Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Masaccio

by Giorgio Vasari

 

MASACCIO, PAINTER, OF SAN GIOVANNI, IN VALDARNO.

[born 1402?—died 1443.]

When nature has called into existence a genius of surpassing excellence in any vocation, it is not her custom to leave him alone: on the contrary, she for the most part gives life to another, created at the same time and in the same locality, whence the emulation of each is excited and they mutually serve as stimulants one to the other. And this, in addition to the great advantage derived from it by them who, thus united, make their efforts in common, has the further effect of awakening the minds of those who come after them, and who are excited to labour with the utmost zeal and industry for the attainment of that glorious reputation and those honours which they daily hear ascribed to their distinguished predecessors; and that this is true we find proved by the fact that Florence produced at one and the same time Filippo, Donato, Lorenzo, Paolo Uccello, and Masaccio, each most excellent in his peculiar walk, and all contributing to banish the coarse and hard manner which had prevailed up to the period of their existence; nor was this all, for the minds of those who succeeded these masters were so effectually inflamed by their admirable works, that the modes of production in these arts were brought to that grandeur and height of perfection which are made manifest in the performances of our own times. We then, of a truth, have the greatest obligation to those masters who by their labours first taught us the true path by which to attain the highest summit of perfection; and as touching the good manner in painting, most especially are we indebted to Masaccio, since it was he who, eager for the acquirement of fame, first attained the clear perception that painting is no other than the close imitation, by drawing and colouring simply, of all the forms presented by nature, exhibiting them as they are produced by her, and that whosoever shall most perfectly effect this, may be said to have most nearly approached the summit of excellence. The conviction of this truth formed by Masaccio was the cause, I say, of his attaining to so much knowledge by means of perpetual study, that he may be accounted among the first by whom art was in a great measure delivered from rudeness and hardness: he

DD it was who taught the method of overcoming many difficulties, and led the way to the adoption of those beautiful attitudes and movements never exhibited by any painter before his day, while he also imparted a life and force to his figures with a certain roundness and relief, which render them truly characteristic and natural. Possessing extreme rectitude of judgment, Masaccio perceived that all figures not sufficiently foreshortened to appear standing firmly on the plane whereon they are placed, but reared up on the points of their feet, must needs be deprived of all grace and excellence in the most important essentials, and that those who so represent them prove themselves unacquainted with the art of foreshortening. It is true that Paolo Uccello had given his attention to this subject, and had done something in the matter, which did to a certain extent lessen the difficulty; but Masaccio, differing from him in various particulars, managed his foreshortenings with much greater ability, exhibiting his mastery of this point in every kind and variety of view, and succeeding better than any artist had done before him. He moreover imparted extreme softness and harmony to his paintings, and was careful to have the carnations of the heads and other nude parts in accordance with the colours of the draperies, which he represented with few and simple folds, as they are seen in the natural object. This has been of the utmost utility to succeeding artists, and Masaccio deserves to be considered the inventor of that manner, since it may be truly affirmed that the works produced before his time should be called paintings; but that his performance, when compared with those works, might be designated life, truth, and nature.

The birth-place of this master was Castello San Giovanni, in the Valdarno,^[1] and it is said that some figures are still to be seen there which were executed by Masaccio in his earliest childliood.^[2] He was remarkably absent and careless of externals, as one who, having fixed his whole mind and thought on art, cared little for himself or his personal interests, and meddled still less with the affairs of others; he could by no means be induced to bestow his attention on the cares of the world and the general interests of life, insomuch that he would give no thought to his clothing, nor was he ever wont to require payment from his debtors, until he was first reduced to the extremity of want; and for all this, instead of being called Tommaso, which was his name, he received from every one the cognomen of Masaccio^[3], by no means for any vice of disposition, since he was goodness itself, but merely from his excessive negligence and disregard of himself; for he was always so friendly to all, so ready to oblige and do service to others, that a better or kinder man could not possibly be desired.

