Tommaso Masaccio
Born – San Giovanni, Val d’Arno, Italy 1401
Died – Rome, Italy 1428
In importance, Masaccio is ranked alongside Donatello and Brunelleschi. It is uncertain who his teacher was. The artist Masolino came from the same Florentine parish and, being twenty years older, was in a position to teach him. However, there is little stylistic evidence of his influence. This is a fragment from the Brancacci Chapel, which Masaccio painted with Masolino. As the artist shared the same Christian name (Thomas), nicknames were coined and Tomasso di Giovanni became Big Tom or “Masaccio”. Adam and Eve Banished from Paradise shows Masaccio’s main innovation. Primarily, his figures are solid, sculptural and imbued with an extraordinary intensity – the hopeless gesture of Adam being especially dramatic. Masaccio understood that the fall of light originating from one source could help define volume: here it casts a shadow behind Adam and Eve. He had also learnt the unifying device of a single-point perspective, perhaps from Brunelleschi. Furthermore, he had no interest in charming the viewer – his work is consistently austere and direct. Had he lived longer, his work may have mellowed, but within two months of his second trip to Rome he was dead, ages twenty-seven. Some believe he was poisoned.
Masterpieces:
- The Virgin and Child
- The Trinity with the Virgin and St John
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About tommaso masaccio
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