Masaccio's "Holy Trinity": A True Early Italian Piece

    Masaccio created a beautiful piece that now hangs in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. In his depiction of the "Holy Trinity," we see many characteristics that tell us this piece belongs to the Early Italian Renaissance. Through the color palette used as well as the texture and the use of depth and illusion that Masaccio's painting contains, one can infer that the "Holy Trinity" does belong to the Early Italian Renaissance. 
 
  Many pieces within the early Italian Renaissance seem to have the same dull colors that are used the "Holy Trinity." Of course many other pieces done by Masaccio stand out in the early Italian Renaissance and have nearly the exact same pallet such as his piece, "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve From Paradise." But most of the other pieces viewed in our book as well as the lectures look as if the colors used within the painting were all mixed with grey to create that dullness and the use of similar colors. We  see a very similar pallet used in Sandro Botticelli's painting of the "Birth of Venus." Again, the colors have a dull look to them and there is a lot of grey throughout the painting. The color that is used in both of these paintings that I find interesting is the coral color. We see it above Jesus in the "Holy Trinity" and we see it again used for the cloak and the flowers in the "Birth of Venus." This coral color is also seen randomly throughout other pieces such as in the "Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds" and in the "Baptism of Christ." This coral color is just the use of red with one or two more colors, which also supports the fact that many paintings in the Early Italian Renaissance contain a lot of reds and blues. Looking at a lot of the paintings, a lot of the people are dressed in either red, blue, or white. We also see the sky in the background of most of the paintings which usually  use the lighter blue and white. 
 
 One commonly used medium in early Italian art was Fresco. Fresco was when artists would paint over plaster; either wet or dry. When looking at the paintings, they all seem to have more of a rough texture to them which I assume is from the use of plaster. The "Holy Trinity" contains this rough look. It looks as if there is a sort of texture there that was not necessarily painted by Masaccio. We see the same textured look in Fra Angelico's "Annunciation" and again in Piero Della Francesca's "Baptism of Christ." Looking closely at each of these paintings and many others, there appears to be little cracks within the painting which I am assuming to be related to the use of the Fresco. Some paintings have a clearer picture but that does not mean that there was no use of plaster. Painters would sometimes paint using Wet Fresco, which was just wet plaster. Once the plaster would dry, the painting would dry with it and the pigments would be within the plaster. When using Dry Fresco or dry plaster, the paint would just dry on top but was more likely to chip. Either way, I feel that the use of Fresco contributes to the rough an texturized look of each painting. I feel that it also might have had something to do with the dullness in color. I have worked with plaster before and it has a grey tint to it. Especially when working with wet plaster, I could see how the pigments might have gotten more dull in color. Also, most of the early Italian paintings contain that dullness in color so I feel that in someway the use of Fresco might have had something to do with it. 
   
 Although naturalism was not at it's peek in the Early Italian Renaissance, there was a great use of illusion and depth that contributed to the little bit of naturalism that was there. Masaccio's work of the "Holy Trinity" contains this exact illusion and depth. The way Christ pops out from the building behind him gives the painting that sense of depth. The background behind Christ and the Father gets darker and smaller giving us that sense of depth. That small use of depth can also be seen in paintings such as Piero Della Francesca's "Battista Sforza and Federico Da Montefeltro." Both figured in this piece show depth as they stand out from the background. The figures themselves lack a bit of naturalism but because of the background being so small and darker than the two figures, we get that small sense of naturalism. To me it looks as if they are being standing on a hill or a balcony but just like the "Holy Trinity," we get a small sense of naturalism from Francesca's painting. Another painting from the Early Italian Renaissance that has the same minor use of depth and illusion is Giovanni Bellini's "Virgin and Child Enthroned." This painting is very similar to the "Holy Trinity" because of the position that all of the characters take as well as the focal point being directly in the middle of the painting, surrounded by an arched pathway to what looks like a building. We see nearly the same depth and illusion in this painting as we do in the "Holy Trinity." The Virgin and the Child show the most naturalism as they appear to pop out of the scene a little bit. Both figures look as if they were given much detail and compared to the dark background, they really stand out. The lines in the painting help create that sense of depth and illusion as they move back, creating a vanishing point. One other interesting factor that supports the "Holy Trinity's" sense of illusion is Gene Brucker's "Secrion Diagram of the Illusionistic Spatial World Portrayed in Massaccio's Trinity." Through a diagram depicting the "Holy Trinity" from it's side, Brucker's shows how space is suggested within the painting allowing us to receive that sense of depth and illusion. In his chart, we can clearly see the different layers and points of illusion that are created. One last point that I would like to made that somewhat relates to illusion is the triangular composition that was common in Early Italian Renaissance. The creation of a triangle can be clearly seen when looking at the placement of each person. The people in the painting rise up to a single point which is God the Father. The triangular structure was popular because it created balance and gave a sense of harmony. We see this triangular composition again in Perugino's "Crucifixion With Saints." Again we have a depiction of Christ on the cross and the top of the cross created the tip of the triangle and the two people below, create the bottom tips of the triangle. Even in Early Italian sculptures we see the use of triangles. For example, in Donatello's "St. George," we see a triangle surrounding the statue of St. George. Above him is the top point of the triangle and then we have two points on either side of him that create that balanced feeling. 
   
 All in all, Masaccio's "Holy Trinity" is a great piece and just by looking at its use of color, texture, small amount of naturalism, and minor use of depth and illusion, it is clear to see that this piece originated from the Early Italian Renaissance.