized the importance of the main figures. Being on the other side of the picture plane, the chapel seemed to belong to another world, and the images of donors, the sarcophagus and the spectators themselves belonged to this earthly world. Innovation is distinguished by the laconicism of the composition, the sculptural relief of forms, the expressiveness of faces, and the sharpness of the portrait characteristics of the customers. Painting enters into competition with sculpture in the art of conveying volume, its existence in real space. The head of God the Father is the embodiment of greatness and power; in the face of Christ, calmness with a shadow of suffering prevails.
The fresco was painted on a wall going deep into the chapel, built in the shape of an arched niche. The painting depicts a crucifix with the figures of Mary and John the Baptist. The cross is overshadowed by the half-figure of God the Father. In the foreground are kneeling customers who, thanks to an illusionistic technique, seem to be outside the chapel. In the lower part of the fresco, the artist depicted a sarcophagus with the skeleton of Adam, which also seemed to protrude into the space of the temple. The inscription above the sarcophagus reads: “I was once what you are, and what I am you will yet become.” Masaccio's creation is remarkable in every way. The majestic detachment of the images is combined here with the hitherto unprecedented reality of space and architecture, with the volume of figures, expressive portrait characteristic the faces of the customers and with the image of the Mother of God, amazing in its power of restrained feeling.

This fresco was one of the first to be created using cardboard - large, full-scale drawings - they were applied to the wall, and then outlined with a wooden stylus. As with any fresco painted on fresh plaster, although the painting was poorly preserved, researchers were able to determine how long the artist continued to work. IN in this case It took Masaccio 28 days (that’s how many times sections of fresh plaster were added). He spent most of his time painting the heads and faces.

On the sides of the Crucifixion stand the Virgin Mary and St. John, just below the donor (dressed in a raincoat and red cappuccio - clothes "Gonfaloniers of Justice"*) and his wife. The presumed name of the donor is Lorenzo Lenzi, since he held this position, and at the foot of the fresco there was his tombstone cousin Domenico Lenzi.

Trinity.1425-28 Masaccio.

Trinity. Detail. 1425-28 Masaccio. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fresco.

Trinity. Detail. 1425-28 Masaccio. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fresco.

Trinity. Perspective diagram.

Between 1425 and 1428 Masaccio (in collaboration with Masolino di Panicale) performs paintings in Brancacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, which became the main work of the painter’s short life.

This room owes its famous fresco cycle to a descendant of the founder of the chapel, a rival of Cosimo the Elder Medici, an influential statesman Felice Brancacci (Italian: Felice Brancacci; 1382-ca. 1450), who around 1422 commissioned Masolino and Masaccio to paint the chapel located in the right transept of the church (exact documented dates of work on the frescoes have not survived).

View of the Brancacci Chapel after restoration.

Frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel(left)

Frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel.(on right)

The subjects of the paintings are mainly dedicated to the life of the Apostle Peter ( "Saint Peter healing the sick with his shadow", "Almsgiving and the death of Ananias»).

Apostle Peter healing a sick man with his shadow. 1426-27 Masaccio.

12 And by the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were wrought among the people; and they all remained with one accord in Solomon's porch.
13 But no one from outside dared to approach them, but the people glorified them.
14 And more and more believers were added to the Lord, a great multitude of men and women,
15 So they carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and beds, so that at least the shadow of Peter passing would overshadow any of them.
16 Many from the surrounding cities also came to Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those possessed by unclean spirits, who were all healed. (Acts of the Holy Apostles, chapter 5)

Distribution of property and death of Ananias. 1426-27 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco.

1 And a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold their property,
2 He withheld from the price, with the knowledge of his wife, but brought some of it and laid it at the feet of the Apostles.
3 But Peter said: Ananias! Why did you allow Satan to invest in your heart the thought of lying to the Holy Spirit and hiding from the price of the land?
4 What you owned was not yours, and what was purchased by sale was not in your power? Why have you put this in your heart? You lied not to men, but to God.
5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell lifeless; and great fear seized all who heard it.
6 And the young men stood up and prepared him for burial, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours after this, his wife also came, not knowing what had happened.
8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, how much did you sell the land for?” She said: yes, for that much.
9 But Peter said to her, Why did you agree to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, those who buried your husband are entering the door; and they will carry you out.
10 Suddenly she fell at his feet and gave up the ghost. And the young men entered and found her dead, and carried her out and buried her next to her husband.
11 And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard it. (Acts of the Holy Apostles, chapter 5)

.1426-27 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco.

