Masaccio s Brancacci Chapel frescoes Located in the church

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Masaccios Brancacci Chapel frescoes

• Located in the church of
• Sta Maria Del Carmine,
• Florence

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Patron Felice Brancacci

• The Brancacci were a family who became wealthy
  through the silk business
• Patron of the fresco cycle is believed to be
  Felice, whose grandfather Pietro financed the
  chapel in 14th C.
• The chapel was a burial site for the family.
• He acted as a diplomat for the Florentine
  Republic (ambassador to Cairo)
• was also a member of the city's Board of Maritime
  Consuls
• His grandfathers patron saint, St Peter, is the
  subject of the fresco cycle.
• The Brancacci supported the papacy

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Felice Brancacci

• In May 1431 married Lena, daughter of Palla
  Strozzi, a union that put him at the centre of
  Florentine politics
• In 1433, a number of the most powerful families
  of the city including the Strozzis had driven
  the family of Cosimo de Medici into exile.
• When the Medicis returned in triumph the next
  year, Brancacci was among those expelled as an
  enemy of the Republic
• His property was confiscated

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The church of Santa Maria Del Carmine

• Carmine Catholic order of the discalced
  (barefoot) Carmelite nuns
• THE FRESCO CYCLE
• Tell stories from the life of St Peter from his
  calling as an apostle to his crucifixion
• Painted by Masaccio Masolino Tommaso di
  Crisfoano di Fino (Big/sloppy Tom and Little
  Tom!)

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Inside the Brancacci Chapel
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• Masolino (left)
• Masaccio (right)
• The Expulsion both completed c.1425

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The Medici Venusa.k.a Venus Pudica(Classical
sculpture)
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The Brancacci Chapel Frescoes c1425-7, Santa
Maria del Carmine, Florence
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1. Expulsion of Adam and Eve by Masaccio 2. The
Tribute Money by Masaccio 3. St Peter Baptizing
the Neophytes by Masaccio 4. The Temptation by
Masolino 5. Saint Peter Healing with his Shadow
by Masaccio 6. St Peter Distributing alms and the
death of Ananias by Masaccio
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St Peter fresco cycle

• Based on Bible account of his life - Gospel of
  Matthew, Acts of Apostles
• And a medieval collection of legends of saints
  The Golden Legend (assembled by a 13th C bishop
  Voragine)
• Frescoes are unified with the actual architecture
  of chapel, e.g. painted Corinthian pilasters that
  supports real entablature
• All frescoes painted with light source that
  corresponds with natural light from window i.e.
  made rational to viewer.

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The Life of St Peter in brief

• Started as a fisherman
• Became a disciple when Christ says I will make
  you a fisher of men
• Denied he knew Christ 3 times as Christ
  predicted, but repented
• Preached penance and baptism as a means of
  entering Christian faith
• Founded the church, considered first Pope.
• Ends his life as a Christian martyr.

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Pilgrimage to St Peters hood

• Carcere Mamertino The place where St Peter was
  believed to have been imprisoned

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St Peters, Rome

• Ancient tradition has it that St. Peter's
  Basilica was built at the place where Peter, the
  apostle who is considered the first pope, was
  crucified and buried his tomb is under the main
  altar.

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The Tribute Money c. 1425-7

• What elements of linear and atmospheric
  perspective can you see? Foreshortening?
  Chiaroscuro?
• What is the story? What moments are depicted?

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Matthew 1724-27

•  24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in
  Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax
  came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher
  pay the temple tax?"  25"Yes, he does," he
  replied.       When Peter came into the house,
  Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think,
  Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the
  earth collect duty and taxesfrom their own sons
  or from others?"
•  26 "From others," Peter answered.
•    "Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him.
  
• 27"But so that we may not offend them, go to the
  lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish
  you catch open its mouth and you will find a
  four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them
  for my tax and yours."

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Use of linear perspective
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Composition influenced by Donatello?

• Note the low viewpoint
• Atmospheric distance

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Analyse the figures poses, gestures and
expressions
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Masaccios Style

• Masaccios brush moves with a new ease and
  freedom, representing not hairs but hair, not
  leaves but foliage, not waves but water, not
  physical entities but optical impressions. At
  times the brush must even have administered jabs
  at the moist plaster surface in a manner
  suggesting the touch of Manet of Monet. (Hartt)

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Masaccios figures

• Masaccio depicts the apostles not as officials
  of the Florentine oligarchy but as men in the
  street, like the artisans and peasants on whose
  support the Republic depended. They are painted
  with conviction and sympathy sturdy youths and
  bearded older men, rough-featured. Each endowed
  with an induplicable human personality. (Hartt)

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Context

• The Tribute money is a rarely represented in art,
  but was chosen because it related to a
  contemporary event in Florence the introduction
  of a new tax (the catasto) in 1427, following a
  crushing defeat in a war with the Duke of Milan.
• Faced with the financial burden of war, the
  Florentines were debating a new tax called the
  catasto, based on ability to pay, and provided,
  with a system of exemptions and deductions. One
  aspect of the Florentine debate was whether the
  clergy could be taxed, a problem for which the
  story of the Tribute Money provides a biblical
  precedent. (Frederick Hartt, Italian
  Renaissance Art)

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3 Possible Subtexts

• 1) Perhaps Masaccio was called upon by his
  patrons to represent Christ paying tax.
• If Christ can pay tax? Florentines can pay this
  tax.
• 2) Felice Brancacci had a close relationship with
  Papacy. In 1423 Pope Martin V levied an
  unpopular tax on the Florentine Church
• 3) F. Brancaccis interests in maritime commerce

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Details from The Tribute Money The Tax
Collector
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Precedent for figure grouping

• Nanni di Banco
• Four Crowned Martyrs
• (Did Masaccio see this being installed at the
  church of Orsanmichele in Florence?)

