Masolino

1338 - 1447

Full name: Masolino da Panicale. Florentine painter, born in 1338 in Panicale near Florence as Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini. Died in Florence 1447. Masolino means 'small Tommaso', and this may be a quip at his long collaboration with Masaccio.

Masolino entered the Florentine painters guild in 1423. His major claim to fame are the frescoes for the Brancacci Chapel, the same frescoes Masaccio and Filippino Lippi worked on. Masolino interrupts the assignment after he is offered a possibly more lucrative assignment in Hungary.

Masolino may be considered a transitional figure between Gothic and Renaissance. As an example will serve the Healing of the Cripple; here old-fashioned 2-D figures are set against a background where clearly an attempt at perspective has been made.

work by Masolino