The resurrection of the son Theophilus and Saint Peter on the throne. Detail. 1426-27 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco.

Resurrection of the son of Theophilus and Saint Peter on the throne. Detail. 1426-27 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco.

The fresco depicts a miracle performed by Peter after he was freed from prison thanks to the Apostle Paul. According to the “Golden Legend” of Jacob of Voraginsky, Peter, coming to the grave of his son Theophilus, prefect of Antioch, who died 14 years ago, was able to miraculously revive him. Those present immediately believed in Christ, and the prefect of Antioch himself and the entire population of the city converted to Christianity. As a result, a magnificent temple was built in the city, in the center of which a pulpit was installed for the Apostle Peter. From this throne he read his sermons. After spending seven years there, Peter went to Rome, where he sat on the papal throne for twenty-five years.

The most famous composition is "The Miracle of the Stater"- tells how at the gates of the city of Capernaum Christ and his disciples were stopped by a tax collector who was collecting money to maintain the temple. Christ told Peter to catch a fish in Lake Gennesaret and extract a coin from it. This multi-figured scene is depicted in the center of the composition. On the left in the background we see Peter catching fish from the lake. On the right side of the picture, Peter hands the money to the collector.

Miracle with statir.1426-27 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco.

Thus, in one composition, Masaccio combined three consecutive episodes with the participation of the apostle. In the inherently innovative art of Masaccio, this technique is a belated tribute to the medieval tradition narrative story, at that time many masters had already abandoned it, and more than a century ago - the largest master of the Proto-Renaissance. However, this does not disturb the impression of bold novelty, which characterizes the entire figurative structure and composition of the painting, its vitally convincing, slightly rude heroes. The artist, with amazing skill, managed to construct a space using linear and aerial perspective, place characters in it, grouping them according to the narrative plan; truthfully depict their movements, postures and gestures.

Another masterpiece executed by Masaccio in the same Brancacci Chapel - "Expulsion from Paradise." In this work, the artist managed to solve the most difficult problem of depicting a naked figure. There is still no detailed and accurate knowledge of human anatomy, but a general correct idea of ​​the structure of the human body, a sense of its carnal beauty, which was absolutely not characteristic of the Proto-Renaissance, clearly emerges. The faces of sinners are surprisingly expressive and full of emotions, their movements are natural and realistic. “Expulsion from Paradise” presents one of the first images of the naked human body in Italian painting. Contemporary Masaccio painters, as well as subsequent generations, studied from this fresco Italian masters. The strength and acuteness of the experiences of Adam and Eve depicted in the picture, expelled from Eden for violating the prohibition set by God, is amazing. Seized by boundless despair, Adam covered his face with his palms, genuine grief distorted the face of his young companion - his eyebrows were tensely drawn to the bridge of his nose, his deeply sunken eyes were turned to the Creator, his mouth was open in a cry of despair and supplication.

Expulsion from paradise. 1426-27 Masaccio. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fresco.

The Brancacci Chapel became a place of pilgrimage for painters who sought to learn the techniques of Masaccio. However, much of the artist’s creative heritage was only appreciated by subsequent generations.

Another work by Masaccio - although its attribution took a long time - the so-called Berlin Tondo- a wooden tray with a diameter of 56 cm is painted on both sides: on one side there is Christmas, on the other there is a putto with a small dog. This work is usually dated to Masaccio's last stay in Florence before he went to Rome, where he died. Since 1834, the work has been attributed to Masaccio (first by Guerrandi Dragomanni, then by Münz, Bode, Venturi, Schubring, Salmi, Longhi, and Bernson). However, there are those who consider it to be the work of Andrea di Giusto (Morelli), or Domenico di Bartolo (Brandi), or the work of an anonymous Florentine artist active between 1430 and 1440.
The work represents desco da parto* - a dining table for women in labor, which at that time was customary to give to women from wealthy families, congratulating them on the birth of a child (how this happened can be seen in the depicted Christmas scene: on the left, among those presenting gifts, there is a man with the same desco and parto ). Despite the fact that such works were close to the works of artisans, the most famous artists the Quattrocento did not disdain their production. Berti saw this work as the "first Renaissance tondo", drawing attention to important innovations and the use of perspective architecture in accordance with Brunelleschi's principles.

Christmas. Berlin Tondo.1427-28. Masaccio.

