The Pisa Altarpiece () was a large multi-paneled

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

produced by

Masaccio Masaccio (, ; ; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great List of Italian painters, Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaiss ...

for the chapel of Saint Julian in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

. The chapel was owned by the

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

Giuliano di Colino, who commissioned the work on February 19, 1426 for the sum of 80 florins. Payment for the work was recorded on December 26 of that year. The altarpiece was dismantled and dispersed to various collections and museums in the 18th century, but an attempted reconstruction was made possible due to a detailed description of the work by

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...

in 1568. The paintings are in

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

with

gold ground Gold ground (both a noun and adjective) or gold-ground (adjective) is a term in art history for a style of images with all or most of the background in a solid gold colour. Historically, real gold leaf has normally been used, giving a luxurious ...

on wood panel. It originally had at least five compartments organised in two registers, making ten main panels, of which only four are known to have survived. Another four side panels and three

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

panels (two of which had a double scene) are now in the

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin The (, Painting Gallery) is an art museum in Berlin, Germany, and the museum where the main selection of paintings belonging to the Berlin State Museums (''Staatliche Museen zu Berlin'') is displayed. It was first opened in 1830, and the cur ...

. The altarpiece's central panel was ''Madonna and Child with Angels'', produced in collaboration with Masaccio's brother

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

and with Andrea di Giusto, now in the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current dire ...

. Eleven panels are known as of 2010, and they are insufficient to reconstruct the whole work with certainty. In particular four standing figures of saints flanking the central panel are missing. Vasari says these were the saints shown in the

narrative scenes:

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, Julian and

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

. In particular it is unclear if these larger saints occupied the more traditional individual framed compartments, as proposed by C. Gardner von Teuffel and others, or stood in a unified field with the central Virgin and Child, as proposed by

John Shearman John Kinder Gowran Shearman (pronounced "Sherman"; 24 June 1931 – 11 August 2003) was an English art historian who also taught in America. He was a specialist in Italian Renaissance painting, described by his colleague James S. Ackerman as " ...

, which was to become the usual style in the following decades.

Surviving panels

Eleven surviving panels of the altarpiece, which is the only documented work by Masaccio, are in various museums. Scholars hypothesize the reconstruction of the altarpiece based on a very complete description by

. The eleven surviving panels are: *Upper Register: **''Crucifixion'' (

Museo di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with se ...

, Naples) ** ''Saint Paul'' ( Museo Nazionale di Pisa) ** ''Saint Andrew'' ( Getty Museum, Los Angeles) *Lower Register: ** ''Madonna and Child with Angels'' (

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

, London) ** ''Saint Augustine'' (with the following all Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) ** ''Jerome ** ''Two Carmelite Saints'' *Predella (all Berlin): ** ''Adoration of the Magi'' ** ''Crucifixion of St Peter'' ** ''Martyrdom of St John the Baptist'' ** ''Scene from the Legend of St. Julian'' ** ''Scene from the Legend of St. Nicholas''

Upper Register

Crucifixion

The ''Crucifixion'' was placed above the central panel of the altarpiece, underlining the sacrificial (Eucharistic) nature of the central panel. Although the panel unnaturalistically represents the narrative against a gold background (a medieval formula for representing sacred scenes), Masaccio creates an effect of reality by depicting the event from below, as the viewer standing before the altar truly saw it. In this way, he attempts to tie the viewer to the scene, to make the sacred accessible to the ordinary Christian.

Saints

Now in the Museo Nazionale di Pisa, the panel of

Paul of Tarsus Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

is the only portion of the commissioned work which remains in

. It is usually reconstructed as being one of two flanking panels to the left of the ''Crucifixion''. St Andrew was one of two flanking panels to the right of the ''Crucifixion'' and is now in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. File:Masaccio, polittico di pisa, san paolo, pisa 51x30 cm.jpg, St Paul, now in

File:Masaccio,_polittico_di_pisa,_sant%27andrea,_malibu,_51x31_cm.jpg, St Andrew, now Los Angeles,

Lower Register

''Madonna and Child with Angels''

The altarpiece's central panel was ''Madonna and Child with Angels'', produced in collaboration with Masaccio's brother

and with Andrea di Giusto. It was painted in 1426. The panel is in a very damaged state and smaller than its original size; it has lost perhaps as much as 8 cm. at the bottom and 2-2.5 cm. at each side.Jill Dunkerton and Dillian Gordon, "The Pisa Altarpiece," in Carl Brandon Strehlke, ed.''The Panel Paintings of Masolino and Masaccio: The Role of Technique,'' Milan, 2002, 91–93. The painting contains six figures: the Madonna and Child and four angels. The Madonna is the centre figure and is larger than any of the others to signify her importance. Christ sits on her knees, eating grapes offered to him by his mother. The grapes represent the wine which was drunk at the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

, symbolising Christ's blood. Although he is an exceedingly babyish baby (in comparison to the babies of Masaccio's immediate predecessors, like

Lorenzo Monaco Lorenzo Monaco (1370 – 1425) was a Sienese painter and miniaturist of the late Gothic to early Renaissance age, active principally in Florence. He was born Piero di Giovanni. Little is known about his youth, apart from the fact that he was ...

