By Kind Permission of Lancaster University Library
By Kind Permission of Lancaster University Library
The painting by Masaccio of The Tribute Money is part of the fresco cycle of the Life of St. Peter commissioned by Felice Brancacci in 1424 for the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence.
Vasari comments:
But the most notable of all [Masaccio's work on the cycle] is where Peter, in order to pay tribute, takes the money by Christ's direction from the fish's belly. Here Masaccio using a mirror has painted his own portrait as an apostle, standing at the end, and it is done so well that it is like life. Remarkable too is the ardour of St. Peter in his questioning, and the attention of the apostles in their various poses around Christ as they wait for his decision with gestures which are natural and full of life. St. Peter is particularly life-like with his face red as he bends over to take the money from the fish. Even more admirable is the payment of the tribute money, with the money being counted out and the self-satisfied look on the face of the man who receives it. ( Vasari, Le Vite, Testo III.131)
Kugler, ed. Eastlake, Handbook of the History of Painting, Part One, The Italian Schools, First Edition, on the Brancacci Chapel cycle as a whole, stresses that it is only a beginning. Ruskin comments only on the landscape. There are further references to the mountains in the Tribute Money at Works, 5.396, together with the plate facing that page, and at Works, 6.362. The mountains are 'far in advance of all other work I have seen of the period'.
Tommaso Guidi Masaccio 1401-28
Tribute Money c.1425
Pigment on wet plaster, 255x598cm
Further Comments: The digital image is a drawing by Ruskin, copying the background of the 'Tribute Money' by Masaccio.
Collection: Brancacci Chapel, S. Maria del Carmine, Florence