\paperw4995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \f1 \ATXsh255 Italian painter.\ATXsh4607 \par
\ATXsh255 Born in a small town with political ties to Florence, Masaccio (ôHulking Tomö) moved at
a very early age to the regional capital, where he was already recorded as a painter in 1417, continuing the education he had received in his birthplace. In 1422 he joined the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, the guild of doctors and apothecaries that also a
ccepted some artists, allowing him to gain a degree of recognition in city society. The same year appears on the triptych for the church of San Giovenale at Cascia (Arezzo). Recognized as one of the young painterÆs earliest works, it already shows a full
acceptance of the principles of the Renaissance. The \i Virgin with Saint Anne\i0 dates from around 1424 and documents his collaboration with the older Masolino (who in fact painted part of the panel, in particular the figure of St. Anne). In 1425 Maso
lino and Masaccio worked together on the \i Polyptych of the Snow\i0 , destined for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. While the following year, Masaccio alone received the commission for a polyptych for the Carmelite Church in Pisa. The polypty
chÆs central panel, representing the \i Madonna and Child\i0 (London, National Gallery) shows a mastery of the principles of perspective worked out in Florence by Filippo Brunelleschi and Donatello, especially in the robust physique of the Virgin and th
e architectural structure of the throne. In these same years (although the date is still controversial) he painted the frescoes with \i Scenes from the Life of Saint Peter\i0 in the Brancacci Chapel of the Carmelite Church in Florence in collaboration w
ith Masolino. Here MasaccioÆs new and powerful emphasis on narrative is set alongside MasolinoÆs still late Gothic style of painting, creating a work that has been admired for centuries by artists. Immediately after finishing the Brancacci frescoes, Masa
ccio painted the \i Trinity\i0 in the church of Santa Maria Novella. Here he reached new heights in the spatial arrangement of the figures, setting them inside a mock chapel that closely resembles contemporary Florentine works of architecture. In 1428 M
asaccio and Masolino were in Rome, painting frescoes for the chapel of Cardinal Branda Castiglione in San Clemente, when the younger of the two artists died, at the age of twenty-seven.\ATXsh4607
