Poliptico de Pisa Masaccio reconstruccion

The Pisa Altarpiece ( it, Polittico di Pisa) was a large multi-paneled

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject 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 o ...

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 Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, ...

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

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' 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 its leaning tower, the cit ...

. 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 disti ...

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 (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

in 1568. It was a

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

painting on a

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 ...

and 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 Gemäldegalerie (, ''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 ...

. 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 Andrea di Giusto (c. 1400- 2 September 1450, Florence), rarely also known as Andrea Manzini or Andrea di Giusto Manzini was a Florentine painter of the late Gothic to early Renaissance style in Florence and its surrounding countryside. Andrea was ...

, 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 over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. 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, John the Baptist, Julian and Nicholas. 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 "th ...

, 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'' (Naples); Saint Paul (Pisa); Saint Andrew (Malibu) *Lower Register: ''Madonna and Child with Angels'' (London); Augustine, Jerome, two Carmelite saints (all Berlin) *Predella (all Berlin): ''Adoration of the Magi''; two scenes of the ''Crucifixion of St Peter'' and ''Martyrdom of St John the Baptist''; two scenes from the legends of St Julian and 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 National Museum of San Matteo in Pisa (''Museo Nazionale di San Matteo'') displays works from historic ecclesiastical buildings in the city and Province of Pisa. Collections The works span from early Medieval period to the 16th century. The co ...

, the panel of

Paul of Tarsus Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

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,_san_paolo,_pisa.jpg, St Paul, now in

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

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

. 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 Dillian Rosalind Gordon OBE is a British art historian who worked as a curator at the National Gallery, London from 1978 to 2010, latterly as Curator of Italian Paintings before 1460. She lives in Oxford. She was appointed OBE in 2011 for servic ...

, "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, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

, 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 an Italian painter of the late Gothic to early Renaissance age. He was born Piero di Giovanni in Siena, Italy. Little is known about his youth, apart from the fact that he was apprenticed in Florence. He was inf ...

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

), 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 ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

and two unknown Carmelite monk 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 ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

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

St Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...

, 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 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 found Jesus by following a star, ...

'', 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'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

''. In the last, at left

Julian the Hospitaller Julian the Hospitaller is a Roman Catholic saint, and the patron of the cities of Ghent and Macerata. History The earliest known reference to Julian dates to the late twelfth century.Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (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 Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

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

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

for them. File:Masaccio crocefissione di san pietro e martirio di san giovanni Battista.jpg, ''Martyrdoms of St Peter and John the Baptist'', Berlin File:Masaccio 001.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 to Khan Academy for art history. Smarthisto ...

Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...

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