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Holy Trinity (Masaccio)
The Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors (Italian: Santa Trinità) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. The fresco was among Masaccio's last major commissions and is often cited as one of the first monumental Renaissance paintings to utilize linear perspective.
Masaccio created The Holy Trinity between 1425–1427. He died in late 1428 at the age of 26, or having just turned 27, leaving behind a relatively small body of work.
The fresco is located along the middle of the basilica's left aisle. Although the configuration of this space has changed since the artwork was created, there are clear indications that the fresco was aligned very precisely in relationship with the sight-lines and perspective arrangement of the room at the time; particularly a former entrance-way facing the painting; in order to enhance the trompe-l'œil effect. There was also an altar, mounted as a shelf-ledge between the upper and lower sections of the fresco, further emphasizing the "reality" of the artifice.[citation needed]
Not much is known about the details of the commission; no contemporaneous documents naming the altar-piece's patron(s) have been found. The two donor portraits included in the fresco, one figure kneeling on either side of the archway, have not been positively identified. The persons depicted are almost certainly contemporary Florentines; either the persons who funded the work, or relatives or close associates. According to the established conventions of such depictions, it is generally, but not universally, assumed that they were probably still alive at the time of the artwork's commissioning.[citation needed]
The leading theories as to their identity favor two local families; either the Lenzi or, for at least one of the figures, a member of the Berti, who were a working-class family from the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. Records of the Berti family, discovered in 2012, indicate that they owned a tomb at the foot of the fresco. Other sources mention a Lenzi tomb near the altar, with the inscription "Domenico di Lenzo, et Suorum 1426", as well as other Lenzi decorations in the chapel at that time, and theorize the donor portraits were posthumous images of Domenico (and his spouse?). In the Florentine dating system of that time, the new year began on March 25; and factoring in the conversion from Julian to Gregorian calendars Domenico's death, as recorded, would have been on 19 January 1427.[citation needed]
It has been hypothesized that Fra' Alessio Strozzi and/or Filippo Brunelleschi may have been involved, or at least consulted, in the creation of the Trinity. Brunelleschi's experiments in linear perspective likely were the inspiration for the perspectival construction of the painting. Fra' Alessio's involvement has been posited more on the matter of the appropriate depiction of the Holy Trinity, according to the preferences and sensibilities of the Dominican order.[citation needed] However, there is, to date, no concrete evidence for the direct involvement of either of these two men.
Around 1568, Cosimo I, then Duke of Florence, commissioned Giorgio Vasari to undertake extensive renovation work at Santa Maria Novella, including reconfiguring and redecorating the area where Masaccio's fresco was located.[citation needed]
Vasari had already written favorably about Masaccio in his Vite. When it came time to implement the planned renovations of the chapel containing Trinity, circa 1570, Vasari chose to leave the fresco intact and construct a new altar and screen in front of Masaccio's painting, leaving a small gap, and effectively concealing and protecting the earlier work. While it seems plausible that it was Vasari's deliberate intention to preserve Masaccio's painting, it is unclear to what extent Duke Cosimo and/or other "concerned parties" were involved in this decision. To decorate the new altar, Vasari painted a Madonna of the Rosary; the image is extant, but has been moved to a different location within the church.[citation needed]
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Holy Trinity (Masaccio)
The Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors (Italian: Santa Trinità) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. The fresco was among Masaccio's last major commissions and is often cited as one of the first monumental Renaissance paintings to utilize linear perspective.
Masaccio created The Holy Trinity between 1425–1427. He died in late 1428 at the age of 26, or having just turned 27, leaving behind a relatively small body of work.
The fresco is located along the middle of the basilica's left aisle. Although the configuration of this space has changed since the artwork was created, there are clear indications that the fresco was aligned very precisely in relationship with the sight-lines and perspective arrangement of the room at the time; particularly a former entrance-way facing the painting; in order to enhance the trompe-l'œil effect. There was also an altar, mounted as a shelf-ledge between the upper and lower sections of the fresco, further emphasizing the "reality" of the artifice.[citation needed]
Not much is known about the details of the commission; no contemporaneous documents naming the altar-piece's patron(s) have been found. The two donor portraits included in the fresco, one figure kneeling on either side of the archway, have not been positively identified. The persons depicted are almost certainly contemporary Florentines; either the persons who funded the work, or relatives or close associates. According to the established conventions of such depictions, it is generally, but not universally, assumed that they were probably still alive at the time of the artwork's commissioning.[citation needed]
The leading theories as to their identity favor two local families; either the Lenzi or, for at least one of the figures, a member of the Berti, who were a working-class family from the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. Records of the Berti family, discovered in 2012, indicate that they owned a tomb at the foot of the fresco. Other sources mention a Lenzi tomb near the altar, with the inscription "Domenico di Lenzo, et Suorum 1426", as well as other Lenzi decorations in the chapel at that time, and theorize the donor portraits were posthumous images of Domenico (and his spouse?). In the Florentine dating system of that time, the new year began on March 25; and factoring in the conversion from Julian to Gregorian calendars Domenico's death, as recorded, would have been on 19 January 1427.[citation needed]
It has been hypothesized that Fra' Alessio Strozzi and/or Filippo Brunelleschi may have been involved, or at least consulted, in the creation of the Trinity. Brunelleschi's experiments in linear perspective likely were the inspiration for the perspectival construction of the painting. Fra' Alessio's involvement has been posited more on the matter of the appropriate depiction of the Holy Trinity, according to the preferences and sensibilities of the Dominican order.[citation needed] However, there is, to date, no concrete evidence for the direct involvement of either of these two men.
Around 1568, Cosimo I, then Duke of Florence, commissioned Giorgio Vasari to undertake extensive renovation work at Santa Maria Novella, including reconfiguring and redecorating the area where Masaccio's fresco was located.[citation needed]
Vasari had already written favorably about Masaccio in his Vite. When it came time to implement the planned renovations of the chapel containing Trinity, circa 1570, Vasari chose to leave the fresco intact and construct a new altar and screen in front of Masaccio's painting, leaving a small gap, and effectively concealing and protecting the earlier work. While it seems plausible that it was Vasari's deliberate intention to preserve Masaccio's painting, it is unclear to what extent Duke Cosimo and/or other "concerned parties" were involved in this decision. To decorate the new altar, Vasari painted a Madonna of the Rosary; the image is extant, but has been moved to a different location within the church.[citation needed]