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Classical elements in The Tribute Money

• Story is set in Capernaum
• Apostles resemble Roman sculptures (massive
  drapery, firm stances, portrait like heads) esp
  St John
• Sense of rational order created by arrangement of
  figures

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Sacred elements

• Christ at vanishing pt
• Arrangement of apostles is symbolic alludes to
  configuration of apse in relation to crucifixion
  on altar
• Tax collector (closest to viewer) is outside the
  sacred space. His contemporary costume also
  distinguishes him from the apostles.

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Florentine architecture (Brunelleschis
Ospedale degli innocenti)
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Town Hall and main Piazza of San Giovanni Val
d'Arno - Masaccio's place is just round the
corner on the left.
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Florences Arno River
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St Peter baptising the neophytes

• Complete the speech bubbles to analyse the
  gestures and expressions of figures

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Key aspects to note Baptism of the Neophytes

• NATURALISTIC DETAIL e.g. dripping wet hair of
  kneeling figure
• SYMBOLIC ACTION that contains subtext dressing
  / undressing allusions to putting on the
  clothes of a new faith after baptism. Stages
  shown in figures buttoning cloak, man pulling
  sleeve off.
• PORTRAITS of young men at left (wearing cappucio,
  mazzocchio Florentine headwear)

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Biblical reference to putting on new clothes
Colossians 312-14

• Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and
  dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
  kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear
  with each other and forgive whatever grievances
  you may have against one another. Forgive as the
  Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put
  on love, which binds them all together in perfect
  unity.

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St Peter healing the sick with his shadow 1420s

• Whats the story?
• Florentine street
• Variety of figures
• Light and shadow
• Classical-style temple in background reminds us
  setting is Jerusalem

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Portraits of Donatello Masaccio?

• It has been recently suggested that the bearded
  man in a short, blue stonecutters smock is a
  portrait of Donatello, and that the beardless
  youth who looks out at us in the manner of all
  Renaissance self portraits is Masaccio himself.

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St Peter Enthroned

• On the right, Masaccio paints Masolino, himself,
  Leon Battista Alberti (or possibly Donatello) and
  Brunelleschi in the crowd in "Saint Peter
  Enthroned".

http//www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Italian2
0Images/Montages/Firenze/Brancacci20Chapel.htm
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St Peter Enthroned - context

• St Peter enthroned as 1st bishop (prefigures him
  as 1st bishop to Rome)
• Worshippers include Carmelites wearing white
  mantels over black tunics
• Alludes to fact that Sta Maria del Carmine
  supported the papacy
• Carmelites also traced their origins back to Old
  Testament

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St Peter Distributing Alms

• Background
• In the early church people thought Jesus would
  return soon, so they sold property to give the
  money to the poor.
• Questions
• Comment on range of figures describe them
• Why do you think the man is lying on the ground?
• Comment on the setting

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The Distribution of Alms

• Ananias, a deceitful rich man, lies dead at
  Christs feet because he kept some of the money
  from the sale of his land.
• Creates a contrast between poor who receive St
  Peters charity and live v. rich man who dies
• Message good citizens give to the poor
• Variety of figures
• Note the Carmelite nun on far left
• Mother child contrast with Virgin / child on
  altar. Normal, anonymous baby.
• Interlocking gazes

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WORKBOOKRemember, the aims of Renaissance
Painting were

• to tell a story
• to give instruction to illiterate people
• to arouse devotion through emotion
• to influence popular opinion
• Painters therefore aimed to produce work that was
  eye catching and memorable as well as clear and
  simple in its narrative by using
• gesture
• expression
• figural grouping
• convincing space)
• The Franciscan approach to religion inspired
  naturalism in ptg and local landscapes as
  settings.

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HOMEWORK

• COMPLETE THE
• SUMMARY QUESTIONS (page 20)
• AND THE CROSSWORD (page 21)
• ON THIS PAGE TO CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

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A summary of Masaccios innovations -

• Use of Linear perspective e.g. Tribute money
  architecture, street in St Peter healing sick
• Realistic sense of light shadow. Figures have
  3D form through strong contrasts of light and
  shade (chiaroscuro). Directional Light appears
  to come from window above altar. E.g. shadow
  falling on people in St Peter heals sick ,
  Expulsion
• Foreshortening creates depth, e.g. Peter taking
  coin in Tribute money, kneeling neophyte in
  Baptism, the angel in The Expulsion
• Atmospheric perspective diminishing clarity of
  mountains in Tribute money, Baptism
• Local landscape instead of Jerusalem /
  Capernaum, settings resemble Florence - helps
  viewers identify with stories
• Gestures Expression Masaccio endows each
  figure with psychological realism. E,g, the
  various expressions of the converts in Baptism,
  Adam Eves despair in The Expulsion