Holy Trinity by Massacio

Masaccio's "Holy Trinity," in the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella, is one of the most
intellectually complex and deeply moving pictures ever painted, remarkable not only for its
precocious naturalism, which initiated the Renaissance painting style, but also for the way its
depiction of the material world is infused with deep metaphysical significance. It is both the most
rational and the most mysterious of images. The painting is made of plaster which imparts a
rough texture and is approximately 317 cm (125 in) wide, and 667 cm (263 in) high. This gives
an overall vertical-to-horizontal proportion of about 2:1. The ratio between the upper and lower
sections of the work is very roughly 3:1.1

The painting owes its authenticity to a number of groundbreaking innovations. Its life-size
figures are rendered with a new kind of sculptural modeling, which makes them seem to occupy
real space. And its architectural setting, based on elements from classical antiquity, is
constructed with "scientific" one-point perspective. This creates a convincing sense of depth and
places the viewer in a fairly specific physical relationship to what is depicted. Masaccio creates
the illusion that a whole new space has been opened up before us, as if a new chapel had been
cut into the wall. At the time it was painted, the realism of this picture was so startling that
viewers could well have believed the Holy Trinity was actually right there in the church.

Masaccio's painting is unusual in combining the Trinity with a Crucifixion scene: The Virgin Mary
and St. John stand under the cross. Mary, in particular, lends a moving human element to this
austere image. She is rendered as if clearly seen from below and in three-quarter view, which
gives her greater physical presence than the other figures, who are depicted in profile or
full-face and seen as if at eye level. The resigned, matter-of-fact gesture by which she invites us
to contemplate her Son on the cross is not only profoundly moving but also emphasizes her role
as an intercessor. These are some things which I would like to investigate and study more in
detail.

Below the patrons who kneel just outside the sacred space is a skeleton laid out on a
sarcophagus. Above it, an inscription reads: "I once was what you are now, and what I am you
also will be." This memento mori, placed under a symbol of Golgotha, suggests that the
skeleton represents both Everyman and Adam, widely believed to have been buried under the
place where Christ was later crucified. The reminder of physical death is contrasted with God
the Father holding the cross, offering the promise of everlasting life.

In his Holy Trinity, Masaccio was the first individual of the Florentine Renaissance to properly
explore the illusionistic potential of this new technique2. The perspective construction plays a
central role in creating levels of meaning.The vanishing point, and thereby the viewer's
eye-level, is just below the foot of the cross; this places us in a position of submission, below the

1
wikipedia.org, “Masaccio (Holy Trinity)”
2
Visual-arts-cork.com, “Interpretation of the Holy Trinity by Masaccio”
donors but above the skeleton. The deep space described by the coffered vault relates the
sanctity of the figures to how far away from us they seem to be. In earlier painting, the hierarchy
of sanctity was expressed by the relative height of the figures within the composition. Here, for
the first time, sanctity is also directly coordinated with depth: the patrons are lowest and closest,
while God the Father is highest and farthest away.

The two principal sources of information about perspective in Florence in the period 1425-1435
were Filippo Brunelleschi himself, its ‘inventor’, and Leon Battista Alberti, who was in exile in
Genoa and wasn’t allowed back into Florence until 1428. It was Alberti’s later book which was to
provide the geometric foundation for most linear perspectives in the Renaissance.3

The picture's incredible realism posed philosophical problems for the painter. In medieval
representations of the Trinity, God the Father was represented as much larger than Christ, who
was in turn taller than any other figures; and all were usually set against a flat, gold-leaf ground.
This is something else which really sparked my curiosity and triggered my imagination. In such
images, the Divine figures exist outside space and time. Masaccio, by rendering his figures with
such realism in a tangible architectural space, subjects them to the laws of nature. This is clear
in the way God the Father stands so firmly on the ledge beneath him, His feet depicted in
foreshortened perspective, rather than floating free.

