Masaccio (Italian: December 21, 1401–autumn 1428), born
Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great Italian painter
of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to
Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his
skill at recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing
sense of three-dimensionality. Masaccio died at twenty-six and little
is known about the exact circumstances of his death.
The name Masaccio is a humorous version of Maso (short for Tommaso),
meaning “clumsy” or “messy” Tom. The name may
have been created to distinguish him from his principal collaborator,
also called Maso, who came to be known as Masolino (“little/delicate
Despite his brief career, he had a profound influence on other artists.
He was one of the first to use linear perspective in his painting,
employing techniques such as vanishing point in art for the first time.
He also moved away from the International Gothic style and elaborate
ornamentation of artists like Gentile da Fabriano to a more naturalistic
mode that employed perspective and chiaroscuro for greater realism.
From October of 1916 through January of 1917, Rudolf Steiner gave a series
of nine lectures known as the Art Course. These lectures were given
the title of:
The History of Art.
Click here to discover what Steiner said about
in the first lecture, or in the entire