During class on Wednesday, we began by discussing Masaccio’s frescos in the Brancacci chapel. The patron’s name was Pietro, so he asked Masaccio to paint scenes from Saint Peter’s life. The first fresco we looked at was the Tribute Money scene. It was interesting to consider how since this is not a commonly depicted scene in art, then the artist could not refer to other renditions and therefore must be well-versed in the bible story to ensure all the necessary details and meanings are present. We discussed the way Masaccio used a continuative narrative to tell the story, his use of gestures, framing, and color theory to direct the viewer’s eye, as well as his interest in depicting accurate and interesting human physiognomies. His skillful depiction of expressive figures is also present in his fresco The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. My favorite detail from this fresco is how the light in the scene is consistent with the light in Tribute Money which connects the two adjacent frescos. The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors was the last of Masaccio’s frescos that we looked at in class. We learned how difficult it is to depict the holy trinity, as the artist must include the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit as equals. Masaccio used space to create a meaningful hierarchy of the figures in the work.

Next, we looked at Michelozzo’s Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. The city palace had a typical three-story structure which Mechelozzo clearly separated by treating the surface of each story differently. The first floor is heavily rusticated, the middle story features lighter rustication, and the top story is smooth. This technique makes the building feel lighter as it goes up in space. Additionally, each floor is smaller than the previous one which adds to this illusion. The house was built for the Medici family and the rusticated surface on the bottom of the building affirms their authority while the increasing smoothness in the top stories represents stability. The internal courtyard is decorative and it originally featured Donatello’s David at it’s center. We discussed how David was a civic symbol in Florence, as he is a symbol communicating the victory of the underdog. The Medici chose to have David in their courtyard to make a statement about their power, but when the Medici were expelled from Florence, the Florentine state moved the sculpture from the courtyard of the Medici palace to the courtyard of the town hall, as it was such an important figure. We also looked at Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano which was originally made for the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. I thought it was especially interesting how the Medici family’s coat of arms is disguised in the oranges in the scene.

Today, we discussed Fifteenth-century Italian Art Part II. We began by talking about Massaccio and the Brancacci Chapel. Massaccio was very influential, and what he completed in just his 27 years of life was remarkable. Specifically, his Tribute Money painting showed a continuous narrative where Saint Peter was seen 3 times. In the image, we see a tax collector who asks Christ and the Apostles to pay tribute. A style used in this painting was Giornata, which is a day’s worth of painting. The story is presented with Christ telling Peter to find money in a fish’s mouth. It is also important to note that Christ is in the middle of the painting, so as a result, the continuous narrative is seen on the sides of the painting instead of reading it left to right. We then discussed the importance of color, warmer colors feel closer to us, and we can clearly see all the apostles wearing warm colors. And colder colors are more distant to us, as we can see in the background with the mountains. Additionally atmospheric perspective is at play here as the presence of atmosphere is seen in the mountains as they lose contrast and sharpness. We then dove into the expulsion of Adam and Eve in a “venus pudica” type which was the Roman copy of Greek Hellenistic originals. We see Adam is ashamed and covering his face. Eve is also seen in anguish and almost appears ugly and un appealing. I specifically found the Holy Trinity with the Virgin to be an interesting discussion as we see The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit resembled in iconography, which is the many ways you represent a scene. I also enjoyed our discussion on David by Donatello. This sculpture shows this little guy that has defeated a galiath. It is remarkable that someone with a nonheroic figure and very little armor has defeated such a beast. It is a symbol of Florence. We concluded the day by discussing the Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello. This unique work of art was so massive that it is split into three museums.

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.

During today’s class we talked more about fifteenth century Italian art. We learned how Masaccio produced the “Branacci chapel” in 1425 and became a master in 1422, joining the guild. Masaccio was asked to paint scenes from the life of Saint Peter, and despite his death at only 27 years old, he made a lasting impact during this era.

Masaccio’s “Tribute Money” painting in 1425 was based on Matthew’s Gospel. We know that there is a continuous narrative going on in the painting because St. Peter is depicted in three different scenes. First, St. Peter is talking to Christ about having to give money to the tax collector, then he is seen collecting the money from the mouth of a fish, and finally he is seen paying the tax collector. Christ and his representatives are depicted in togas and the change in color on the floor is indicative of fresh painting after initial paints, which was typical of Fresco painting. It is interesting to note that the three scenes are not depicted from the typical left to right. Instead, scene one is in the center of the painting, scene two is to the left, and scene three is to the right. This was done intentionally to highlight Christ and his followers being in the center of the painting. It also makes it so that the viewer goes through Christ twice, once to the scene of St. Peter collecting the money from the mouth of a fish, and the other of St. Peter giving the money to the tax collector. The painting was a product of the times in Florence, as the Pope made it mandatory for Florentines to pay taxes. Masaccio used elements of the landscape to help his narrative. He kept things according to scale, such as the church door which is certainly big enough for people to fit under. There is also an atmospheric perspective being presented, where objects that are farther away lose sharpness and detail. It is also interesting to see that Peter is replicating the motions of Christ. This is not an accident, as Peter was the first ever pope who was appointed as Christ.

Today we continued our discussion of the early Renaissance in and around Florence.

