Visual Analysis Essay: Masaccio’s “Tribute Money”

In the painting, “Tribute Money”, we see the artist– Masaccio– explore the structural

elements of art such as line, color, composition, and style to create a visually compelling and

easily recognizable Biblical mural. The painting depicts three “scenes” in one artwork. In the

center foreground stands Jesus amongst a crowd, wearing a pink robe with blue cloak. To His left

stands the disciple Peter in a dark blue robe and orange cloak. To the left of this group, we see

Peter sitting by the coast with his hands in the water. To the right of the group, Peter is shaking

hands with another man in a short tunic. Without the context of which gospel book or story is

being depicted in this work, these three frames are easily identifiable, and identifiable as three

pieces of one story.

Masaccio is able to emphasize and draw the eye to the figure of Jesus very easily in this

painting. This he did by making the group of people in the center foreground of the painting.

Additionally, he made Jesus the center of this group, positioning his face in the center of the

canvas. By creating this focal point in the composition of the piece, Jesus’ face is where the

viewer’s eye naturally rests, drawing attention to the figure and also establishing him as the most

important figure in the painting. Zooming out slightly, the eye is next drawn to the figures of

Peter (on the left) and the man in the short tunic, who is the figure of the tax collector. The three

men are also surrounded by a group, but not in a linear way as we see in paintings like The Last

Supper, but in a semicircle. Having these figures in the center foreground shows the viewer what

this painting is about; This painting depicts the scene in the gospel of Matthew wherein Jesus

tells Peter to find a coin in a fish’s mouth– which we see on the left– and use this coin to pay the

tax collector– which we see on the right.

 Not only do these compositional elements help to draw our attention, Masaccio also uses

lines to accomplish this. For example, we see the namesake use of line in this piece from the

background. The line of a mountain leads directly to Jesus’ head. Two trees also frame him

perfectly. In the less literal sense, we see line in this piece from the lighting. The brightest, most

well-lit piece of the painting is the figure of Jesus. Accordingly, the farther something is from

His figure, the darker it is. This, again, draws the eye to the center of the page (and the beginning

of the story!) This also reinforces the importance of the center-standing figure, and how the

viewer can see, with no outside knowledge, that the figure is (at the least) crucially important or

(at the most) the son of God, Jesus.

While there is a beautifully rendered landscape in the background of the story, Masaccio

takes care to keep it as purely a decorative finishing touch, rather than something that commands

focus. He does this by leaving the mountains free of detail, the sky clear, and the trees bare. He

also keeps the landscape de-saturated, a stark contrast in comparison to the brightly colored

robes and cloaks worn by Jesus, Peter, and the rest of the group.

Shifting to the less concrete elements we see Masaccio use, he makes the stylistic choice

to separate the dress of Jesus and the group from the dress of the tax collector. The

aforementioned party appears very classical: sporting the long tunics of the Greeks and wearing

them in the manner we see in Greek sculpture (tied at the waist with cloak draped over their left

shoulder). The poses of Peter at the lake as well as Peter and the tax collector on the right also

emulate those of Greek sculpture. On the contrary, we see the tax collector’s form excluded from

both the group and from their stylistic elements. Instead, he stands outside the semicircle, and

also appears aggressively in the center, the only gesturing to Jesus. These elements not only

distinguish him from Jesus and his posse, but call attention to the fact that he is not accepted as
the other men– that he is cast out. He also, and more notably, stands out due to his short tunic.

The shortness of the tunic also seems to poke fun at the character of the tax collector, as it stops

just at the top of his thighs, threatening to expose him, almost like a man pantsed and ashamed.

It would have been very obvious to the viewers at the time Masaccio created this painting

that it depicts some religious iconography, and they likely would have also been able to identify

this story as that of Jesus, Peter, and the tax collector, from the gospel of Matthew. For those not

as well-versed in the religious text, however, Masaccio includes helpful elements that help

viewers to draw conclusions from the subjects in the piece. The figure of Jesus is easily

identifiable to those both religious and not simply due to the commonality with which He

appears in media, but it is helpful to see the artist’s inclusion of Jesus’ halo and his glowing

aura– both of which serve to imply that the figure in the center, even unnamed, is someone of

holy importance. If there was any doubt as to what religious figure this story may be about, or

who the men surrounding Him are, viewers can see that, apart from Jesus and the tax collector,

there are 12 men– namely, the 12 disciples. Additionally, the setting of this story on the beach or

coastline serves not only to give the left-most painted Peter water in which to hold the fish, but

also to clue to the viewer that this religious scene occurs on or is related to the sea in some way.

In conclusion, the painting “Tribute Money” was expertly crafted by its artist, Masaccio,

to be very clearly understandable, to be a statement-making depiction of a well-known story, and

to be pleasing and simple to the eye.