Masolino da Panicale

Masolino
Posthumous portrait of Masolino from a 1568 edition of The Lives Posthumous portrait of Masolino from a 1568 edition of The Lives
Born	Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini c. 1383 Panicale, Lordship of Perugia
Died	c. 1447 (aged 63–64) Florence, Republic of Florence
Known for	Painting, fresco
Notable work	frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel
Movement	Italian Renaissance
Patrons	Pipo of Ozora Cardinal Branda Castiglione

Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini (c. 1383 – c. 1447), known by his nickname Masolino da Panicale (lit. 'Tommy from Panicale'), was an Italian painter. His best known works are probably his collaborations with Masaccio: Madonna with Child and St. Anne (1424) and the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel (1424–1428).

Biography

Masolino was possibly born in Panicale, present-day Umbria. He may have been an assistant to Ghiberti in Florence between 1403 and 1407. In 1423, he joined the Florentine guild Arte dei Medici e Speziali (Doctors and Apothecaries), which included painters as an independent branch. He may have been the first artist to create oil paintings in the 1420s, rather than Jan van Eyck in the 1430s, as was previously supposed. He spent many years traveling, including a trip to Hungary from September 1425 to July 1427 under the patronage of Pipo of Ozora, a mercenary captain. He was selected by Pope Martin V (Oddone Colonna) on the return of the papacy to Rome in 1420 to paint the altarpiece for his family chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and later by Cardinal Branda da Castiglione to paint the Saint Catherine Chapel in the Basilica of San Clemente, Rome. In the interim, he collaborated with his younger colleague, Masaccio, to paint the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, which were much admired by fellow artists throughout the fifteenth century. He painted a cycle of 300 famous historical figures in the Orsini Palace in Rome about 1433–34 and also worked in Todi. He spent his later years, after 1435, working for Cardinal Branda Castiglione in Castiglione Olona.

Early use of the central vanishing point

Masolino was probably the first painter to make use of a central vanishing point in his 1423 painting St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha.

St Catherine Refusing to Worship Idols

"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."

Summary of work

Section includes external links to works of art.

Complete works
In Naples:

• Miracle of the Snow, triptych, commissioned by Branda da Castiglione for the dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major, ca. 1423, National Museum and Gallery of Capodimonte.

In Germany:

• Madonna and Child, tempera on wood, Alte Pinakothek.
• Madonna and Child (1423), tempera on panel in Kunsthalle Bremen.

In Florence:

• Cappella Brancacci: cycle of frescoes in collaboration with Masaccio, 1424.
• Madonna and Child, Saint Anne and the Angels, collaboration with Masaccio, tempera on wood, 1424, Uffizi, Florence.
• Madonna dell'Umiltà, tempera on wood, 1430–35, Uffizi.

In Empoli:

• Cristo in Pietà, detached fresco, 1424, Empoli, museum of the Collegiata di Sant'Andrea.
• Saint Ivo and the Pupils, fresco, 1424, Empoli, Church of Saint Steven.
• Virgin and Child, fresco, 1424, Empoli, Church of Saint Steven.

In Rome:

• Fresco of the Life of St Catherine of Alexandria commissioned by Branda da Castiglione in the Basilica di San Clemente, Chapel of Sacrament, 1428.
• Fresco of the Annunciation in the Basilica di San Clemente, Chapel of Sacrament, 1428.
• Fresco of St Christopher in the Basilica di San Clemente, Chapel of Sacrament, 1428.
• Death of the Virgin and Crucifixion, fresco, Pinacoteca Vaticana.

In Castiglione Olona, where his patron was cardinal Branda da Castiglione:

• Hungarian Landscape in the Palazzo Branda Castiglione.
• Story of the Virgin (1435) in the Collegiata.
• Frescoes depicting the Life of St. John the Baptist (1435) in the Baptistery of Castiglione Olona.

In France:

• Scenes from the Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller, tempera on wood, 21 x 39 cm, Musée Ingres.

In the United States:

• Annunciation (1425–1430) oil and tempera on wood 148 x 115 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• The Archangel Gabriel and The Virgin Annunciate, both ca. 1430, tempera (?) on panel, National Gallery of Art.