Such a rendering ran the risk of having the physical realism of the image overwhelm its spiritual
presence. To prevent this, Masaccio built a number of adjustments and subtle contradictions
into his apparently rational perspectival composition. For example, since the figures are roughly
life-size, the artist had to deal with the problem of maintaining the hierarchy between them
without sacrificing the illusion of real space. When figures are rendered in perspective, those
farthest away seem to be the smallest; but following that principle too literally here would run
counter to the sanctity of the subject. Masaccio found a brilliantly simple solution: Because they
kneel, the two donors, who by the laws of perspective should be the largest, look shorter than
the holy figures behind them.

Within the hallowed sanctum, the adjustments of space are more subtle. The experience of the
Holy Trinity as it now appears is misleading since it gives the faulty impression of completeness.
The perspective is constructed inconsistently, which some have seen as evidence of Masaccio's
imperfect understanding of it. But these inconsistencies are in fact central to the compressed
levels of meaning the picture conveys. For example, Masaccio seems to have combined optical
perspective with a surface geometry based on the calibrations of an astrolabe, used by
astronomers and understood at the time to be a symbol of a divinely ordered universe. By
overlapping two mathematical systems, he merged the depiction of time-bound surface
appearances with an awareness of eternal underlying causes.

The perspective in this painting is sufficiently accurate to be convincing, but purposely inexact
enough to make space for the supernatural. This is strikingly evident in the representation of

3
eclecticlight.co, “Work in Progress: Masaccio’s Holy Trinity”
God the Father, who stands on the narrow ledge attached to the back wall of the barrel-vaulted
space, which would appear to be about nine feet deep. Yet at the same time, He is also present
at the front of this same vaulted space, supporting the body of his Son on the cross. This
discrepancy in perspective allows God to be in more than one place at a time—a supernatural
phenomenon made all the more remarkable by the painting's apparent realism.

Masaccio’s heroic style captured moments of majestic tension, developing a realistic approach
to space and light. He brought a human element to his work. Observers recognised and
identified with the humanity on display.4Masaccio’s contemporaries were struck by the palpable
realism of this fresco, as was Vasari who lived over one hundred years later. Vasari wrote that
“the most beautiful thing, apart from the figures, is the barrel-vaulted ceiling drawn in
perspective and divided into square compartments containing rosettes foreshortened and made
to recede so skillfully that the surface looks as if it is indented.”5

Among other things, this great fresco, painted on the wall of a Dominican church, is a stunning
affirmation of the great Dominican theologian St. Thomas Aquinas's assertion that to be
"everywhere primarily and absolutely is proper to God." What better place could there be to
state this with such subtlety than in a representation of the Holy Trinity, whose paradoxical
consubstantiality—distinct, yet of one being—is a central mystery of Christian faith.

Masaccio approached this fresco in a very rational way to masterfully create a convincing
illusion of space, in a way which preserves the integrity of the Christian meaning at the core of
the scene, while maintaining the aesthetic of the overall creation.6 To have been able to convey
such a dynamic amalgam of reason, compassion, mysticism and grace in the static medium of
paint on plaster is surely the greatest of Masaccio's achievements.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

4
theglobaldispatches.com, “Masaccio’s Holy Trinity
5
smarthistory.org, Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, “Masaccio, Holy Trinity”

6
italianrenaissance.org, “Masaccio’s Holy Trinity”
● jstor.org, Joseph Polzer “The Anatomy of Masaccio's Holy Trinity”
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4125722

● Visual-arts-cork.com, “Interpretation of the Holy Trinity by Masaccio”

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/holy-trinity-masaccio.htm

● italianrenaissance.org, “Masaccio’s Holy Trinity”

http://www.italianrenaissance.org/masaccios-holy-trinity/

● Smarthistory.org, Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, “Masaccio, Holy Trinity”
https://smarthistory.org/masaccio-holy-trinity/

● eclecticlight.co, “Work in Progress: Masaccio’s Holy Trinity”

https://eclecticlight.co/2019/07/19/work-in-progress-masaccios-holy-trinity/

● theglobaldispatches.com, Bendico, “Masaccio’s Holy Trinity”

http://www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/masaccios-holy-trinity

● wikipedia.org, “Masaccio (Holy Trinity)”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_(Masaccio)