Renaissance Mystery: Masaccio Paintings
Scholar Douglas Preston Explores “The Madonna Puzzle”
Aug 29, 2008
Masaccio’s early use of perspective and humanist emphasis in his work set the stage for High Renaissance masters such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Raphael to adopt and evolve new techniques. Despite Masaccio’s profound influence on Italian Renaissance painting, surprisingly little is known about his life and work.
Renaissance Scholars: The Madonna Puzzle
One scholar, Douglas Preston, recounts the mysteries behind renaissance artist Masaccio’s life and works in his article “The Madonna Puzzle” (The New Yorker, December 18, 2000, p. 78.) Nearly everything involving this man is a tantalizing mystery, and Preston examines two especially interesting works of Masaccio's in addition to elucidating the life of the man who was arguably the first Renaissance painter.
The two Masaccio paintings on which Preston focuses his analysis are both paintings of the Madonna. One, a Pisa altarpiece, was dismantled into about 14 pieces, and the other is a triptych recently discovered in a crumbling, old church. Both paintings have missing panel pieces.
Masaccio’s Missing Altarpiece Panels Worth Millions, Historians Estimate
The first painting is part of a large 19-piece winged altar for a Carmelite Church in Pisa. Of the Pisa altarpiece panels, Preston explains that 11 or so have resurfaced; however, the two panels flanking the Madonna have never been recovered. The painting was inventoried as intact according to Renaissance art historian Vasari in 1568, but what happened after that is a mystery.
Early Masaccio Tryptych Discovered in San Giovenale
In a rare event of art history, the central panel of a Madonna triptych was discovered in an old church in San Giovenale in 1958 and determined to be an early Masaccio. This panel, while outlining Masaccio’s development as a revolutionary painter, raised more questions than it answered. Was this a rare undivided Madonna altarpiece? Were the side panels cut into four instead of two? The mystery is so tantalizing to art historians that an intact panel from this painting would fetch $20-$80 million if it were ever found.
Masaccio Panel Deepens Renaissance Art Mystery
The 1958 discovery also brought new questions about Masaccio’s already mysterious, short life. The newly discovered San Giovenale painting, determined to be have been completed around 1422, reinforces the fact that Masaccio’s genius appears to have had no real influences, according to Preston. Seemingly out of nowhere and right away in his career, Masaccio makes this classic scene more real and emotional.
Mystery not only surrounds Masaccio’s life and works, but his untimely death at 26 years of age leaves many wondering what happened. Preston’s suggestions of what happened to cause Masaccio’s sudden death include a papal conspiracy, a jealous colleague named Masolino and an angry debt collector. Or perhaps he simply faked his own death.
