MASOLINO da Panicale

The picture shows a detail of the scene Annunciation to Zacharias on the west wall of the Baptistery.

The picture shows the scene on the lunette of the left-hand wall, depicting the Conversion and Beheading of Empress Faustina. According to the legend, Faustina openly criticised the emperor for his cruelty. He promptly commanded her to sacrifice to the idols, but she refused because she had been converted by Catherine to the Christian faith. The scene of her conversion is presented in a kind of insert into the lunette. Catherine is looking out of the window of her prison cell, talking to the empress seated before her. To the right we see the empress’s martyrdom.

The end wall of the chapel is filled with a multifigured Crucifixion that was originally backed by an expansive, hilly landscape. Only fragments of the background survive. Unlike the legends of the saints on the side walls, which are parceled out into various smaller panels in two registers, Christ’s agony takes up the entire available space.

The end wall of the chapel is filled with a multifigured Crucifixion that was originally backed by an expansive, hilly landscape. Only fragments of the background survive. Unlike the legends of the saints on the side walls, which are parceled out into various smaller panels in two registers, Christ’s agony takes up the entire available space.

The detail shows Herod seated at the table with three men who obviously disapprove Salome’s request for the head of John the Baptist.

The detail shows Salome requesting the beheading of John the Baptist.

Masolino was called to Rome, perhaps on more than one occasion. There he produced a major altarpiece for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the ancient basilicas of the city. The central panel depicts the foundation of the church on the 5th of August when after a miraculous snowfall, the pope traced its ground plan in the snow. Masolino produced a memorable scene, with Mary and Christ in a circular halo supervising the event.

The following frescoes can be seen in this view:

Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha (Masolino)

Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St Peter (Filippino Lippi)

Above the Baptism of Christ on the east wall, on the barrel vault, God the Father Surrounded by Angels is depicted. The detail shows two angels to the left of God the Father.

Both the events depicted in this fresco are recounted in the Acts of the Apostles: the healing of the cripple in Jerusalem (3: 1-10) and the raising of Tabitha in Joppa (9: 36 43). Masolino sets both events in the same town although they had actually taken place in different cities and at different times.

This detail shows the left side of the fresco with the scene Healing the Cripple.

In the square there are two elegantly dressed characters, in the centre of the scene, who separate but also provide the link between the two miraculous events. The presence of these two figures, and also the characters depicted in the background in front of the houses, makes the two events look like normal everyday occunences in the life of a city. The square resembles a contemporary Florentine piazza and the houses in the background, although none of them is strictly speaking an accurate portrayal of an existing building, convey the idea of Florentine architecture, as we still know it today. Even the paving of the street, different from that of the square, is a note of pure realism: the cobblestones, decreasing in size as they recede., also serve to emphasize the perspective of the composition.

And there are other elements which contribute to this description of everyday city life: the flower pots on the window sills, the laundry hanging out to dry,the bird cages, the two monkeys, the people leaning out of the windows to chat with their neighbours, and so on.

In the past the loggia to the left had been considered by critics to be architecturally fragile and unconvincing. But now, thanks to the restoration, we can make out the structural elements: from the smooth capitals of the pilasters, to the red plaster inside the courts.

And even in the righthand loggia, where the miracle. of the raising of Tabitha takes place, the classical, Albertian colour pattern of the surfaces and the entablatures increases the solidity of the architecture.

Throughout the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, scholars attributed this fresco to Masaccio, until 1929 when it was re-attributed to Masolino. Some critics claimed that there were sections painted by Masaccio. In 1940 it was suggested that Masaccio was responsible for the entire architectural background of the scene, including the figures in the background. This theory was accepted by almost all later scholars.

Since the restoration, now that the pictorial techniques can be clearly distinguished, we can rule out any intervention by Masaccio at all, at any rate in the actual execution.

Both the events depicted in this fresco are recounted in the Acts of the Apostles: the healing of the cripple in Jerusalem (3: 1-10) and the raising of Tabitha in Joppa (9: 36 43). Masolino sets both events in the same town although they had actually taken place in different cities and at different times.

This detail shows the right side of the fresco with the scene Raising of Tabitha.