Putto* with a small dog. Berlin Tondo. 1427-28 Masaccio. State Museums, Berlin. Tempera on wood.

There is a cadastral certificate dated July 1427. From it you can find out that Masaccio lived very modestly with his mother, renting a room in a house on Via dei Servi. He kept only part of the workshop, sharing it with other artists, and had many debts.

In 1428, without completing the painting of the Brancacci Chapel, the artist left for Rome and began executing the polyptych in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. He was probably called by Masolino, who needed an assistant to carry out large orders. Masaccio did not return from Rome. The sudden death of the artist at such a young age, he was 28 years old, gave rise to rumors that he was poisoned out of envy. This version was also shared by Vasari, but there is no evidence for it. There is also no exact date of Masaccio’s death.

Masaccio did not even have time to finish the first fragment of the polyptych - "St. Jerome and St. John the Baptist". The work was completed by Masolino.

Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist. 1428 Masaccio. National Gallery, London. Egg tempera.

Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist. Detail. 1428 Masaccio. National Gallery, London. Egg tempera.

PS from das_gift
I really wanted to choose today’s hit “Expulsion from Paradise” - famous and venerable, example and imitation, iconic and suffering - especially since I really like it and the choice would be infinitely sincere. But I will choose “Portrait of a Young Man” - the same one from the Boston Museum - profile and bright headdress. Gone people and bygone times are always attractive - they are concrete in their appearance and abstract and symbolic of centuries of non-existence - in their features you look for the hidden, unknown, sad, perishable, eternal and beautiful.

* 1. Bicci di Lorenzo(Bicci di Lorenzo) (1373–1452) - Italian artist and sculptor, worked in Florence. Son of the artist Lorenzo di Bicci
In collaboration with his father, he received many important orders, including from the Medici - according to Vasari - a cycle of frescoes for the Palazzo Medici. For the Duomo, he painted the apostles.
His best works- Madonna enthroned in National Museum, Parma, Triptych Life of St. Nicholas in the Cathedral of Fiesole and Nativity in the Church of San Giovannino dei Cavalieri in Florence.

* 2. Brotherhood of St. Luke. St. Luke, evangelist, patron of artists. According to legend, he made a portrait of the Madonna and the Child Christ. Legend Greek origin and dates back to the 6th century. In the 12th century. it also spreads to Western countries. Images of St. Luke painting the Mother of God have been found in Byzantine art since the 13th century, in Western Europe since the 14th century. At this time, the “brotherhood of St. Luke” began to appear, corporations of artists who considered Luke their patron. Since then, this plot has been associated with brotherhoods and disappeared in the 18th century. with the disappearance of the latter.

Christmas. 1430/1435 Bicci di Lorenzo.

* 3. Leon Battista Alberti(Italian Leone Battista Alberti; February 18, 1404, Genoa - April 20, 1472, Rome) - Italian scientist, humanist, writer, one of the founders of the new European architecture and a leading theorist of Renaissance art.
Alberti was the first to coherently set out the mathematical foundations of the doctrine of perspective. He also made a significant contribution to the development of cryptography, proposing the idea of ​​a multi-alphabetic cipher.

Leon Battista Alberti. Statue in the Uffizi Gallery.

* 4. St. Peter's Cross- inverted Latin cross. According to legend, Saint Peter was crucified on an inverted cross (upside down). Due to the fact that Peter is considered the founder of Christianity, this symbol is depicted on the throne of the Pope.

* 5. Gonfaloniere- it. gonfaloniere - standard bearer - from the middle. XIII century head of the popolani militia in Florence and other cities of Italy. In 1289, the position of gonfaloniere justice (justice) was established in Florence, who was the head of the signoria. Gonfaloniere had a banner a certain shape and colors symbolizing his power. He was entrusted with the protection of the Constitution of the Establishment of Justice.

* 6. Desco da parto(desco da parto) - a tray for mothers in labor - an important symbolic gift in case of a successful birth in later Middle Ages. Many "trays" kept in museums are associated with noble families, but research shows that trays of mothers in labor and others special items like embroidered pillows were preserved for a very long time after the most successful birth for many years in all classes of society - a board donated by the father Lorenzo Medici his mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni was kept in Lorenzo's house until his death. Often the trays were mass produced in workshops and were “authorized” with a coat of arms only at the time of purchase.
Infant mortality and death from childbirth were extremely high, and successful births were celebrated with great generosity.
Painted trays began to appear around 1370, a generation after the Black Death (plague).

