MAsACCIO: SAINT ANDREW

AND THE PISA ALTARPIECE

by Eliot W. Rowlands. Ceuy Publirn­
rjons, Los Angeles, CA, 2003. J. 28 pp.,
illus. Paper. ISBN: 0-8923fi..286-3.

llevimuNl by 1\ my font', "f"hl' l)i,1lm/JR h1tli­

httl', PO. Box 12748, !1n'i1r{Py, CA 947/2-
3748, U.S.A. f,�mai/; <io1u@tlirtltojle.(()m>.

Thfa/1/J/1m-,wr.11ofo wo111ifo-u/sll/11di11g
1:rm/.ivr lrtlmt is t1l lry <?Jim, arru111/1aninl
by that ofanother grntl arlisl flt the s(Wlf'
ti11w 11,m{ iu the. s11w� /mrl of !hf: worM so
that the two co 11, in:.tJirc anti rmu/a/e ead,
othur. ...Hmu true lhi5 is we mn saefrom
th,, f11rl thnl in /1,e samr j1eriorl Flnl'fnrr
pmrlwwl Filif1110 Hr1w�lle,td1i, /)011aldfn,
l.nrm. w (;hi/wrli, Prtnfo Urrrlfo, mu/
t\ll(L�rirdo, ,,,zr.h of' wlum1 wr1$ an mtt­
slrmrfingarlisl mu/ lhmugh whosnfforls
IJu, crude rl/uL rluniry :, •ly[(I whirh h r/fl J1rR­
S1ru111l it/1 tf/ that timr was jinrtlly cfa­
ra,-dnl.
-Giorgio Vasuri, Uve,, oftft,,
Artists (2nd Ed., 1568)

Vasari's for-reaching biography of l!al­

ia11 ani�ts LP Vile de' J;i1i rrr�{enti
a,rhi/flti. /1i//01i, el scnltori ilalitrni (The
Lives of the 'Mosl Eminent lLa.Jjall Ar­
chitects, Painters, and. SculpLOrs), first
published iH 1550 (and revised in
15n8), remains the principal �ourn:
regarding his contemporaries and
earlier llaJirm Renaissance artists.The
exu.•m of' this biographer's influence is
particularly revealing when we turn lu
an arti�t lrke Masaccio (1401-1-128).
Born Tomnrnso di Ser Giovanni cli
Mone Cassai, Masaccio (the name is
generaJly translated as "Sloppy Tom'')
was Sc• devottd to his work, according
LO Vasari, that "he refused to gi,·e auy
timt: lo woddly causes. even in the way
of dress.¥. This commt:nt pro\"idecl the
mime history chose fnr him. Vasari's
praise. on the other hand, laid the
loundalion for sources today that men­
tion Masaccio as one of the first Italian
painters L<, use the science of perspec­
tive to create the illusion or 31) space in
pa.inlings. 1ndced his mastery ofligln
and one-p<Ji111 perspective was so con­
vi.ncing for his time lhat scholars say it.
contributed to the development of the
J:<loreu Line Renaissance style of pa.in L­
ing. Sadly, Masaccio died myste1iously
at Lhe ,tge of 27.vVe can 011ly speculate
on what he mighl have accomplished if Masacci.o: Saint Andrew am/ the Pisa A/tl,rpiece by Eliot
he had survived to e.xperimcnt with oil W. Rowlands. Getty Publications, Los Angeles, CA, 2003.
paint, ,t new technology thut fascinated 128 pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 0-89236-286-3. (Reviewed by
a1·tists in the decades following his
An� lone, Leommlo 37, no.:/ (200:/): 34.J-3./5.)
death.

