Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel .

The frescoes by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence are among his
most famous and important works. They were painted between 1425 and
1426 and contain Masaccio's best known work the "Rendering of the Tribute Money".

The Chapel also contains paintings by Masolino and Filippino Lippi.

Masaccio's work has more of a three-dimensional quality and severity of style
than those of Masolino. Filippino Lippi worked in the chapel in the 1480s
and his later style is relatively easy to distinguish from that of Masaccio and
Masolino.

The Tribute Money. (w)

This work shows Masaccio's use of perspective and of Chiaroscuro
(the contrast of light and dark in a picture) and the painting was restored
in the 1980s after suffering neglect for centuries. The vanishing point is
centred on the head of Christ and the shadows fall away from the chapel
window, as if the figures are lit by it.

St Peter appears three times in this painting, in the centre next to Jesus
as the taxman demands his tribute, in the left middle ground retrieving money
from a fishes mouth, and on the right paying the money to the taxman.

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden. (w)

The painting was cleaned and fully restored in the 1980s revealing the nudity
of Adam and Eve. The genitals had been painted over on the command of
Cosimo III de'Medici who considered nudity to be disgusting.

St. Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow. (w)

Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus. (w)

The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias. (w)

Brancacci Chapel to Masaccio
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