per cent. on his capital. Large deductions were allowed for debts and charges on property, and shops, dwelling-houses and furniture were exempt. The Catasto, or register drawn up in 1427, remained in force during three years, and was then revised. By this means much valuable information concerning painters of the fifteenth century has been preserved, and in Masaccio's case we learn the date of his birth and death, as well as the few other details about his circumstances that have come down to us.
Tommaso, the son of Ser Giovanni, a humble notary of the parish of Castel S. Giovanni in Val d'Arno, was born in that village, on the Feast of St. Thomas, December 21, 1401, and named after the Apostle. He took delight in drawing from his childhood, and in Vasari's days some of Masaccio's early artistic efforts were still to be seen in his native village. Art absorbed him wholly, even in those early years. "He was," writes Vasari, "so entirely, rapt in his art, and devoted his thoughts and soul so absolutely to this one object, that he cared little for himself, and still less for others. And since he would never pay any attention to his temporal affairs, and hardly took the trouble to clothe himself, and never tried to recover his debts until he was reduced to the last extremity, he received the nickname of Masaccio, not on account of his bad disposition, for he was good-nature itself, and was always ready to render others a service, but because of this excessive negligence." Vasari's statement is borne out by Masaccio's income-tax return of 1427, in which he describes himself and his younger brother Giovanni, also a painter by profession, as living in Florence with their widowed mother.
