DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0125
1428] FRESCO OF THE TRINITY 93
ago, and so too has the wonderful chiaroscuro picture
of the consecration of the church, in which he intro-
duced portraits of his friends Donatello and Brunel-
lesco, his master Masolino, Giovanni de’ Medici, and
many other Florentines. One of the few still in exist-
ence is the Madonna and St. Anne, in the Accademia,
an altar-piece of early date, which has still much in
common with Masolino, but which is too finely
modelled for any doubt to have been entertained
as to its authorship. Another work, which deserves
the high praise bestowed upon it by Vasari, is the
fresco of the Trinity on the entrance wall of Santa
Maria Novella. This magnificent work was long
hidden by a picture of Vasari’s own painting, which
has now been removed, and can only be properly seen
when the great central doors of the church are thrown
open. A majestic God the Father bearing the Cross
on which Christ hangs, with the dove hovering about
his head, while the Virgin, an elderly matron of noble
aspect, and a youthful St. John gaze in deep, calm
sorrow on their dying Lord. The form of the Cruci-
fied Christ is drawn with all Donatello’s skill and
science, while the Corinthian pillars and stately
proportions of the classical architecture which frames
in the whole, heightens the solemn effect of the vision,
and two admirable portraits of the kneeling donors,
a middle-aged man and woman of the higher class,
are introduced in the foreground.
Some fragments of the altar-piece which Masaccio
painted for the Church of the Carmine at Pisa, in
1427, are still in existence. A St. Andrew, with
deep-set eyes and high forehead, like the Apostles
in the Brancacci Chapel, is in a private collection
ago, and so too has the wonderful chiaroscuro picture
of the consecration of the church, in which he intro-
duced portraits of his friends Donatello and Brunel-
lesco, his master Masolino, Giovanni de’ Medici, and
many other Florentines. One of the few still in exist-
ence is the Madonna and St. Anne, in the Accademia,
an altar-piece of early date, which has still much in
common with Masolino, but which is too finely
modelled for any doubt to have been entertained
as to its authorship. Another work, which deserves
the high praise bestowed upon it by Vasari, is the
fresco of the Trinity on the entrance wall of Santa
Maria Novella. This magnificent work was long
hidden by a picture of Vasari’s own painting, which
has now been removed, and can only be properly seen
when the great central doors of the church are thrown
open. A majestic God the Father bearing the Cross
on which Christ hangs, with the dove hovering about
his head, while the Virgin, an elderly matron of noble
aspect, and a youthful St. John gaze in deep, calm
sorrow on their dying Lord. The form of the Cruci-
fied Christ is drawn with all Donatello’s skill and
science, while the Corinthian pillars and stately
proportions of the classical architecture which frames
in the whole, heightens the solemn effect of the vision,
and two admirable portraits of the kneeling donors,
a middle-aged man and woman of the higher class,
are introduced in the foreground.
Some fragments of the altar-piece which Masaccio
painted for the Church of the Carmine at Pisa, in
1427, are still in existence. A St. Andrew, with
deep-set eyes and high forehead, like the Apostles
in the Brancacci Chapel, is in a private collection