Masaccio’s first labours in art were commenced at the time when Masolino da Panicale was working at the chapel of the Brancacci, in the church of the Carmine, at Florence: and he sought earnestly to follow in the track pursued by Donato and Filippo Brunelleschi (although their branch of art, being sculpture, was different from his own), his efforts being perpetually directed to the giving his figures a life and animation which should render them similar to nature. The outlines and colouring of Masaccio are so different from those of the masters preceding him, that his works may be safely brought in comparison with the drawing and colouring of any produced in later times. Studious and persevering in his labours, this artist successfully coped with the difficulties of perspective, which he overcame most admirably and with true artistic skill, as may be seen in a story representing Christ curing a man possessed by a demon, which comprises a number of small figures and is now in the possession of Ridolfo del Ghirlandajo.^[4] In this work are buildings beautifully drawn in perspective, and so treated that the inside is seen at the same time, the artist having taken the view of these buildings not as presented in front, but as seen in the sides and angles, to the great increase of the difficulty. Masaccio gave much more attention than had ever been bestowed by previous masters to the foreshortening of his figures and the treatment of the naked form: he had great facility of handling, and his figures, as we have said, were of the utmost simplicity. There is a picture in distemper by this master, representing Our Lady reposing in the lap of St. Anna, and holding the divine Child in her arms: it is now in Sant’ Ambrogio, in Florence, in the chapel which stands next to the door leading to the parlour of the nuns.^[5] In the church of St. Nicholas, beyond the Arno, is also a picture by Masaccio: it is in distemper and represents the Annunciation, with a house and many columns, admirably painted in perspective. The design and colouring are alike perfect, and the whole is so managed that the colonnade gradually recedes from view in a manner which proves Masaccio’s knowledge of perspective.^[6]

In the Abbey of Florence, Masaccio painted a fresco on a pillar opposite to one of those which support the arch of the high altar; this represents St. Ivo of Brittany, whom the master figures as standing within a niche, that the feet might appear duly foreshortened to the spectator viewing it from below: a thing which obtained him no small commendation, as not having been so successfully practised by other masters. Beneath St. Ivo, and on the cornice below, is a crowd of beggars, widows, and orphans, to whom the saint affords help in their necessity.^[7] In the church of Santa Maria Novella there is likewise a fresco, painted by Masacchio; it represents the Trinity, with the Virgin on one side, and St. John the Evangelist on the other, who are in contemplation of Christ crucified. This picture is over the altar of St. Ignatius, and on the side walls are two figures, supposed to be the portraits of those who caused the fresco to be painted; but they are little seen, having been concealed by some gilded decorations appended over them. But perhaps the most beautiful part of this work, to say nothing of the excellence of the figures, is the coved ceiling, painted in perspective, and divided into square compartments, with a rosette in each compartment; the foreshortening is managed with so much ability, and the whole is so judiciously treated, that the surface has all the appearance of being perforated.^[8]

In the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and in a chapel near the side door which leads towards San Giovanni, is a picture painted by Masaccio, and representiug the Madonna,with Santa Caterina, and San Giuliano. On the predella are various stories from the life of Santa Caterina, the figures being very small; with that of San Giuliano killing his father and mother.^[9] The Birth of Christ is also depicted here with that simplicity and life-like truth which were peculiar to the manner of this master.^[10] In Pisa, moreover, and in one of the chapels in the church of the Carmine, is a picture by this master, representing Our Lady with the Child, and at their feet are angels sounding instruments of music; one of whom is giving the most rapt attention to the harmony he is producing. St. Peter and St. John the Baptist are on one side of the Virgin, with San Giuliano and San Niccolo on the other. These figures are all full of truth and animation. On the predella beneath, are stories from the lives of the abovenamed saints in small figures, and in the centre of these is the Adoration of Christ by the Magi. This part of the work presents horses full of life, and so beautiful that nothing better could be desired. The persons composing the court of the three kings are clothed in different vestments customary at that time; and over all, as a completion to the work, are various saints, in several compartments, placed around a crucifix.^[11] It is moreover believed that the figure of a saint, wearing the robes of a bishop, and painted in fresco, in the same church, beside the door which leads into the convent, is also by the hand of Masaccio; but I am fully convinced that this is the work of Masaccio’s disciple, Fra Filippo.