In the square there are two elegantly dressed characters, in the centre of the scene, who separate but also provide the link between the two miraculous events. The presence of these two figures, and also the characters depicted in the background in front of the houses, makes the two events look like normal everyday occunences in the life of a city. The square resembles a contemporary Florentine piazza and the houses in the background, although none of them is strictly speaking an accurate portrayal of an existing building, convey the idea of Florentine architecture, as we still know it today. Even the paving of the street, different from that of the square, is a note of pure realism: the cobblestones, decreasing in size as they recede., also serve to emphasize the perspective of the composition.

And there are other elements which contribute to this description of everyday city life: the flower pots on the window sills, the laundry hanging out to dry,the bird cages, the two monkeys, the people leaning out of the windows to chat with their neighbours, and so on.

In the past the loggia to the left had been considered by critics to be architecturally fragile and unconvincing. But now, thanks to the restoration, we can make out the structural elements: from the smooth capitals of the pilasters, to the red plaster inside the courts.

And even in the righthand loggia, where the miracle. of the raising of Tabitha takes place, the classical, Albertian colour pattern of the surfaces and the entablatures increases the solidity of the architecture.

Throughout the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, scholars attributed this fresco to Masaccio, until 1929 when it was re-attributed to Masolino. Some critics claimed that there were sections painted by Masaccio. In 1940 it was suggested that Masaccio was responsible for the entire architectural background of the scene, including the figures in the background. This theory was accepted by almost all later scholars.

Since the restoration, now that the pictorial techniques can be clearly distinguished, we can rule out any intervention by Masaccio at all, at any rate in the actual execution.

This landscape is constructed similarly to the landscape background in the Baptism of Christ fresco of the Baptistery in Castiglione Olona.

In 1423, Masolino signed a dainty Madonna and Child whose style, closely related to those of Lorenzo Monaco and Ghiberti, shows no trace of Masaccio’s brutal naturalism. The delicately modeled head of the Virgin is typical of Masolino’s female faces throughout his career, while the sweetness of the Christ Child, the tenderness with which he touches the Virgin’s neck, and the easy curvilinear flow of the drapery are all within the conventions of conservative Florentine style. Only the roundness of the modeling of the forms in light and shade suggests that Masolino too is aware of the new developments in painting.

In Florence the new age of the Renaissance began in painting with a rather subdued work, devoid of any rhetoric: the Madonna and Child with Saint Anne executed by Masolino and Masaccio in 1424. This altarpiece depicting St Anne, Madonna and Child with five angels (called Sant’Anna Metterza) was originally painted for the Sant’Ambrogio Church in Florence. Deriving from the Tuscan dialect of the 13th and 14th centuries, the term Metterza means “she is in the third position”, referring to such iconography where Anna, being mother and grandmother of Christ, appears in third position.

The structure of this work is simple yet extraordinarily monumental. The succession of planes is compact and follows an upward direction, thus creating a pyramid shape. The composition can certainly attributed to Masaccio who executed only the Madonna and Child and the two angels (the upper right-hand one, and the one looking down from on high). St Anne and the other angels are the work of Masolino. A sense of grave dignity and power emanates from the faces, from the expressions and from the solidity of the bodies.

In 1940 art critic Roberto Longhi attributed to Masolino the execution of part of the painting that previously was ascribed in its entirety to Masaccio by Vasari.

Mary is seated upon a cushion on the ground, following the iconographic model known as the Madonna of Humility. The Virgin is feeding her son, Jesus, offering her breast, a reason for which the iconography of the Madonna of Humility often merges into that of the Nursing Madonna, widely in use in Tuscan paintings, above all during the 14th century. Both models emphasize Mary’s privileged role as intermediary between God and humanity. This subject seems particularly suited to a holy image displayed in worship and destined to a small oratory or the secondary altar of a church, as the small size of Masolino’s painting would seem to suggest.

The image of the Madonna and Child is characterized by the fluid progression of the clothing, in late Gothic style and the softness of the tender skin. The majority of scholars attribute the painting to Masolino, of whom this Madonna of Humility would be one of the oldest works known to date.

