Empire of the Eye: The Magic of Illusion: The Trinity—Masaccio, Part 2

The first painter to fully utilize Brunelleschi's theories of perspective and apply them with astonishing effect was Masaccio. On a wall in a church in Florence, Masaccio created a three-dimensional illusion unlike any the world had ever seen. This extraordinary work, called the Trinity, finished about 1427, was the first known painting to demonstrate true linear perspective. For the people of Masaccio's day, it was as if the artist had dissolved the wall and created a new room. Yet, it was still a painting, just an illusion. Utilizing the power of the computer and digital technology, we can explore this imaginary space. Masaccio used perspective to create a space so consistent that we can actually enter the room. The computer even lets us rotate the room to look at the coffered inside of the vault from directly below. The images of Christ and the other figures become flat without sufficient visual information to create fully three-dimensional forms. Assuming that the coffers are square, the room itself becomes a rectangle as we can see when we look at it from above. We can also view the room from the side. The black patches represent the parts of the ceiling that are covered by the architectural capitals that Masaccio painted in the foreground. The powerful effect of this illusion, painted by a young artist only in his twenties, is astonishing. Scaffolding erected for restoration of the Trinity provides us with the opportunity to examine the fresco at close range. The cleaning of the painting now completed, conservators fill in missing areas of the fresco with water-soluble paint, which can be removed at any time. Masaccio's original work is never touched. Strong raking lights help to highlight the surface of the plaster, enabling us to explore details not visible from the floor of the church below and revealing Masaccio's technique. His use of perspective and geometry is extraordinary. All elements of the architecture grow out of his perspective design. Masaccio constructed the curves of the vaulted ceiling by stretching a length of string from a nail set in the wall and using a stylus to score the arcs into the wet plaster. He also incised lines to determine the perspective scheme for the work. This line, still visible, leads from the vanishing point below. To create straight lines such as these, Masaccio snapped a tautly stretched string into the wet plaster. You can still see the twisted texture of the string, preserved in the plaster for nearly 600 years. Masaccio made holes to mark the triangular corners of the pyramids painted on the inner surface of the arch. He also used a geometrical instrument to construct the rondelles near the top of the composition. Incised lines define their outer rims and the edges of the fluting contained within. Masaccio created a network of large squares as a guide to painting the body of the Virgin. A grid of smaller squares was used for the drawing of her head, a challenge in foreshortening. They can still be seen. Each day he worked on the Trinity, Masaccio would cover a small portion of the wall with wet plaster, only as much as he could finish painting before the plaster dried. Close up, we can see the overlapping borders between these patches, which are called giornate, after the Italian word for day. There are 28 giornate, indicating that it took at least 28 separate days to complete the composition. The donor on the left was painted on day 24. This line indicates the work below, painted on day 25. Restorers have developed a detailed diagram showing the sequence in which the giornate were painted. The missing areas around the edges and the gaps within the composition represent the parts of the original fresco that no longer exist. Using the diagram as a guide and the magic of the computer, we can recreate the order in which Masaccio painted this masterpiece. The Trinity marks the beginning of a visual revolution, a turning point in the history of art. The first painter to fully utilize the power of perspective, Masaccio set the standard for others to follow. Linear perspective opened up a new world for the artists of the Renaissance, and they excitedly explored its vast potential.