Having returned from Pisa to Florence, Masaccio there painted a picture, which is now in the Palla Rucellai palace: it presents two naked figures, male and female, of the size of life:^[12] but not finding himself at his ease in Florence, and stimulated bv his love and zeal for art, the master resolved to proceed to Rome, that he might there learn to surpass others, and this he effected. In Rome Masaccio acquired high reputation, and in a chapel of the church of San Clemente, he painted a Crucifixion in fresco, with the thieves on their crosses, and also stories from the life of St. Catherine the martyr. This work he executed for the cardinal of San Clemente.^[13] He likewise painted many pictures in distemper; but in the troubled times of Rome these have all been destroyed or lost. There is one remaining in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and in a small chapel near the sacristy, wherein are four saints so admirably done that they seem rather to be executed in relief than on the plain surface: in the midst of these is Santa Maria della Neve. The portrait of Pope Martin, taken from nature, is also by this master: the pontiff is represented holding a spade in his hand, with which he is tracing out the foundations of the church; near the pope stands the figure of the Emperor Sigismund II.^[14] I was one day examining that work with Michael Angelo Buonarotti, when he praised it very highly, remarking at the same time that the two personages depicted had both lived in Masaccio’s day. Whilst this master was in Rome he was appointed to adorn the walls of the church of San Giovanni in that city, Pisanello and Gentile da Fabriano being also employed by Pope Martin to decorate the walls of the same edifice with their paintings. But Masaccio having received intelligence that Cosmo de’ Medici, from whom he had received favour and protection, had been recalled from exile,^[15] again repaired to Florence; there, Masolino da Panicale being dead, Masaccio was appointed to continue the paintings of the Brancacci chapel, in the church of the Carmine, left unfinished, as we have said, by the death of Masolino. Before entering on this work, our artist painted, as if by way of specimen, and to show to what extent he had ameliorated his art, that figure of St.Paul^[16] which stands near the place of the bell-ropes; and it is certain that the master displayed great excellence in this work; for the figure of the saint, which is the portrait of Bartolo di Angiolino Angiolini,^[17] taken from the life, has something in it so impressive, and is so beautiful and lifelike, that it seems to want nothing but speech; insomuch that he who has not known St. Paul has but to look at this picture, when he will at once behold the noble deportment of him who conjoined the Roman culture and eloquence with that invincible force which distinguished the exalted and devout character of this apostle, whose every care and thought were given to the affairs of the faith. In this picture Masaccio also afforded farther proof of his mastery over the difficulties of foreshortening: the powers of this artist as regards that point were indeed truly wonderful, as may be seen even now in the feet of this apostle, where he has overcome the difficulty in a manner that may well be admired, when we consider the rude ancient fashion of placing all the figures on the points of their feet; and this manner was persisted in even to his day, not having been fully corrected by the older artists; he it was who (earlier than any other master) brought this point of art to the perfection which it has attained in our own times.

While Masaccio was employed on this work, it chanced that the aforesaid church of the Carmine^[18] was consecrated, and in memory of that event Masaccio painted the whole ceremony of the consecration as it had occurred, in chiaroscuro, over the door within the cloister which leads into the convent. In this work, which was in “terra-verde,” the master painted the portraits of a great number of the citizens who make part of the procession, clothed in hoods and mantles; among these figures were those of Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, in “zoccoli,”^[19] Donatello, Masolino da Panicale, who had been his master, Antonio Brancacci,^[20] for whom it w'as that the above-mentioned chapel was painted, Niccolo da Uzzano, Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici, and Bartolommeo Valori, all of whose portraits, painted by the same artist, are also in the house of Simon Corsi, a Florentine gentleman.^[21] Masaccio likewise placed the portrait of Lorenzo Ridolfi.^[22] who was then ambassador from the Florentine republic to the republic of Venice, among those of the picture of the consecration; and not only did he therein depict the above-named personages from the life, but the door of the convent is also pourtrayed as it stood, with the porter holding the keys in his hand. This work has, of a truth, much in it that is very excellent, Masaccio having found means to marshal his figures so admirably well on the level space of that piazza, in ranges of five or six in a file, and they are gradually diminished to the eye with such judgment and truth of proportion, that it is truly wonderful. There is also to be remarked that he has had the forethought to make these men not all of one size, but differing, as in life; insomuch that one distinguishes the short and stout man from the tall and slender figures, as one would if they were living. The feet of all are planted firmly on the plane they occupy, and the foreshortening of the files is so perfect that they could not look otherwise in the actual life.^[23]