344 I ,cniiardn Rcvi�ws

 Published by the Getty M11se1u11,
Masocrio: Saini A11drr.w and the Pisa
Ailmt1ierr, by Eliot W. Rowlands (Senior
Researcher, Wilclenstein and Company,
N"'w V..>1·k), is a compact nmnc,g,·aph
that em beds Masaccio's overall acco111-
plishmt'.nl$ into ii..� analy$is of the mu\t-i­
panelecl painting of which Lht'. Gt,tty"s
Sc,int, A ndrnu panel once fonned a part.
Rowlands explains that this altarpiece is
one of the trnly great pQ!yptychs in the
histrn·y of Italian Renaissance art. Pro­
duced in 14�6 for a chapel in the
church of Santa Maria dcl Carmine,
Pisa, the work offers a particularly
t:fli:c1ive va11u1ge point 011 Masacc;io,
bt:jng t1ne of IWO works by the artis1 we
can date precisely. and the only pa.int­
ing of'his 1hat w.L-; doc11mt:nLCd. Row­
lands's focus on the commission for the
mult.i-paneled altarpiece indudes de­
tails on iL� pau·on :md program. These
are alongside speculations about its
c,6ginal locatimJ and lht' role;: lh1;:
church f,iars played in lhe actual com•
mission. In s11111, each existing p>inel
offers some perspec1ivt:, and Lh1;: crnn­
pusite presents a .sense of context a�
well as a sense of how the community
contributed to historical works we look
al today. Appreciahly enhancing the
mix is the compelling intormation
clcmil.ing all we have learned through
c;onserv,ttion effort.� and a section on
Lhe life oft.he Pisa A//111pirrr aru�..- it was
dism.1ntled.
Saini Andrew (like other known pan­
ds) il111s1rates that artists nf'this time
aspired iucreasingly to tra11sforn1 the
�D surface into the naturalism of a 30
reality. Numliuns to this effect in the
Getty piece include the use uf light to
create the appearance uf space and
perspectival cues in modeling the cross
,�nd the hook the saint holds. Other
s11rvivi11g pands that art, txamined
include the central panel of T/,e Virgin
mrd Child, which has been slightly
cropped, three pn·ddlas, six of Lh1;: 12
saints and four side panels. All are
considered in light of speculation on
unknown sections of the altarpiece. In
this way Rowla11ds conveys t.hat our
knowledge nf' 1heir original setting a11d
arrangement is quite limited. Indeed,
lhere are nine compering opinions
10day on 1he con-ect overnll arra11ge­
me11t for the one-third of the pain1ed
area ol'which we have no tr11c-e. Inter­
estingly, in light. of Va.sari's role in form­
ing later views of Ma�,1ccio, the only
eyewitness account of the piece in situ
is luwid in Vasari's revised edition
( I5(i8) of his J.i11t!S. Vasa.ti's detailed
descriptic,n, pt1blish1;:d in th1;: )'t'.fu- tl1a1
the Church of Santa Maria def C;irmine
underwent reconst.ruction, suggests he
examined u1e work firsuiand before
the renovation, which lasted until 1574.
Thc Ot'.W const.r·uct.icm totally alter"'d
the location, lining- the walls with altar­
pieces by the then-contt'.rnporary Tus­
can painters. Most. or 1h"'s"' 1·emain in
the church to this da)',
The overall appeal of Mnsnrcio: Saini
A111lrn11 mul thr Pisa A//arj,irr� stems f rom
this author's ability to give the rt:ader a
se11sc of an artistic community that
includc:d Masaccio. Rowlands conveys
this by juxt:1pnsing this master's work
with 1hat of"his influential co111empo­
raries. For example, T!tt• T,i/111/e Money. a
work tha.t shows how observation ha5
heighten1;:d the mimetic illusiunism
power of paintings, is said to be one on
which Masaccio and Masolino collabo­
ntted. Historical studies generally ,utri­
hllte the main act.ion to M,1saccin, while
the I ,ead c,fJesus is widely cvnsicle,·"'d
lo be the work or his senior p,irLne,;
Masolinu. Although f\1l asc)lino was 17
y1;:ars olclt:r, lhe painters, accnrdiug tn