Tray of a woman in labor based on Boccaccio's "Decameron". 1410 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Triumph of glory.(Tray of a woman in labor) 1449 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

* 7. Putto. This Italian word, which has passed into all European languages, denotes an image (painting or sculpture) of a naked child: an angel or cupid. This image combines the features of an angel, cupid and a child.

Masaccio, along with his contemporaries the architect Brunelleschi and the sculptor Donatello, is one of the greatest reformers not only of Italy, but of everything Western European art. His short career, which lasted only about six years, dates back to the 1420s, when Florentine painting The late Gothic masters still set the tone and the last generation of so-called “Giottesques” was working - epigones who emasculated the spirit of Giotto’s traditions. Masaccio’s art seems separated from their works by a huge temporal distance, so profound is the revolution that he made in the painting of Florence and all of Italy.

The artist received the nickname Masaccio (Big Maso, i.e. Tommaso) from his contemporaries, who simultaneously awarded the painter Tommaso di Cristoforo di Fino, with whom Masaccio constantly collaborated and from whom he may have studied, the nickname Masolino (Little Maso).

The first works of Masaccio that have come down to us are altar paintings that were part of a multi-leaf altar painted for the Church of Carmine in Pisa, now stored in museums in a number of Italian cities. Genre altar painting in itself the most conservative, required adherence to certain canons and a mandatory golden background for altars. But already in these compositions the power of Masaccio’s artistic temperament is manifested, and the originality of his decisions is striking. This is the “Crucifixion” included in this polyptych (1426, Naples, Capodimonte Museum) with powerfully and generally sculpted figures of the crucified Christ, Mary, John and the strikingly expressive figure of Magdalene in a bright red robe, in contrasts of light and shadow.

In the less canonical composition of the altarpiece “Madonna and Child and Saint Anne” (1424, Florence, Uffizi Gallery), almost to the same extent as the plastic power of Masaccio’s painting style, the breadth and generality of the forms, one is struck by the life-like authenticity, even some common people, of the images of Mary and her mother Anna.

Main job Masaccio, which became a landmark for history Italian Renaissance, are the paintings of the small Brancacci Chapel of the Florentine church of Santa Maria del Carmine (c. 1425-1428). The work on the frescoes was entrusted to Masaccio and Masolino. The latter painted the vaults and lunettes of the chapel with frescoes that have not survived to this day, top part the right wall of the chapel and created one of the four compositions on the altar wall. But the share of Masaccio’s paintings is more significant: he owns two large compositions located one above the other in two registers on the left wall and three of the four, also located in two registers, compositions on the altar wall.

The paintings in the Brancacci Chapel are dedicated to the history of the Apostle Peter. But this cycle is opened by two vertical compositions located on large pilasters at the entrance, dedicated to history Adam and Eve - “The Fall” by Masolino on the right wall and “Expulsion from Paradise” by Masaccio on the left wall. This composition amazes not only with its dramatic power, the enormous vital energy of the images, but also with the power and freedom of Masaccio’s pictorial language. He works with a large brush, sometimes even leaving traces of bristles on the surface of the fresco, sculpting forms with powerful contrasts of light and shadow; the generality and expression with which Eve’s face, distorted by a scream, is painted can find analogies only in European painting of a much later time.

The most large composition Masaccio's "Miracle of the Stater" is located in the upper register of the left wall of the chapel. Its plot is one of the episodes of the Gospel, which tells that when Christ and his disciples approached the gates of the city of Capernaum, the guard did not let them in, demanding to pay a tax. At the command of Christ, the Apostle Peter went to the shore of the lake, fished for fish there and in its entrails discovered the coin necessary for payment - the statir.

Masaccio's huge fresco combines three episodes of the legend: in the center, a somewhat confused tax collector addresses the apostles standing in a majestic semicircle; on the left, in the background, Peter is gutting an already caught fish; on the right, he majestically and somewhat angrily hands over a coin to the collector. The action takes place against the backdrop of a wide landscape panorama, striking in its authenticity and naturalness. Among Masaccio's predecessors, the landscape was usually conventional, marked by rocky hills and trees with identical, umbrella-like or spherical crowns. IN fresco by Masaccio amazes with naturalness and wide breathing autumn landscape with the bluish mountain masses stretching smoothly into the depths, slightly blurred by haze, trees that have shed their leaves, and brown earth. Masaccio's heroes are striking - gray-bearded elders, black-haired men endowed with the appearance of commoners, young men with a fresh rustic blush. Full of greatness and dignity, they show us a whole gallery of large and vibrant characters. Research by modern restorers has shown that Masaccio worked on each head for a whole day, while the landscape background in The Miracle of the Stater was painted in just three days.

