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The church of Santa Maria del Carmine is a plain
and uninteresting building yet it contains one of the strongest pieces
of evidence for the argument that Florence is a city whose real splendour
lies behind doors - the frescoes of the Brancacci chapel.
One of the most important monuments to Italian Renaissance painting, the
frescoes were begun in 1424 by Masolino and a pupil half his age who came
to be known as Masaccio - `Mad Tom´. Very soon it was the pupil who was
doing the teaching, though the works were unfinished when Masaccio died
in Rome, a mere three years later. Filippino Lippi finished the frescoes
sixty years later, but it is the work of Masaccio that drew Michelango
here to make sketches and inspired Vasari to comment that `all the most
celebrated sculptors and painters since Masaccio´s day have become excellent
and illustrious by studying their art in this chapel.´
Click
here to see some images from the frescoes. |
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