Masaccio, Fra Angelico, and Filippino Lippi: Renaissance Art

Introduction

The Renaissance was a dynamic period in which religion, artwork, and new styles, thoughts, and concepts regarding perspective and expression intertwined and influenced one another. The effect was an explosion of new talent, new advancements in painting, and remarkable new horizons. This paper illustrates how these developments unfolded by examining three works from three influential Renaissance painters — Masaccio, Fra Angelico, and Filippino Lippi.

Masaccio's The Tribute Money

Masaccio's The Tribute Money (ca. 1420) is a perfect illustration of the complex formula of Renaissance religious symbolism and naturalistic beauty that characterized the artworks of this period. It tells the narrative story found in Matthew 17:24–27, in which Jesus and His disciples come to Capernaum and are told they must pay the tribute. Jesus asks Simon Peter whether the children of the king or strangers pay the tribute. Peter answers that strangers pay it. Christ then asserts that the children of the king are therefore to be considered free, and instructs Peter to catch a fish from the sea, open its mouth, take out the coin found therein, and use it to pay the tribute. Peter does so. The entire story is depicted in the painting in a non-sequential order, yet in a manner that remains logical and easy to interpret ("The Tribute Money").

In the center of the scene stands Christ, flanked by the tax collectors of Capernaum (to his right) and the Apostles (to his left). Christ and Peter are both pointing to the left of the panel, where in the background Peter is depicted retrieving the tribute from the fish's mouth. To the far right of the panel, Peter is shown paying the tribute. Thus, reading left to right, the second scene in the narrative appears first but is placed in the background, while the first scene occupies the dominant portion of the foreground. The third scene appears last and is not out of place sequentially. Viewed as a whole, the depiction need not be experienced as non-sequential: the foreground image of Christ consulting with the Apostles is the central image and catches the eye first, and the hands of Christ and Peter then direct the viewer's gaze to the left — toward the next scene to be read. The composition is, in this respect, logically constructed.

Christ's head is located at the vanishing point of the composition's lines. The lines of the architecture to the right of Christ — the façade and steps — as well as the background hills and mountains, all converge toward this vanishing point. The lines to the left must pass directly through Christ's head to reach that point. He is thus the compositional center through which all visual movement passes, functioning like a portal through which all of life must pass to reach its ultimate destination. He is the heart of the subject, and the viewer's eye is drawn naturally to him by the built-in perspective. Christ is therefore represented as the symbolic center of the universe — the Logos from whom all life, wisdom, truth, and goodness emanates. The composition's emphasis on linear perspective allows this theological concept to be expressed through purely visual means.

The naturalistic beauty of the composition is underscored by the backdrop — mountains, hills, trees, sea, and architecture — which locates the narrative in a specific, real-world time and place. The architecture dates the scene; the natural landscape gives it an authentic feel; and the overall harmony of color, perspective, line, tone, and balance elevates the narrative to a level befitting the glory of the Godhead who stands at the front and center of the work. Christ is depicted as both a real human being and as true God: he ordains a miracle, teaches the Apostles, and respects earthly authority in a way that deepens the mystery of faith as taught by Masaccio. The image expertly shows that before Christ and his disciples may enter the city, they must first show respect to its rulers — which is precisely what the paying of the tribute accomplishes.

The meaning of finding the tribute in the fish's mouth can be grasped by contemplating the significance of Christ's submission to earthly authority. Essentially, all authority derives from God, and therefore those who hold authority over others in this life should be respected. The tribute, which comes from God in this story, is a sign that God wishes those to whom he has granted authority to be honored — and so Christ teaches this lesson to his apostles. The lesson is visually reinforced by the fact that the Apostles are kept standing outside the city walls until the third scene, in which Peter approaches the entrance to pay the tribute, enabling them all to be admitted. A broader metaphor can also be read here, connecting this narrative to the concept of being admitted through the gates of heaven by rendering divine tribute to God through the keeping of His commandments.

Fra Angelico's The Crucifixion

Fra Angelico similarly "rationalizes" space, making it both logically representative of reality and fundamentally religious in its symbolic resonance (The Met). Just as Masaccio uses space to teach the lesson found in Matthew's gospel, Fra Angelico uses space, perspective, line, and religious symbolism to construct a vision of orderliness, humanity, and divinity in a complete and cohesive expression of one of the central mysteries of the faith. In The Crucifixion (ca. 1420–1423), painted in tempera on wood with gold ground, Angelico depicts Christ crucified. At the foot of the cross, the Virgin Mary has collapsed and is supported by sainted mourners on the ground. Angels collect the drops of Jesus' blood while mortal soldiers look up at a scene that is at once deeply realistic and richly symbolic.

The mystery inherent in the scene pervades every element. The Virgin Mary is a grieving mother; the Godhead hangs on a cross; spiritual angels collect his very corporeal blood. Two worlds are thrust together in this painting — underscored by a spotlight-like effect in which the crucified Christ is set against a bright gold backdrop, as though a blinding sun were bursting behind him and radiating light across the scene. The gold announces the glory of God, while the blood, colors, and misery reflected on the ground — especially in the posture of the collapsed Virgin — announce an all-too-human reality. The composition achieves depth through the placement of soldiers on horseback in the foreground alongside the Virgin, while Christ on the cross towers above the heads of the spectators below. Fra Angelico thus creates a visually dynamic arrangement in which the eye travels from Christ downward to the spectators — guided by the arc of the golden light or by the vertical line of the cross, which points directly to the Virgin, whose prostrated figure allows the gaze to circle back in either direction. This circuitous quality symbolically represents the deep mystery at the heart of the scene: Christ as God sacrifices himself for his creation, so that it might dwell with him in the next world. As in Masaccio's painting, he is again the portal through which all life must pass.

Fra Angelico thus uses the natural beauty of the world — here, the sun and its awesome radiance — to provide a powerful contrast to an otherwise grim scene. The Crucifixion is not merely a sorrowful event; it is also glorious and majestic, for through it the world is redeemed and the gates of heaven are opened for those who remain faithful to God. This dual register of sorrow and triumph is one of the defining achievements of Fra Angelico's religious painting.