The two heads that have been discovered in the jambs of the original two-light window behind the altar are supposed to be the work of two artists: the Iefthand one (this picture) is by Masolino, the righthand one by Masaccio, for the former is painted with a clearly marked outline and the latter is modelled directly with the use of light. But there are many scholars who disagree and believe that both heads are by Masolino.

And the foliage pattern decorations that cover the jambs also appear to be the work of two different artists: the floral ornamentations above the two heads and the motif that frames the scene at the top, just under the window sill, are to be attributed to Masolino, whereas the decorations below the two medallions are more probably the work of Masaccio. But there is one scene that everyone agrees is by Masaccio: there are only two small fragments left of it, above the altar, but it was originally the scene of the Crucifixion of Peter.

The picture shows the scene Miracle of the Wheel on the lower register of the left-hand wall. This wall is divided into three tall rectangular panels, but presents five different episodes. Utilizing the middle distance and background as the settings for scenes that follow and are directly related to the events depicted in the foreground, the painter managed to integrate additional episodes into his pictures without compromising their formal integrity as compositions.

In the scene of the Miracle of the Wheel an angel intervenes to stop the torture of the saint commanded by Maxentius. The secondary scene shows the emperor looking down at the interrupted martyrdom from a high loggia. A woman beside him, doubtless Empress Faustina, is leaning over the railing. She too had been converted by Catherine. The scenes of her conversion and her martyrdom are depicted in the lunette above.

Masolino, who is often regarded as Masaccio’s teacher, belonged to the generation of Gentile da Fabriano and Lorenzo Monaco. He sought to accommodate himself to the innovations that were proposed by Brunelleschi and Donatello, but was never at ease with them. For example his use of perspective always left something to be desired. History has placed him in the shadow of Masaccio, whom he outlived by many years.

This painting and St Jerome and St John the Baptist by Masaccio are two sides of a single panel that was divided in two. This panel was part of a double-sided polyptych in Santa Maria Maggiore on which Masaccio and Masolino worked together. Due to the early death of Masaccio, Masolino had to finish the job alone. The polyptych is no longer in its original place. The panels making up the front side were separated from the back ones. Although in the 17th century the six major panels were still in Rome in Palazzo Farnese, in the 18th century they were dispersed. The other five panels - all Masolino’s works - are in London, Naples and Philadelphia.

The detail shows Herodias sitting enthroned in front of a portico. Salome kneels in front of her, holding the Baptist’s head. Herodias’s ladies-in-waiting recoil at the sight in horror.

The picture shows one of Herodias’s ladies-in-waiting recoiling at the sight in horror.

The left-hand wall of the Castiglione Chapel presents scenes from the Catherine legend. St Catherine, an Alexandrian princess, suffered a martyr’s death during the reign of the heathen Roman emperor Maxentius, as a result of her missionary work during the period when Christians were being persecuted. She was condemned to be broken on the wheel, but it collapsed at God’s command and a rain of fire killed many heathens. The saint was eventually beheaded.

The scenes are presented in a highly original manner on a wall divided into five compartments All but the first scene are made of several episodes from the saint’s life which is recounted at length in the Golden Legend. The scenes represented are the following: in the lunette, left: St Catherine Refusing to Worship Idols; right Conversion and Beheading of Empress Faustina; lower register: St Catherine Disputing with Scholars and Martyrdom of the Scholars; the Miracle of the Wheel; Beheading and Burial of St Catherine.

The right-hand wall of the Castiglione Chapel presents scenes from the life of St Ambrose. It is assumed that it was the donor, Cardinal Branda Castiglione who chose to include the Ambrose legend into the decoration of the chapel. He especially revered the Church father and patron saint of Milan.

The scenes represented are the following: in the lunette, left, the Miracle of the Bees; right: Ambrose Elected Bishop of Milan; lower register: the Rich Man’s House Swallowwed Up by the Earth; St Ambrose’s Study; Death of St Ambrose.

The picture shows the Sermon in the Wilderness from the north wall of the altar room, adjoining the Sermon at the Jordan on the end wall to the right. The figure, joining the two scenes (standing to the left of the Baptist in the Sermon at the Jordan, but turned away from him) has been painted across the corner.

