Masaccio, originally Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone Guidi Cassai, was born December 21, 1401, in San Giovanni in Altura (today it is San Giovanni Valdarno). In 1422, he joined the painter's guild in Florence. He painted many frescoes, including his masterpieces in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine (where Filippo Lippi lived). His style moved away from the Gothic and toward the realistic, naturalistic, dramatic, and powerful. He used perspective and foreshortening, which his friend Brunelleschi had only recently rediscovered. He used light to give dimension to his works and infused them with emotion (Expulsion from the Garden of Eden). They show the influences of Donatello and Brunelleschi.

In 1428 Masaccio disappeared from Rome and supposedly died in the autumn from unknown causes. The most amazing aspect of this painter is that he only had 10 years to learn his trade, paint all the frescoes he did, and influence many other artists (da Vinci, Michelangelo, Filippo Lippi) before dying at only 27 in 1428. Other works besides the Brancacci Chapel include Trinity and Tribute Money.

 

Madonna and Child with St. Anne
c. 1424
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Baptism of the Neophytes
c. 1424-28
Brancacci Chapel, Florence

Tribute Money
1425-1426
Brancacci Chapel, Florence

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
1425-1426
Brancacci Chapel, Florence

Trinity
1427-1428
Santa Maria Novella, Florence