Gentile da Fabriano Gentile da Fabriano ( – 1427) was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic pictorial style. He worked in various places in central Italy, mostly in Tuscany. His best-known works are his '' Adoration of the ...

), the grapes are a symbol of his blood – like the red wine of Communion – which indicates Christ's awareness of his eventual death. The Madonna looks sorrowfully at her child, as she also realises his fate. In many ways the style of the painting is traditional; the expensive gold background and ultramarine draperies of the Virgin, her enlarged scale, and her hierarchical presentation (ceremoniously enthroned) all fit within the late-medieval formulas for the representation of Mary and Jesus in glory. In other ways, however, the painting is a step away from International Gothic in the sense that Masaccio has created a more realistic approach to the subject: *The faces are more realistic and not idealised. *The baby Jesus is less of a small man and more childlike. *An attempt at creating depth has been attempted by Masaccio's placement of the two background angels and through the use of linear perspective in the throne. *Modeling is clearly visible as the light source is coming from the left of the painting. *The Madonna is a bulky figure, deriving from classical models, and her drapery has larger and more naturalistic folds that shape her body. Masaccio has used linear perspective to create pictorial space; it can be seen on the orthogonal on the cornice of her throne. The vanishing point is at the child's foot. The reason for this is that the work was originally located above a representation of the Adoration of the Magi, in which one of the magi kisses Jesus' foot. Although the paintings are noticeably different (the subjects are clothed differently and on different chairs) the Madonna is more or less in the same position in both works. This parallelism is designed to make viewers have the same attitude as the magus when looking at the Madonna and Child. They are imagined to be kneeling in front of Mary, and could easily lean forward to kiss the foot of Jesus. Masaccio has also used the overlapping of figures and objects to create pictorial space, like the two angels in the foreground overlapping the throne and the throne overlapping the two angels in the background.

Flanking saints

These are four panels all now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, all . They show

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

and two unknown Carmelite saints, one bearded and the other

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...

d. File:Masaccio, polittico di pisa, sant'agostino, berlino, 38x12 cm.jpg,

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

, Berlin File:Masaccio, polittico di pisa, san girolamo, berlino, 38x12 cm.jpg,

St Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible i ...

, Berlin File:Masaccio, polittico di pisa, santo carmelitano barbuto, berlino, 38x12 cm.jpg, Bearded Carmelite saint, Berlin File:Masaccio, polittico di pisa, santo carmelitano imberbe, berlino, 38x12 cm.jpg, Carmelite saint, Berlin

Predella

This was placed below the central panel or panels; probably there were only the three surviving panels, according to most reconstructions. They are about and now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. They show the ''

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings or Visitation of the Wise Men is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having fo ...

'', especially praised by Vasari and presumed to have been the central panel, two scenes of the ''Crucifixion of St Peter'' and ''Martyrdom of St John the Baptist'', and two scenes from the legends of St Julian and St Nicholas in the third panel. These stories come from compilations such as the ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' ( or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of 153 hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in Europe during the Late Middle Ages. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary Maddo ...

''. In the last, at left

Julian the Hospitaller Saint Julian the Hospitaller is a saint venerated in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. He is the patron saint of the cities of Ghent, Belgium; Saint Julian's, Malta; and Macerata, Italy. History and patronage The earliest known ...

kills his parents, after having been misinformed by the devil, shown in the centre. At right

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

is secretly pushing gold through the bedroom window of two poor girls, to provide a

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

for them. File:Masaccio. Crucifixion of St. Peter and Beheading of St. John the Baptist..jpg, ''Martyrdoms of St Peter and John the Baptist'', Berlin File:Masaccio. Adoration of the Magi. 1426. Berlin-Dahlem.jpg, ''Adoration of the Magi'', Berlin File:Masaccio. Stories of St Julian and St. Nicholas. 1426. Berlin-Dahlem.jpg, ''Scenes from the legends of St Julian and St Nicholas'', Berlin

References

External links

Masaccio, ''Virgin and Child Enthroned''

Smarthistory Smarthistory is a free resource for the study of art history created by art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Smarthistory is an independent not-for-profit organization and the official partner of the Khan Academy for art history. It is ...

Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by Sal Khan. Its goal is to create a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short video lessons. Its website also includes suppl ...

, March 20, 2013 {{Authority control Paintings by Masaccio Altarpieces 1426 paintings Paintings in the National Gallery, London Paintings in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum Paintings of the Crucifixion of Jesus Paintings of the Madonna and Child Angels in art Paintings of Andrew the Apostle Musical instruments in art Paintings of Paul the Apostle