Masolino | |
|---|---|
 Posthumous portrait of Masolino from a 1568 edition ofThe Lives | |
| Born | Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini c. 1383 |
| Died | c. 1447 (aged 63–64) |
| Known for | Painting,fresco |
| Notable work | frescoes in theBrancacci Chapel |
| Movement | Italian Renaissance |
| Patrons | Pipo of Ozora Cardinal Branda Castiglione |
Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini (c. 1383 –c. 1447), known by his nicknameMasolino da Panicale (lit. 'Tommy fromPanicale'), was anItalian painter. His best known works are probably his collaborations withMasaccio:Madonna with Child and St. Anne (1424) and the frescoes in theBrancacci Chapel (1424–1428).
Masolino was possibly born inPanicale, present-dayUmbria.[1] He may have been an assistant toGhiberti in Florence between 1403 and 1407.[2] In 1423, he joined theFlorentine guildArte 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 thanJan van Eyck in the 1430s, as was previously supposed.[3] He spent many years traveling, including a trip toHungary from September 1425 to July 1427 under the patronage ofPipo of Ozora, a mercenary captain. He was selected byPope Martin V (Oddone Colonna) on the return of the papacy to Rome in 1420 to paint the altarpiece for his family chapel in theBasilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and later by CardinalBranda da Castiglione to paint the Saint Catherine Chapel in theBasilica of San Clemente, Rome. In the interim, he collaborated with his younger colleague, Masaccio, to paint the frescoes in theBrancacci 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[4] and also worked inTodi. He spent his later years, after 1435, working for Cardinal Branda Castiglione inCastiglione Olona.[5]
Masolino was probably the first painter to make use of a centralvanishing point in his 1423 paintingSt. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha.[6]
"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."[7]
Complete works
InNaples:
In Germany:
InFlorence:
InEmpoli:
InRome:
InCastiglione Olona, where his patron was cardinalBranda da Castiglione:
In France:
In the United States:
Dispersed pieces of works
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