Ch 15notes

The Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors by Masaccio
This fresco relates to the Renaissance in a myriad of ways as it incorporates many aspects of Renaissance art and societal values during this time point.   For example, the painting involves a barrel vault as well as Ionic and Corinthian columns, which are tributes to the classics and ancient Roman culture.   In addition to that, like many art pieces during the Renaissance, Masaccio used a vanishing point to create the three-dimensionality.   With the barrel vault, he used perspective lines to create the illusion that the viewer is looking into deep space.   Another important characteristic of this painting is the almost naked figure of Christ because it shows a realistic figure of a human body and shows human beauty.   In this painting, Masaccio also demonstrates uses of symmetry, proportionality, realism, and volume, which were new aspects of Renaissance art.   As you can see, Christ, God, Mary, and St. John are present, which shows society’s religious values in Catholicism as the two donors kneel before them in homage; during this time, it was very customary for patrons to support the arts and use these art pieces as competition.   Finally, the tomb in the bottom of the picture contains a skeleton that represents Adam; above that, the inscription can be translated from the vernacular language of Italian into “I once was what you are and what I am you also will be,” which essentially means that they needed to believe in God and the Holy Trinity since death was inevitable.