After this Masaccio returned to the works of the Brancacci chapel, wherein he continued the stories from the life of St. Peter, commenced by Masolino da Panicale, of which he completed a certain part. The installation of St. Peter as first pontiff, that is to say, the healing of the sick, the raising to life of the dead, and the making the halt sound, by the shadow of the apostle falling on them as he approaches the temple with St. John. But remarkable above all the rest is the story which represents St. Peter, when, by command of Christ, he draws money to pay the tribute from the mouth of the fish; for besides that we have here the portrait of Masaccio himself, in the figure of one of the apostles (the last painted by his own hand, with the aid of a mirror, and so admirably done that it seems to live and breathe:) there is, moreover, great spirit in the figure of St. Peter as he looks inquiringly towards Jesus, while the attention given by the apostles to what is taking place, as they stand around their master awaiting his determination, is expressed with so much truth, and their various attitudes and gestures are so full of animation, that they seem to be those of living men. Saint Peter more particularly, bent forward and making considerable effort as he draws the money from the mouth of the fish, has his face reddened with the exertion and position. When he pays the tribute also, the expression of his face as he carefully counts the money, with that of him who receives it, and which last betrays an excessive eagerness to become possessed of it; all this is depicted with the most vivid truth, the latter regarding the coins which he holds in his hand with the greatest pleasure. Masaccio also depicted the restoration to life of the king’s son by St. Peter and St. Paul,^[24] but this last work remained unfinished at the death of Masaccio, and was afterwards completed by Filippino. In the picture which represents St. Peter administering the rite of Baptism, there is a figure which has always been most highly celebrated: it is that of a naked youth, among those who are baptised, and who is shivering with the cold. This is in all respects so admirable and in so fine a manner, that it has ever since been held in reverence and admiration by all artists, whether of those times or of a later period.^[25] This chapel has indeed been continually frequented by an infinite number of students and masters, for the sake of the benefit to be derived from these works, in which there are still some heads so beautiful and life-like, that we may safely affirm no artist of that period to have approached so nearly to the manner of the moderns as did Masaccio. His works do indeed merit all the praise they have received, and the rather as it was by him that the path was opened to the excellent manner prevalent in our own times; to the truth of which we have testimony in the fact that all the most celebrated sculptors and painters since Masaccio’s day have become excellent and illustrious by studying their art in this chapel. Among these may be enumerated Fra Giovanni da Fiesole,^[26] Fra Filippo, Filippino, who completed the work; Alesso Baldovinetti, Andrea del Castagna, Andrea del Verrocchio, Domenico del Ghirlandajo, Sandro di Botticello, Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino, Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, Mariotti Albertinelli, and the sublime^[27] Michael Angelo Buonarrotti. Raphael of Urbino also made his first commencement of his exquisite manner in this place, and to these must be added Granaccio, Lorenzo di Credi, Ridolfo del Ghirlandajo, Andrea del Sarto, Rosso, Francia Bigio, or Franciabigio, Baccio Bandinelli, Alonzo Spagnolo, Jacopo da Pontormo, Pierino del Vaga, and Toto del Nunziata; all in short who have sought to acquire their art in its perfection, have constantly repaired to study it in this chapel^[28], there imbibing the precepts and rules necessary to be followed for the ensurance of success, and learning to labour effectually from the figures of Masaccio. And if I have here made mention of but few among the foreigners who have frequented this chapel for purposes of study, let it suffice to say that where the heads go, there the members are certain to follow. But although the works of Masaccio have ever been held in such high estimation, yet it is nevertheless the opinion, or rather the firm belief, of many, that he would have done still greater things for art, had not death, which tore him from us at the age of twenty-six, so prematurely deprived the world of this great master.^[29] Whether it were from envy, or because the best things have but rarely a long duration, so it was that he died in the fairest flower of his youth; and so sudden was his decease, that there were not wanting persons who ascribed it to poison rather than to any other cause (accidente).^[30]

It is said that when Filippo di Ser Brunellesco heard of this event, he remarked, “We have suffered a very great loss in the death of Masaccio”, and that it grieved him exceedingly, the rather as he had himself long laboured to instruct the departed painter in matters touching the rules of perspective and architecture. Masaccio was buried in the abovenamed church of the Carmine in the year 1443, and although no memorial was placed over his sepulchre at the time—he having been but little esteemed while in life^[31]—yet there were not wanting those who honoured him after his death by

the following epitaphs:^[32]—

“D’Annibal Caro
Pinsi et la mia pittura al ver fu pari;
 L’atteggiai, l’avvivai, le diedi il moto
 Le diedi affetto. Insegui il Bonarroto
 A tutti gli altri e da me solo impari.”^[33]

“Di Fabio Segni
Invida cur, Lacbesis, primo sub flore juventae
 Pollice discindis stamina funereo?
Hoc uno occiso, innumeros occidis Apelles:
 Picturse omnis obit, hoc obeunte lepos.
Hoc sole extincto, extinguntur sydera cuncta.
 Heu! decus omne perit, hoc pereunte simul.”