The scenes depicted on the south wall of the Baptistery are the following: the Feast of Herod (left), Salome Bringing the Head of the Baptist to Herodias (right), and the Burial of the Baptist (in the background.

In the scene of the feast, we see nothing of Salome’s veil dance, but rather the moment just after it, when she asks for the head of the Baptist. The three men seated at the table with the king appear dubious, obviously disapproving of her request. The motif of the putti holding garlands in the frieze of the loggia in which the banquet takes place had been introduced into Tuscan sculpture by Jacopo della Quercia at the beginning of the fifteenth century at the tomb of Ilaria del Caretto.

The next scene appears in the right-hand portion of the same picture space. There Herodias sits enthroned in front of a portico stretching back into the distance. Salome kneels in front of her, holding the Baptist’s head. Her ladies-in-waiting recoil at the sight in horror.

The last episode in the cycle, the Burial of the Baptist, appears as a tiny distant scene introduced into the landscape of barren mountains that serves as a common background for the two halves of the picture.

Late in his life, while in a small North Italian town near the Alps, called Castiglione Olona, Masolino continued to demonstrate his interest in architecture and space. In the Banquet of Herod, he must have amazed his viewers with the sharp foreshortening of the loggia on the right, and also with the modernity of the decorative elements, such as the frieze of garland-bearing putti that compose the architrave of the building on the left.

On the choir arch, in rectangular compartments, St Jerome seated at the top, gazes across toward the choir wall, whereas St Augustine, just below him, faces the entry wall to the west.

The picture shows the scenes St Catherine Disputing with Scholars and Martyrdom of the Scholars on the lower register of the left-hand wall. This wall is divided into three tall rectangular panels, but presents five different episodes. Utilizing the middle distance and background as the settings for scenes that follow and are directly related to the events depicted in the foreground, the painter managed to integrate additional episodes into his pictures without compromising their formal integrity as compositions. He does so most creatively in the left-hand section of the picture, where Catherine is seen disputing with scholars summoned by the emperor.

The scene is set in a narrow, box-like room, with the emperor seated on his throne in front of the back wall and the scholars on the benches along the two side walls. Catherine stands in the centre, her gesture indicating that she is just making a point. A “picture window” on the right-hand wall allows us to look out at another scene, where the scholars, converted by the saint’s words, are being put to the fire, but their bodies are unharmed by the flames.

The picture shows the scene on the lunette of the left-hand wall, depicting St Catherine Refusing to Worship Idols. In an elaborate temple setting, Catherine is pointing toward heaven, while the emperor, here bareheaded, gazes up at the idolatrous statue atop the altar. His retainers are crowded behind them, one of them, only partially visible, is sounding a trumpet.

The paintings on the outer wall of the chapel are in better condition than those inside. On the left-hand pillar a portrayal of a huge St Christopher wading through the water, Christ on his shoulder, and gazing up at the Annunciation above, is presented.

On the choir arch, in rectangular compartments, St Jerome seated at the top, gazes across toward the choir wall, whereas St Augustine, just below him, faces the entry wall to the west.

The scene refers to Peter’s sermon, as recounted in the Act of the Apostles, which he preaches in Jerusalem after the descent of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. The fresco actually illustrates the final part of the sermon, when Peter says: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

It was first suggested in 1940 that Masaccio must have had a hand in this fresco. The three bystanders to the left behind St Peter were attributed to Masaccio (their grim expression is truly modern). However, after the restoration, the cleaning has given such a clear vision of the pictorial fabric that we can now attribute the fresco entirely to Masolino, who was working in total autonomy, following an established division of spaces and subjects, in harmony with the corresponding scene of the Baptism paianted by Masaccio, according to a project that had been drawn up by the two artists together.