Dispersed pieces of works

• Lateral panels of an altarpiece with The Ascension at the center, from Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, ca. 1427–28, started by Masaccio and completed by Masolino after his death: Saints John the Evangelist(?) and Martin of Tours, Saints Paul and Peter, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Pope Gregory the Great (?) and Saint Matthias, National Gallery, London; The Ascension National Museum and Gallery of Capodimonte, Naples.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Masolino da Panicale — Son of Cristoforo Fini; b. in the subrub of Panicale di Valdese, near Florence, 1383; d, c. 1440. It is said that he was a pupil of Starnina, several of whose frescoes in charming taste heralding the Renaissance are in the Cathedral of Prato. Established at Florence Masolino was received in 1423 a member of the corporation of druggists or grocers (speziali) which then included painters of the Brancacci chapel in the Church of Carmelite. Here he was again at work in 1426. In 1427 he was in Hungary in the service of the famous Florentine adventurer, Filipo Scolari (Pippo Spano as he is surnamed). Between 1428 and 1435 he executed near Varese, at Castiglione d'Olona, paintings discovered forty years since in the baptistery and collegiate church. He died four or five years later aged, not 37 as vasari states, but 57 years. Masolino's glory is to have collaborated in the carmine and to be also the master and forerunner of Masaccio. He played an important part in the development of the Renaissance but it is far from being as considerable or as "providential" as ancient historians have claimed.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century the Renaissance was at hand; in all countries simultaneously and nearly everywhere it had the same characteristics. For example the work of the Limbourgs belongs to 1416, and some miniatures of their calendar might almost be mistaken for certain pictures of Gentile da Fabriano, whose "Adoration of the Kings" belongs to 1423. Similar figures are found in Masolino's work in the Brancacci Chapel, such as the pretty group of Florentine gentlemen in the "Preaching of St. Peter". The delicate taste of the architecture, the pleasing sense of the landscape are still general traits of the art of this period. When Masolino came to Florence he was more than forty years old. All agree at present in attributing to him the frescoes in the Church of San Clemente at Rome, which Vasari regards as the work of Masaccio's youth. They may be placed about 1415. They represent scenes from the life of St. Ambrose and the life of St. Catherine. The latter have been often restored. What is remarkable about these frescoes is not that they differ from many Giottesque works (nearly all the traditional ideas and customs have been followed), neither is it that the painter shows great skill, but he has a wholly new sense of grace and beauty, an innate gift of elegance and that inexpressible quality which we call "charm." It seems as though a breath of youth passed over the art of painting and thawed the ancient formulas. There is nothing more ravishing than the figures of the women, especially the young girls. The little Catherine, converting the wife of the Emperor Maxentius, is a virginal vision of childish beauty whose sweetness has only been surpassed by Angelico. It is especially in the large "calvary" and behind the altar that this atmosphere of ingenuousness is felt. The immense landscape of undulating hills, on which is unfolded the feebly composed scene, redeems all the defects of composition such as absence of the pathetic and lack of unity in the grouping. One is conscious only of a peace, an enchantment of nature which resembles the state of grace.

Some of these merits are found in the frescoes in the Carmine. As indicated by its reputation this celebrated work must be its author's most considerable composition. He painted only three of these compositions: on one of the pillars in the entrance the "Temptation of Adam and Eve", and in the chapel itself the "Preaching and the Miracles of St. Peter", which is the best of all, and comprises two distinct episodes: the "Cure of the Paralytic" and the "Resurrection of Tabitha". Deserving of admiration are the figures of the Apostles and the accuracy of observation in the attitude of the cripple and the risen woman. But what constitutes the value of these works, and is also found in the frescoes of San Clemente, is a sober and spiritual grace and a delightful sense, at once, familiar and refined, of life. It is this quality, also, that imparts value to the frescoes at Castiglione d'Olona, the last and most animated of his works. His "Life of St. John the Baptist" abounds in lively traits. The beautiful costumes and portraits, the graceful attire of the women, his Herodiases and Salomes, are charming. At need the painter gives proof of technical knowledge; he develops fair perspectives composed of delicate architecture in the antique manner. But all this for him is but the frame, full of fancy and taste, wherein transpire charming scenes of Florentine life. Thus in the "Baptism of Christ" the group of neophytes robing, the man seated putting on his shoes, and the one who, bare-limbed awaiting his turn, shivers in his cloak, form a genre picture which is full of spirit and charm.

Masaccio treated the same subject at the Carmine with his customary grandeur, Masolino sees in it only a familiar study, similar to the "Baths" or "Studies" of the German prints, but in which only a Florentine could put such a lively sense of beauty. Opposite, the trio of angels bearing the garments of Christ recall the most exquisite figures of the "Life of St. Catherine". But above all there is that general air of spring and adolescence, that unique feeling of youth which is the charm of that age, and which we find in Gentile and Pesellino, but which lasted only a moment and was seen no more. Vasari realized this: "He was the first to impart more sweetness to his figures of women, to give nature graceful demeanour to his young men.... He treated skilfully the play of light and shade...His pictures are blended with such grace that they have all the suppleness imaginable... It is very difficult to say whether Masaccio readily owes anything to Masolino. The genius of this sublime young man transcends ordinary rules; he brought about a revolution in the school and hastened by fifty years the development of the Renaissance. But without the interference of this sudden and tremendous force the Renaissance would have arrived of itself, less great perhaps, less learned, but more gently. Masolino shows us what the blossoming would have been had it not been for Masaccio's coup d'état."

VASARI, ed. MILANESI (Florence, 1778, 1885); CROWE AND CAVALCASALLE, History of painting in Italy (London, 1864-66); LUBKE, Masolino and Masaccio in Jahrbucher fur Kunstwissenschaft (1870), 75-79; 280-286; SCHMARZOW, Masaccio: Studien (Cassel, 1895-1900); WICKOFF, Die Fresken der Katharinekaplle in S. Clemente zu Rom. in Zeitshrift fur Bildende Kunst (1889), 306; MUNTZ, Histoire de l'Art pendant la Renaissance, Vol. I. Les Primitives (Paris, 1888); GUTHMANN, Die Landschaftmalerei...von Giotto bis Rafael (Leipzig, 1902); BENRENSON, Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (London, 2nd ed., 1904).

External links

• Masolino da Panicale at Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery
• Masolino da Panicale on Artcyclopedia
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Masolino da Panicale". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• "Masolino da Panicale (1383 - 1447)". Alte Pinakothek. Archived from the original on 2014-03-18. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
• Rossetti, William Michael (1911). "Masolino Da Panicale". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). p. 838.
• Carl Brandon Strehlke, "Saints Paul and Peter, and Saints John the Evangelist and Martin of Tours by Masolino da Panicale (inv. 408, 409)" in The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works, a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital publication.