---

1. Gaye (Carteggio, i, 115) cites documents which shew that Baldinucci is right when he places the birth of Masaccio in 1402. That master was the son of the notary Ser Giovanni di Mone (Simone) Guidi, called “della Scheggia” of Castello San Giovanni, in Val d’Arno, distant about eighteen miles from Florence, on the road towards Arezzo. He is inscribed in the old book of the Guild as “Maso di Ser Giovanni di chastello Sangiovanni.” mccccxxiv.
2. Della Valle remarks, that among these is the figure of an old woman spinning, with an expression so remarkable, that “one can never forget it after once seeing her.”
3. “Awkward,” “helpless,” “stupid,” “ugly,” “big,” or even hateful Tom, according to the degree of disapprobation which the speaker may desire to express. Here, it is manifest, the least offensive of these appellations is to be understood.
4. Nothing whatever is known of this work.
5. Now at Florence, in the Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts.
6. The fate of this work is unknown.
7. The modern changes made in this part of the building, leave no trace of Masaccio’s painting.
8. This work is said to be concealed behind Vasari’s miserable picture on the altar, now called that of the Rosary. — Ed. Flor. 1848.
9. Della Valle remarks that no mention is made of these parricidal acts in the first edition.
10. These pictures have also perished.
11. Morrona informs us that these paintings are likewise destroyed.
12. The fate of this work is unknown.
13. The Crucifixion of Christ is painted on the principal wall, behind the altar. The stories of St. Catherine are in nine compartments on the lateral walls. On the ceiling are the four Evangelists, with the Fathers of the Church; and on the arch of entrance are the twelve Apostles, in medallions. These, as well as the Evangelists, have suffered from time, but have not been injured so much as the other pictures by retouching. Outside of the arch are an Annunciation, and a St. Christopher with file Infant Christ on his shoulder. But none of these pictures resemble the well-authenticated works of Masaccio, whether as regards the thought or the execution: they would rather seem to be of an earlier date, and are more like works of the time of Giotto, in composition, drawing, and colouring. Mancini, whose manuscript is quoted by Baldinucci (Manni’s Edition, vol. iii, p. 170) attributes them to Giotto, and quotes the following verses, which he declares himself to have seen written in gold letters, on the left of the Tribune, and which he considers to refer to these paintings:—

    “Ex annis Domino elapsis mille ducentis
    Nonaginta novem Jacobus Collega minorum
    Hujus Basilicæ titulo pars cardinis alti
    Huic jussit fieri, quo placuit Roma nepote
    Papa Bonifacius VIII..... proles.”

    Giovanni dell’ Armi published engravings of these frescoes in 1809; some of the stories will also be found in D’Agincourt. And here it may be remarked, that the latest Florentine edition will not allow these works to be by Giotto, but furnishes no evidence in support of the opinion thus opposed to the assertion of Giulio Mancini.