The fresco is part of the cycle depicting the story of the life of St Peter. This scene refers to Peter’s sermon, as recounted in the Acts of Apostles, which he preaches in Jerusalem after the descent of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. The fresco actually illustrates the final part of the sermon, when Peter says: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):

Guillaume Dufay: Aurea luce, hymn for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul

Fifteenth-century viewers of this Annunciation would have recognized not only its general subject, but also the particular moment Masolino chose to paint. Street preachers gave vivid accounts of Gabriel’s message to Mary about Christ’s birth, and audiences would also have seen the Annunciation reenacted on its feast day. In Florence, Brunelleschi designed an apparatus to lower an actor portraying Gabriel from the cathedral dome, as young children dressed as angels hung suspended in rigging. Events in the drama took place in sequence. Mary was first startled at the angel’s sudden appearance; she reflected on his message and queried Gabriel about her fitness; finally, kneeling, she submitted to God’s will. Here Mary’s downcast eyes and musing gesture – hand resting tentatively on her breast – suggest the second, and most often depicted, of these stages: reflection. As did actors in the religious plays, artists used gesture and posture to communicate states of mind.

Masolino is best known for his collaboration with Masaccio on the frescoes of the Brancacci chapel in Florence – and for his failure to pursue Masaccio’s innovations. Masolino continued to paint in a style that was delicate and ornamental. His colors are flowerlike, his figures elegant but unreal. They do not seem so much to exist within the painted space as to be placed before it. In the ceiling, colorful tiles, a device used by Masaccio to create perspective lines, are merely decorative and leave space ambiguous.

In the upper, semicircular panel of the east wall of the Baptistery, the scene representing the Baptism of Christ is depicted. Although the picture is divided into three separate settings, the connecting rock formations make it clear that we are witnessing a single event, where the baptism of both Christ and the neophytes in the Jordan are combined in a single composition.

The Christ figure, which dominates the picture, stands knee-deep in the river’s green waters, which snake forward out of the depth of the picture. To the right of John, who is administering baptism, are four men preparing for their own baptism by stripping off their clothes. The animated poses of the two men clad only in their undergarments show Masolino’s mastery of human anatomy, doubtless acquired through life drawing.

In the barrel vault, God the Father appears in a circular opening.

On the left-hand side of the Baptism of Christ, three angels are depicted.

On the right-hand side of the Baptism of Christ, the group of the neophytes is depicted. The four men are preparing for their own baptism by stripping off their clothes. The animated poses of the two men clad only in their undergarments show Masolino’s mastery of human anatomy, doubtless acquired through life drawing.

In the scene on the altar wall to the right of the window, John is chastising Herod and Herodias for living in an unlawful union. The setting is the interior of a loggia with a door at the end. The wings of the door, painted in perspective, are opened slightly toward the inside. The following scene to the right shows John in prison. The painter has used and angle in the wall to heighten the sense of the prisoner’s isolation, for the actual prison cell appears in the embrasure of the south window. A painted balustrade extends across the top of this interior.

On the left side of the picture, the door to the loggia, where the scene The Baptist Scolding Herod and Herodias is set, is depicted. The wings of the door, painted in perspective, are opened slightly toward the inside. On the right, the executioner in front of John’s cell can be seen.

The detail shows Herod and Herodias.

The altar (east) wall presents the Baptist’s sermon on the bank of Jordan, in which John indicates the coming of Christ with his raised arm. In his other hand he holds a scroll on which his words are recorded: ECCE AGNUS DEIECCE QUI TOLLIT PECCATA MUNDI / HIC EST DE QUO DIXI POST ME VENT. Christ, accompanied by three disciples, appears in the picture’s second plane. The figure, standing to the left of the Baptist, but turned away from him, has been painted across the corner and belongs to the scene on the north wall (the Baptist’s Sermon in the Wilderness). Similarly, on the right side, the scene wraps around the corner into the window embrasure, where a group of John’s listeners are depicted.

On the right side, the Baptist’s Sermon at the Jordan scene wraps around the corner into the window embrasure, where a group of John’s listeners are depicted. Here we find three men with portrait-like features. One of these has been convincingly identified, owing to its similarities to other surviving portraits. as Leon Battista Alberti.

The fresco is part of the cycle depicting the story of the life of St Peter. Both events depicted in this fresco are recounted in the Acts of the Apostles: the healing of the cripple in Jerusalem and the raising of Tabitha in Joppa. Masolino sets both events in the same town, although they had actually taken place in different cities and at different times.