Rowlands, worked simultaneously
rather than sequentially. In fact. how­
ever, there is no evidence of their lrne
relationship, and it seems quite likely
tbat Masnlino gave Masaccin benefit of
h�� extensive artistic experience with
altarpiect:s, perspective a11d the dl·pic-
1io11 of artistic spact:. Equally f"asc.:i11a1-
ing are the sectitrns 011llining
D011atelln's influences. Donatello's
i11spiratio11 is <:011vincingly presented
thrnugh the reti:rencecl pieces (e.g.
Masaccio · s evocative Virgin mu/ C.:hi/;I,
1426, su�gests n debt to a piece llltrib­
uted LO Donatello, Thr Nfrtdunno mid
Clt.ild 111ilh Four A ngel1·, 1420-14 25).
Indeed, throughout Masaccio"s oeuvre,
the sculpture uf Oonatelln bad a prn-­
fo1111d effect lh,u brings a s1;:nse of
humanness tn Masaccio's work. vVe can
easily imagine lhese artists in their
studi(>s t'.XChanging ideas, since the
wnrks compared were completed over
several years,
One aspect wonhy or not;: i.� the care
that was taken in printing the b<mk. As
a perso11 whn is attracted to rhe vis11,d
language of ai·t, I always appreciate
materials that acknowledge the deg1·ee
to which an histor)' is enhanced by
visual cloc.:ume11tation. This book suc­
ceeds admirably jn its visual presenta­
tion. For cx11mple, in many an books,
handsome foldouts are rucked within
the pages and, while useful to some
degree, impede the flow or tJ1e reading
pr(,cess. Here, instead, u1e author's
view ofth1;: altarpiec1;: 1·eco11s-tr11ctio11 is
carefully folded into the back ct,ver.
When unfolded, rJ1e map lies next lo
the printed pages fr,.- ca�-y reference:.
Although it was a bit small, I trul)' ap­
p1·t,dt1ted l,ow easy it was LO kcp 1un1•
ing lh"' pages without ha\'iug lo fu111bl1;:
for the foldou L
In summary, this book sen-1;:s ii..s pu,·­
pose well. Included in lhe Getty's Mu­
seum SLudies on Art se1ies, it is a
wonderful resource on this exceptional
artis1. Rowfands brings a g,·eat deal or
expertise to his examination as he re­
counts the paint.ings' religious themes,
their histories, Masaccio's commissions,
the subsequ<!IIL hisw,·y of lhe pa11els,
and how art historians came lo iden rif}'
them. Numerous footnotes offer the
reader abundant leads to more compre­
hemive literal\ffe, such as cont.ributions
by Beck,Joannicles and Strehlke. Read­
"'rs will also appreciutc the nmgc of
visunl documt'.ntntion used to illustrate
the;, work of Masaccio and his contcn1po­
m..-ies. finally, reacling thrvugh u1e
book brings LL) mind that populnr views
of art history are •>fl.en limited LO g1;:ner­
alizations thal lose track of important
historical figures. This monograph gives
Masaccio his due. Still, certain devices
would have been helpful. In parlicular
it is unJortunate tbat the book does not
have an index. TI1is omission makes it
f
dif icult to 1·et1.1rn to a particular section
when it comes to mi11<l lat.er. S1ill, ;11! in
111l, Rowlands conveys why many schol­
ars rank Masaccio as the greatest rna�ter
of early lt.11ia11 Re11aissa11ce pai11ting.
The achievements of Nfasaccio, quite
revolutiooary in bis day, are clear!)'
wonh considering in light of othc:rs
(t,.g. Alberli, Brunelleschi and Dona­
tello) rJ1at come to mjnd when we re­
ncct on the foundjng fathers uf the
Rcnnissnnct'.
Bibliogi:apb:y
Bcrk.J. 1lfo,11rcfoc Th, /JQc'ltl/11'11/S (LucllSt Vall)'· NY:J
J Aug11,1in. 1978)
Jonnnldc�. P. i\lcortcdv rt/Id ,l/(15,)/it1v; !\ C.(J111fi/1/u Cllln­
/og (London: l'haidon / Al>m111,. l!)\1�)
S11·d1lkc C. and Fro,inini, C. The Pnnrl l'ninri,cg,, of
.\-lnsoli11u rrnd .\fosnrcio: Tit, Ruic of1i,·1111111u• (L,mrl,m:
S Con1itwn1s Edi1ions. �002)
Lcon.1rdo Reviews 345