14. These pictures are also destroyed.
15. In the year 1434; but Pope Martin had then been dead thirty-three years, having died in 1401.— Schorn.
16. Bottari tells us that this figure was destroyed in the year 1675, when the chapel of Sant’ Andrea Corsini was constructed.
17. Bartolo D’Angiolino Angiolini, of the Santo Spirito quarter of Florence (see note following). Gonfalone Ferza, who was born in 1373. From 1406 to 1432, Bartolo Angiolini exercised various magisterial offices of importance in the Florentine Republic.
18. The church of the Carmine was consecrated on the 19th of April, 1422, by the Archbishop Amerigo Corsini. —Ed. Flor. 1846 -9.
19. Wooden shoes.
20. There were two families of Brancacci in Florence, the one of the Santo Spirito quarter, the other of the quarter of Santa Maria Novella; but this last was more frequently called Del Branca. That Antonio (di Piero di Piuvichese) Brancacci, for whom the chapel so frequently alluded to was painted, belonged to the former.
21. Of these portraits nothing is now known.
22. Lorenzo di Antonio Ridolfi was twice ambassador to Venice; once in 1402, for the arrangement of the Milanese affair, and a second time (which is that here alluded to) in 1425, when he was despatched to Venice with Marcello Strozzi, to form a league between the Venetian Republic and that of Florence, then menaced by Filippo Maria Visconti. But this work could scarcely have been painted by Masaccio after his return from Rome to Florence, if that return took place on the occasion of Cosmo the Elder’s recal from exile, since the last mentioned event did not occur until the year 1434.
23. Baldinucci laments the loss of this picture, which was barbarously destroyed. The original drawing of it is believed to be now in the possession of some lover of art in Lombardy. Lanzi saw it in the hands of a professor of the University of Pavia. So far the usually accurate Masselli, who is copied, without acknowledgment, by the later Florentine editors. But the German translator of Vasari, the late erudite and lamented Ludwig Schorn, assures us that he has seen this drawing—which is that of a portion only of the work—in the collection of the Florentine Gallery (the Uffizj). See also Heinrich Meyer, in Goethe’s Propyläen, iii, 38, for remarks on this and other drawings by the same master in the above-named collection.
24. The description of the stories painted by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel is not correct; those by that master are the following:—Adam and Eve driven from Paradise, a picture imitated, with but slight deviations from the original, by Raphael, in the Loggia of the Vatican; Christ commanding Peter to pay the tribute-money; Peter baptizing the people (in this is the celebrated figure of the shivering youth): the history of Ananias; Peter healing the lame, and restoring the blind to sight, by his shadow;—and, finally, the resuscitation by St. Peter of the youth who had fallen down dead, one part of which was finished by Filippino Lippi. Meyer (in the Prothyläen) ascribes the Preaching of St. Peter also to Masaccio; but this is by Masolino da Panicale. See Rumohr, Ital. Forsch. ii, 249, who shews that Lasinio also is in error, when he attributes Peter and Paul before the Proconsul to Masaccio, that picture also being the work of Filippino Lippi. —Ludwig Schorn.
25. Lanzi says, “this figure may be said to have made an epoch in the history of art.”
26. The improbability of this will be made manifest in the life of Fra Giovanni (which follows); that artist having been born fifteen years before Masaccio, and being already a great master when the works of the Brancacci Chapel were in progress.
27. “The most divine,” is Vasari’s expression.
28. The paintings of this chapel (a true school of art, equal to that of the “Stanze Vaticane”, and one that has been still more fruitful than that last in excellent painters) were engraved by Thomas Palch in 1772, and, at a later period, by Carlo Lasinio.—Masselli.
29. Cristoforo Landino was the first to say (in the introduction to his Commento della Divina Commedia) that Masaccio died at twenty-six. It was from him, perhaps, that Vasari copied the assertion, without considering that this was in flagrant discord with the dates given by himself in the life of the painter. Masaccio was born in the year 1402; he died in the year 1443; he had consequently attained the forty-first year of his age. — Ed. Flor. 1846-9.
30. The portrait of Masaccio is in the Florentine collection, where there is likewise a head by his hand. There is also a work in distemper by this master, in the Leuchtenberg Gallery at Munich, and one in the Royal Gallery at Schleisheim. The Royal Gallery of Munich possesses a powerfully-painted picture by Masaccio, representing two old men at prayers, half-lengths, and which bears the name of the master. Drawings by his hand are preserved in the British Museum, and in Christ Church College, at Oxford. See Passavant, Kunstreise durch England und Belgien, pp. 224 and 246. There are fourteen drawings by Masaccio in the collection of the Florentine Gallery.
31. The commentators ask how this can be made to agree with the favour accorded to him by Cosmo de’ Medici, the esteem of Brunelleschi, etc.? But Vasari obviously means to imply nothing more than that Masaccio had received but little external homage, but few public honours; a circumstance easily reconcileable with the high esteem in which he was held by contemporary artists and others, when the peculiarities of Masaccio’s character are considered.
32. In the first edition of Vasari, the following verses are given as epitaphs written on Masaccio:—

    “Si alcun cercasse il marmo o il nome mio;
    La Chiesa e il marmo, una Cappella e il nome.
    Morii, che Natura ebbe invidia, come
    L’arte del mio pennello uopo e desio.
    
    “If any seek the marble, or my name,
    This church shall be the marble—and the name.
    Yon oratory holds it. Nature envied
    My pencil’s power, as Art required and loved it—
    Thence was it that I died.”

    Masaccii Florentini ossa
    Toto hoc teguntur templo
    Quern Natura lortassis invidia mota
    Ne quandoque superaretur ab Arte
    Anno aetatis suae xxvi.
    Proh dolor! iniquissime rapuit
    Quod inopia factum forte fuit
    Id honori sibi vertit virtus.”

33.     “I painted, and my picture was as life;
        Spirit and movement to my forms I gave—
        I gave them soul and being. He who taught
        All others—Michael Angelo—I taught:
        He deigned to learn of me.....