This detail shows two elegantly dressed characters, in the centre of the scene, who separate but also provide the link between the two miraculous events. The presence of these figures makes the two events look like normal everyday occurences in the life of a city.

In this scene Masolino makes use of the most popular and traditional iconography of the period and the two figures, both in their gestures and in their expressions are courtly and elegant: a mood which has always been contrasted with the atmosphere in Masaccio’s fresco on the opposite wall of the chapel, interpreted as a powerful manifesto of a new cultural and artistic vision, one of great spiritual harmony and technical ability.

The foliage, which had been addded in the 17th century to cover the nude bodies, has been removed during the recent restoration.

In this scene Masolino makes use of the most popular and traditional iconography of the period and the two figures, both in their gestures and in their expressions are courtly and elegant: a mood which has always been contrasted with the atmosphere in Masaccio’s fresco on the opposite wall of the chapel, interpreted as a powerful manifesto of a new cultural and artistic vision, one of great spiritual harmony and technical ability.

The foliage, which had been addded in the 17th century to cover the nude bodies, has been removed during the recent restoration.

The detail shows the angel of Matthew.

The picture shows one of the wider compartments of the vaulting containing the Nativity scene. At the left, below the figure of Joseph, the inscription ribbon displays Masolino’s signature.

The images of the four evangelists with their respective symbols in the radiating compartments of the vaulting complement the iconographic program of the fresco cycle. In conformity with the iconographic tradition linking John the Evangelist and John the Baptist, John the Evangelist is given the compartment that opens downward the altar space. On the capstone of the vault the Lamb of God is painted.

The picture shows the vaulting in its state before 1987. In the spandrels of the vaulting are the four evangelists with the four Latin Church fathers. The vaulting paintings follow the pattern that had been traditional since the fourteenth century, only here each of the evangelists is paired with one of the Church fathers. They are seated together in pairs on a bank of clouds, and bathed in a yellow light. Each of the evangelists is identified by his symbol.

The picture shows the vaulting in its state before 1987. In the spandrels of the vaulting are the four evangelists with the four Latin Church fathers. The vaulting paintings follow the pattern that had been traditional since the fourteenth century, only here each of the evangelists is paired with one of the Church fathers. They are seated together in pairs on a bank of clouds, and bathed in a yellow light. Each of the evangelists is identified by his symbol.

The picture shows a view from the entrance to the Baptistery towards the altar. On the arch wall, left, an altar in a niche is depicted, while on the right the Beheading of John the Baptist and, with an angel holding a scroll above, can be seen. In the vaulting St John the Evangelist is represented.

Behind the baptismal font (attributed to the workshop of Jacopo della Quercia), on the east wall, the frescoes are the following: the Baptist’s Sermon at the Jordan (left), the Baptist Scolding Herod and Herodias (right), The Baptism of Christ (above).

The picture shows a view from the entrance to the Baptistery towards the altar. On the arch wall, left, an altar in a niche is depicted, while on the right the Beheading of John the Baptist and, with an angel holding a scroll above, can be seen. In the vaulting St John the Evangelist is represented.

Behind the baptismal font (attributed to the workshop of Jacopo della Quercia), on the east wall, the frescoes are the following: the Baptist’s Sermon at the Jordan (left), the Baptist Scolding Herod and Herodias (right), The Baptism of Christ (above).

The chapel in the right-hand arm of the transpt in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine is consacrated to the Madonna del Popolo, and a painting of the Virgin stands on the altar. The patrons of the chapel was the Brancacci family, from the second half of the 14th century until 1780. Felice Brancacci was the patron of the chapel from 1422 till 1436. He was a rich and powerful man and he commissioned the fresco decoration of the chapel in 1423 shortly after he returned from Cairo where he had been sent as Florentine Ambassador. It is assumed that work on the frescoes began in 1424, at a time when Masaccio and Masolino were working together, and that it continued until 1427 or 1428, when Masaccio set off for Rome, leaving the fresco cycle unfinished.