Another remarkable innovation of Masaccio is his treatment of light. For his predecessors, light and shadows were only a way to model form, to give it volume; figures and objects usually did not cast shadows. In “The Miracle of the Statir” and “The Expulsion from Paradise” the light falls from the right (this is where the real window illuminating the chapel is located), the figures of the apostles cast long shadows on the ground.

The solution to the altar wall is also remarkable, where Masaccio combines with a single perspective with one vanishing point two compositions located to the right and left of the window and the small altar - “St. Peter healing the crippled with his shadow” and “Distribution of property and the death of Ananias.” Thanks to this, both scenes are played out in a certain common space. And at the same time, each of them is depicted from an energetic perspective, which makes the composition more dynamic, the action tense, and the masses of colossal houses brought close to us become especially impressive.

He occupies a special place in the creative heritage of Masaccio and the history of painting of the Early Renaissance. last work- fresco “Trinity” (c. 1427-1428, Florence, Church of Santa Maria Novella). This painting was commissioned by Masaccio from the noble Florentine Lorenzo Lenzi, who held the high government post of gonfaloniere (standard bearer) of Justice. Apparently, this composition embodies some rather complex theological program - this is evidenced by the image of a sarcophagus with an open lid in which a skeleton lies, written on the base of the wall and included in the composition of the fresco; according to some researchers, this is a symbol of the “old Adam”, the frailty of humanity. However, the most significant thing is that after full of breath life of the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel Masaccio created a certain standard of ideal composition. This suggests that he was not alien to problems of a theoretical nature that were already of interest at that time. artistic environment. Fresco composition with kneeling people at the entrance to Lorenzo's Chapel Lenzi and his wife, crucified by Christ and standing at the foot of the Crucifixion by Mary and John, are like a stepped pyramid inscribed in a double - arched and rectangular - frame; The vault of the chapel, seen from below, is depicted in an impeccable perspective reduction. It is possible that in the development of architectural motifs and perspective construction space was attended by the architect Brunelleschi. One way or another, this fresco, which completed a short life path Masaccio, became a kind of manifesto of new, Renaissance art, a majestic demonstration of its aesthetic principles and opportunities.

Irina Smirnova

Expulsion from Paradise - Masaccio. 1427. Fresco.

The master's fresco is the embodiment of undisguised grief that suddenly befell two people who had never known any troubles before. Reflecting biblical tradition, The Expulsion from Eden depicts the exact moment when Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden. The life of paradise is over for them, they are cursed and rejected by God, and ahead of them lies only a life full of hardships and hardships.

It is not surprising that Eve literally screams from grief and a sense of her own powerlessness. Her image is most impressive because the artist, with just a few strokes, managed to reflect a lot of expressive and strong human feelings - pain, grief, suffering, bewilderment, doubts about his future, shame. In addition to these feelings, Eve for the first time in her life felt the shame of her own nakedness, which in Eden did not bother her at all. She painfully tries to cover herself with her hands, suffering also from the fact that it was she who became the cause, albeit indirect, of the Fall and expulsion.

Adam is not ashamed of his nakedness, covering his face with his hands out of shame and grief. His body is shaken by sobs, causing the young and strong man. Although the plot itself involves the depiction of Adam and Eve in the nude, the artist’s courage in detailed and realistic images human bodies did not appeal to the taste of closed-minded clergymen. As in most similar cases, they tried to cover up the images with false modesty with traditional green branches.

Thanks to the simplicity of the image and the almost complete absence of decor in the background, all the attention of the viewer of the fresco is concentrated on three figures - Adam, Eve and an angel with a punishing sword in his hands, depicted hovering above them. It becomes clear that the way back is forbidden to them - the gates of heaven are tightly closed, and the angel guarding them clearly raised his sword high above him. The scarlet color of the angel's dress makes what is happening especially alarming - this is an open threat and warning.

Amazing for so early period The revival of realism in the depiction of human bodies and skill in reflecting strong emotions make us once again regret that the master himself died at such a young age. Who knows, had he lived, would his skill have eclipsed most of his famous contemporaries?