We spent the majority of today’s class discussing the Brancacci chapel, whose interior walls were covered in frescos created by Masaccio. The commissioner of this chapel, whose name was Pietro Brancacci (Peter), requested Masaccio to paint scenes from the life of his namesake, St. Peter. The most notable of these panels depicts the scene known as the “Tribue Money” from the gospel of Matthew. This is not a popular scene in Christian art, so Masaccio used solely his creativity and a thorough reading of Matthew’s gospel to create this scene. St. Peter is depicted 3 times in this panel as part of a continuous narrative. The are three primary moments happening in this one scene: 1. Jesus speaking with the tax collector and telling Peter to go collect the money 2. Peter collecting money from the mouth of the fish 3. Peter giving the money to the tax collector. The organization of these scenes forces the viewer to start in the center of the fresco, look to the far left side, and then pass through the center again to look at the final moment at the far right side of the fresco.
The striking and vivid colors of the figure’s clothes make them stand out against the grey landscape. Masaccio uses atmospheric perspective by making the background landscape bluer and more hazy than the figures in the foreground. The architectural details in the frescos reveal the orthogonal and transversal lines used also to create linear perspective. Masaccio uses elements of landscape and architecture to frame important figures and scenes.