The appearence of the chapel today is the result of alterations begun immediately after Felice Brancacci fell out of favour; he was exiled in 1435 and declared a rebel in 1458. Further changes were carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Originally the chapel was cross-vaulted and lit by a very tall and narrow two-light window; the last of the stories from the life of St Peter, his Crucifixion, was probably painted on the wall below the window, but this fresco was destroyed soon after Brancacci was declared a rebel so as to cancel all traces of a patron who had become politically embarassing. The chapel, formerly the chapel of St Peter, was reconsacrated to the Madonna del Popolo. It appears that Felice Brancacci was subjected to an operation of “damnatio memoriae”, for all the portrayals of people connected to the Brancacci family were eliminated from Masaccio’s fresco of the “Raising of the Son of Theophilus”. The scene was then restored in 1481-82 by Filippino Lippi, who also completed the cycle.

After the chapel was reconsacrated to the Virgin a number of votive lamps were installed: the lampblack they produced coated the surface of the frescoes, causing such damage that as early as the second half of the 16th century they had to be cleaned.

In 1670 further alterations were carried out: the two levels of frescoes were divided by four sculptures set in carved and gilded wooden frames. It was probably at this time that the leaves were added to conceal the nudity of Adam and Eve in the two frescoes, Masolino’s Temptation and Masaccio’s Expulsion from the Garden. This was probably conceived during the reign of the bigoted Cosimo III.

After several events, including a fire in 1771, a restoration combined with a thorough scientific investigation in the last decades brought the chapel to the state in which we can visit it nowadays.

The fresco cycle, with the exception of the first two, tells the story of St Peter, as follows:

Temptation (Masolino)

Expulsion from the Garden (Masaccio)

Tribute Money (Masaccio)

Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha (Masolino)

St Peter Preaching (Masolino)

Baptism of the Neophytes (Masaccio)

St Peter Healing the Sick with his Shadow (Masaccio)

Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias (Masaccio)

Raising of the Son of Theophilus and St Peter Enthroned (Masaccio and Filippino Lippi)

Disputation with Simon Magus and Crucifixion of St Peter (Filippino Lippi)

St Paul Visiting St Peter in Prison (Filippino Lippi)

Peter Being Freed from Prison (Filippino Lippi)

The picture presents a view into the chapel from the south side aisle of the church. Above the arch on the entry wall the Annunciation with God the Father in a medallion can be seen. The inner face of the arch contains apostle portraits. On the left pillar (roughly twice as large as the one on the right) a portrayal of a huge St Christopher wading through the water, Christ on his shoulder, and gazing up at the Annunciation above, is presented. On the wall to the right, outside the chapel, the sinopia of the Beheading of St Catherine, exposed in 1952, is hung.

The picture shows a view of the altar room in the Baptistery. The trompe l’oeil paintings in the window niches depict an open door, and John the Baptist in Prison. On the choir arch a prophet and two Church fathers are depicted. The crown of the arch contains the date: MCCCCXXXV.

In the scene showing the Baptist in prison, the actual prison cell appears in the embrasure of the south window. On the choir arch, in rectangular compartments, St Jerome seated at the top, gazes across toward the choir wall, whereas St Augustine, just below him, faces the entry wall to the west. The narrow section of the wall to the right of the arch shows the Baptist’s beheading.

The picture shows the entry (west) wall of the chapel. The decoration consists of the Annunciation to Zacharias (left to the door), Visitation (right, fragments only), and View of Rome (above the door).

The picture presents a view of the vaulting of the Collegiate Church with the scenes from the life of the Virgin. On the walls below, a cycle with scenes from the lives of the archdeacons Stephen and Lawrence, by Il Vecchietta and Paolo Schiavo can be seen.

The six scene from the life of the Virgin fill the six compartments of the cross-ribbed vaulting of the polygonal presbytery, their unusual arrangement dictated in part by the relative sizes of the available spaces. Owing to their larger numbers of figures, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Kings were relegated to the wider side compartments. The three narrower compartments between them were utilized for the glorification of the Virgin, in them we find the Coronation placed between the Annunciation and the Betrothal. The Assumption scene appears in the compartment directly behind the choir arch, and is not visible from the nave of the church. On the capstone God the Father giving benediction is depicted.