Masaccio The Holy Trinity 1426-1427

Masaccio, The Holy Trinity (fresco, 667 x 317 cm) 1426-1427, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy.

*This is a collection of notes for my own study for a University paper*

Thematic topic: Death and Rebirth

Classical art forms referenced by Masaccio:

• Roman triumphal arches
• Ionic columns
• Corinthian pilasters
• Fluting down the columns
• Coffered, barrel vault ceiling
• single point perspective as discovered by Brunelleschi - credited with being the earliest known example

Masaccio's revival of classical art forms reflects religious practice in the wake of the Black Death showing the link between the new culture of death and traditional religious forms. The patrons thought to be Dominico Lenzi and his wife are a symbol of memorialisation, the new cult of the individual as defined by Jacob Burckhardt.¹ Goffen highlights this new interest in the individual with reference to the portrait of Lenzi's wife. Where traditionally the likeness of women was generalised, Masaccio has painted her as an individual.²

It shows key revivals in the Renaissance such as the sarcophagus and triumphal arch. Masaccio has depicted the three manifestations of God; God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The various forms of God here could also refer to the variety of different ways he could manifest himself in your day to day life in simple miracles. Certainly the idea of God as a human figure is an idea associated with the Renaissance. Medieval depictions of God were just of his hand, representing the force of God. The three aspects of the Trinity is reinforced again with the three spaces of the picture; the Trinity itself with Mary and St John, the space that contains the donors and the third as where we, the viewer are, the earthly sphere in front of the sarcophagus. Above the sarcophagus is an inscription: "I was once that which you are; and that which I am, you also shall be," which is a reminder to the viewer that they should live a good life and prepare now for salvation, the salvation of which Mary is referring to as delivered by Christ.

This shift in religious preparation was seen after the Black Death and the focus moved from simply relying on last rites as a way to absolve sin. Sudden death bought about by the plague created a new culture of death, emphasising the need to live a good pious life.

The naturalistic rendering of Christ's tortured body on the cross is a good example of the combination in Renaissance art of scientific observation and deep faithfulness. Indeed the scientific development of the single point perspective in Florence could be attributed to the wealthy merchant culture that had developed there. High trade and economic dealings in Florence in the 15thC combined with the new emphasis on Humanism; rational, naturalistic, scientific, mass, weight. Leading on from the sculpture of Donatello and Ghiberti in Orsanmichele and the Baptistery.

John Arnold, in Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe³ speaks of religious images as being a reaffirmation of what was being taught in mass. The art in itself is not enough without the knowledge which was gained beforehand. However because of the nature of the ritual of the sacraments, the laity would not have had the experience and knowledge that the elite had with regard to religious service.

Separated from the rituals by a rood screen until the reformation, the congregation would have had a hard time clearly hearing the mass. Though was the rood screen in place throughout the mass or just at the time of the ritual such as the eucharist?

1. Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy (London: Penguin Books, 1990).
2. Rona Goffen, "Introduction: Masaccio's Trinity and the Early Renaissance." In Masaccio's Trinity (Cambridge, 1998).
3. John H. Arnold, "Images." In Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe (London: Hodder Arnold, 2005).