Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/636

Rh M A S M A S Catherine, in the presence of Maxentius, arguing against and converting eight learned doctors. After returning to Florence, Masaccio was chiefly occupied in painting in the church of the Carmine, and especially in that &quot; Bran- cacci chapel &quot; which he has rendered famous almost beyond rivalry in the annals of painting. The chapel had been built early in the 15th century by Felice Michele di Piuvichese Brancacci, a noble Florentine. Masaccio s work in it began probably in 1423, and continued at intervals until he finally quitted Florence in 1428. There is a whole library- shelf of discussion as to what particular things were done by Masaccio and what by Masolino, and long afterwards by Filippino Lippi, in the Brancacci chapel, and also as to certain other paint ings by Masaccio in the Carmine. He began with a trial piece, a majestic figure of St Paul, not in the chapel ; this has perished. A monochrome of the Procession for the Consecration of the Chapel, regarded as a wonderful example, for that early period, of per spective and of grouping, has also disappeared, though there is some suspicion that it might yet, with due pains and research, be recovered ; it contained portraits of Brunclleschi, Donatello, and many others. In the cloister of the Carmine was discovered in recent years a portion of a fresco by Masaccio representing a pro cession ; but this, being in colours and not in monochrome, does not appear to be the Brancacci procession. As regards the works in the Brancacci chapel itself, the prevalent opinion now is that Masolino, who used to be credited with a considerable portion of them, did either nothing, or at the utmost the solitary compartment which represents St Peter restoring Tabitha to life, and the same saint healing a cripple. The share which Filippino Lippi bore in the work admits of little doubt ; to him are due various items on which the fame of Masaccio used principally to be based as for instance the figure of St Paul addressing Peter in prison, which Raphael partly appropriated ; and hence it may be observed that an eloquent and often-quoted outpouring of Sir Joshua Reynolds in praise of Masaccio ought in great part to be transferred to Filippino. What Masaccio really painted in the chapel appears with tolerable certainty to bo as follows, and is ample enough to sustain the high reputation he has always enjoyed : (1) The Temptation of Adam and Eve ; (2) Peter and the Tribute- Money ; (3) The Expiilsion from Eden ; (4) Peter Preaching ; (5) Peter Baptizing ; (6) Peter Almsgiving ; (7) Peter and John Curing the Sick ; (8) Peter Restoring to Life the Son of King Theophilus of Antioch was begun by Masaccio, including the separate incident of Peter Enthroned, but a large proportion is by Filippino ; (9) the double subject already allotted to Masolino may perhaps be by Masaccio, and in that case it must have been one of the first in order of execution. A few words may be given to these pictures individually. (1) The Temptation shows a degree of appreciation of nude form, corresponding to the feeling of the antique, such as was at that date unexampled in painting. (2) The Tribute-Money, a full, harmonious, and expressive composition, contains a head re puted to be the portrait of Masaccio himself, one of the apostles, with full locks, a solid resolute countenance, and a pointed beard. (3) The Expulsion was so much admired by Raphael that, with comparatively slight modifications, he adopted it as his own in one of the subjects of the Logge of the Vatican. (5) Peter Baptizing contains some nude figures of strong naturalistic design ; that of the young man, prepared for the baptismal ceremony, who stands half- shivering in the raw air, has always been a popular favourite, and an object of artistic study. (8) The restoration of the young man to life has been open to much discussion as to what precise subject was in view, but the most probable opinion is that the legend of K ing Theophilus was intended. In 1427 Masaccio was living in Florence with his mother, then for the second time a widow, and with his younger brother Giovanni, a painter of no distinction ; he possessed nothing but debts. In 1428 he was working, as we have seen, in the Brancacci chapel. Before the end of that year he disappeared from Florence, going, as it would appear, to Eome, to evade the importunities of creditors. Immediately afterwards, in 1429, when his age was twenty-seven, he was reported dead. Poisoning by jealous rivals in art was rumoured, but of this nothing is known. The statement that several years afterwards, in 1443, he was buried in the Florentine church of the Carmine, without any monument, seems to be improbable, and to depend upon a confused account of the dates, which have now, after long causing much bewilderment, been satisfactorily cleared up from extant documents. It has been said that Masaccio introduced into painting the plastic boldness of Donatello, and carried out the linear perspective of Paolo Uccello and Brunelleschi (who had given him practical instruction), and he was also the first painter who made some considerable advance in atmo spheric perspective. He was the first to make the archi tectural framework of his pictures correspond in a reason able way to the proportions of the figures. In the Brancacci chapel he painted with extraordinary swiftness. The contours of the feet and articulations in his pictures are imperfect : and his most prominent device for giving roundness to the figures (a point in which he made a great advance upon his predecessors) was a somewhat mannered way of putting the high lights upon the edges. His- draperies were broad and easy, and his landscape details natural, and superior to his age. In fact, he led the way in representing the objects of nature correctly, with action, liveliness, and relief Soon after his death, his work was recognized at its right value, and led to notable advances; and all the greatest artists of Italy, through studying the Brancacci chapel, became his champions and disciples. Of the works attributed to Masaccio in public or private galleries hardly any are authentic. The one in the Florentine Academy, the Virgin and Child in the Lap of St Anna, is an exception. The so- called portrait of Masaccio in the Uih /.i Gallery is more probably Filippino Lippi ; and Filippino, or Botticelli, may be the real author of the head, termed a Masaccio, in the London National Gallery. MASANIELLO (an abbreviation of TOMMASO ANIELLO or ANELLO) was the leader of the Neapolitan revolt in July 1647 For many years the Spanish Government, in straits for money, had exacted large sums from the Two Sicilies, although the privileges granted by Ferdinand and Charles V. had exempted them both from taxes on the necessaries of life and from all external payments whatever. Now, however, under Philip III. and Philip IV., the exac tions, heavy in themselves, were made more oppressive by being farmed out to contractors, while the sums raised were usually conveyed to Spain and spent on purposes often hav ing no connexion with Naples. Meantime the industrial classes were scourged by the excesses of the nobility and the lawlessness of banditti. At length, at the end of 1646, the duke of Arcos demanded a million ducats in gold ; and it was resolved after much opposition to raise it from fruit, one of the most important articles of food to a southern people. Petitions delayed but did not remove the tax ; on June 6 a toll-house was actually blown up, but the viceroy did not give way. The discontent was fomented by Genovino, who had been chosen &quot; elect of the people &quot; (that is, of the district of the city where the common people had the right of; voting) in 1619 by the duke of Osuna s influence, and had been employed by him as an agitator. After the duke s recall he had been long in prison, and then returned to Naples and became a priest. He selected for his purpose Masaniello, a fisherman of Naples, then twenty-seven years old, well built, intelligent, and very popular in the city. He was so poor, we are told, that he was usually obliged to content himself with selling paper to wrap up the fish that others sold. He had special cause too for hatred to the taxes : his wife had tried to smuggle a bag of flour into the city as an infant ; she had been imprisoned, and his scanty possessions had barely sufficed to pay her fina The temporary success of a rising at Palermo had stirred the people to a sense of their power, and very little was wanted to produce an explosion. On July 16, the feast of S. Maria del Carmine, it was customary to make a sort of castle which was defended by one body of youths armed with sticks and stormed by another. Masaniello had been chosen captain of one of these parties, and got together four hundred young men, with whom he had already raised the cry of &quot; Down with the taxes &quot; when the crisis was precipitated by a quarrel. On Sunday the 7th a dispute arose in the market (on which Masaniello s house looked) whether the gardeners or the buyers of their