We started off by discussing Masaccio’s frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel. It was cool to see all the interesting narrative and subtextual layers of The Tribute Money in particular. I like that we spend time in class discussing important artistic concepts like color warmth and perspectives, as well as discussing the technical nature of mediums like painting in fresco. It was really neat to learn about the thought and care that Masaccio had to employ when working with the fresco, and the careful work it took to hide the contours of the pieces of the fresco. It was also interesting to learn about the political message embedded in the fresco, and how art can be a tool of personal expression even as it serves as a religious decoration.

We then moved on to a discussion of some of the most famous paintings and sculptures the Medici family commissioned. Donatello’s David is pretty interesting to me, considering that he was a symbol of the Medici family that, upon the Medici’s expulsion, became a symbol of Florence. Again, it is interesting to see the political rhetoric that pervades the arts at this time, and how religious imagery was important outside of its primary devotional functions.

In today’s class, we discussed The Tribute Money by Masaccio. Massaccio was commissioned by a man named Peter so a lot of his work included Saint Peter for a private chapel. This was another example of a work that included multiple scenes in one painting which was really interesting. It also represented current events at the time it was painted and the characters were wearing modern clothing. One aspect that I thought was super interesting (although not necessarily relevant to the content of the piece) was the placement of the giornate and Massacio trying to hide them. The framing of the work was really interesting as your eye did not jump from left to right but instead started in the center where Jesus was. We also talked about gesturing, and how Peter was mimicking the gesture of Jesus. There were also great examples on linear and atmospheric perspective in this painting which continued from previous lectures. 

We also discussed some of the difficulties behind portraying the Holy Trinity in a piece of art.

Class five-21-feb-2024

In class we discussed the amount of effort an artist has to put into research, specifically in the Bible to create a work of art that is used on biblical events if the painting in question is not a common painting that has been reproduced countless times. An example of this is the tribute money by Masaccio. This painting also reflects the time in which it was made. By referencing the political scene in Florenc through the inclusion of taxing in the painting. The tax collector in the painting. Is also wearing current garb as posed to christ and the apostles who are wearing woolen garbs, akin to togas. This difference in clothing makes the connection that the old biblical scene is making commentary on the present day political scene. 

We also discussed the nuance of creating a painting of the holy trinity (the father the son and the holy spirit. The most successful person we looked at used linear perspective to separate the three intertwined individuals from the front of the paint to the back. As well as top to bottom on a flat plain. This creates distinction between the three separate but keeps them together visually. 

In today’s class, we discussed The Tribute Money by Masaccio. We spent a good amount of time dissecting the work and I enjoyed the discussion. One of my favorite aspects of it is his treatment of light. We talked about how he made the narrative nonlinear by starting at the center, so that the first thing the viewer saw was Jesus Christ in the center. However his use of light is a more subtle way in which he attributed focus to Jesus. If you look closely, the sun is shining Christ the most frontally, and all the apostles at either side of him are slightly obscured.

I think he managed to create narrative in a way that is more akin to contemporary ways of showing narrative than a lot of the other artists we have encountered. We also made the comparison to The Lamentation, and although I do like Giotto’s work more, I have to say that the way in which Masaccio uses the environment of the scene to add to the narrative and separate is done more gracefully (I only say this in light of how important progress is for the Italians).

Today, much of class was spent discussing the works of Masaccio. Early on he was commissioned to paint the private Brancacci Chapel, which included one of his more famous works, the Tribute Money. The continuous narrative he created of a lesser-represented scene with St. Peter is skillful. The use of atmospheric perspective gives the fresco depth and linear perspective all collides to a vantage point above Christ’s head. The range of colors (specifically of the tax collectors, Christ’s, and his apostles’ clothes) also add a range of depth as the warmer colors feel closer to the viewer. Overall, the figures created by Masaccio are realistic and focused on the details to create a convincing portrait. Small details like the gesturing of Christ mirrored by St. Peter represent deeper meaning and the reflection of Christ that St. Peter (the pope) is supposed to be.

Another noticeable work was the construction of the Medici city palace in Florence by Michelozzo. Similar to the construction of other buildings in the city, the palace focused on the appearance of strength. The bottom level is made of rough stone to give it rustication and strength on the level of the people. The middle level, the noble level, is more grand with arched windows. The top level is smooth and the shortest of the three, giving the building the impression of being lighter on top. The fortress architecture helps establish the Medici family as the influential group they were.

Today in class we continued with our study of 15th-century Italian art, shifting our focus towards Masaccio for most of the class. We learned a little about Masaccio, and how he died incredibly young, yet was still able to create several fantastic works of art. We focused closely on The Tribute Money, which Masaccio painted for the private chapel of the Brancacci family in Florence. The way he constructed the painting was incredibly impressive, as he did not depict the scene from left to right (as would normally be done), and yet he managed to draw your eyes in the right direction.

We touched on a few more Masaccio paintings, learning about his use of light and color, and then shifted focus toward Florentine architecture, which bore similarities to the Palazzo Vecchio from a century earlier. Everything was done to make a statement about the power of the owners of the palace, a common theme of the time. Finally, we studied the Battle of San Romano and looked at its strange depiction of a battle, which seemed neither gruesome nor horrific.