The mystery of Masaccio's most daring fresco. The Holy Trinity. Watch until the end.

Opinions on the painting of the fresco, The Trinity, for the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence were divided between 1425 and 1428. In this fresco, Masaccio most clearly revealed and put to use the laws of linear perspective discovered by his friend and teacher, the great thinker and architect, Brunelleschi. Unlike the traditional depiction of the crucifixion against the backdrop of the sky, Masaccio placed the cross in the interior of a beautiful chapel receding into the distance, framed on the outside by two pilasters with Corinthian capitals and an arch resting on two ionic columns located inside the teen chapel. The technique used to create the composition was probably simple. Masaccio drove a nail into the lower part of the fresco, stretched threads from it, and traced the surface with a slate pencil, the traces of which are still visible today. In this way, a linear perspective was created. In The Trinity, Masaccio clearly defined the planes for the first time. In the foreground, he depicted a sarcophagus with the relics of Adam. Above the sarcophagus is an inscription in Latin, I was the same as you, but you will become the same as I have become. This inscription refers both to the relics and to the venerable donors in the foreground. The man in a crimson cloak and hood, and his wife. In addition, he distinguished the planes with a vanishing point. Masaccio gave the vanishing point the properties of the boundary between the mortal and the immortal. By placing the vanishing point above the burial site, he forced our gaze, bypassing the tomb, to rise upwards along with the details of the architectural ensemble, which emphasized the significance of the main group located in the background. Masaccio conceived the foreground as an action taking place in our earthly world, and the second main, otherworldly plane, where the main events unfolded, he gave to the higher powers. Following the iconographic scheme of the time, Masaccio depicted the crucified Jesus Christ, a lifeless body supported by God the Father. The Virgin Mary and John the Theologian stand by the rise across. But there is another idea in the plot of the fresco, apart from the traditional one. By giving John the Theologian his own features, he decided to elevate himself to the same level as the holy characters. By reviving the forgotten but beautiful art of the ancient Greeks, Masaccio also felt like a savior, just like the creator, who brought the lifeless body of his son back to life. He conveyed the audacity of these secret thoughts in the position of his folded hands, as if in prayer. Masaccio conveyed the ego of his two selves in the image of his hands. One hand, further away from us, is his first self, feeling greatness, ready to rise up. The other hand, his other self, realizing the audacity of the thought, prevents the sinful upward movement. And his first self, in humility, having subdued his pride, folded his fingers. But not all of them. His thumb, despite everything, remained rebellious. We sing a song to the madness of the brave. Masaccio died at a very young age, having accomplished much, but even more, having failed to accomplish.