Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/118

92 frescoes, and the execution seems to be that of his pupil. The same type of head appears again in the small subject of Peter Preaching, but the broad and single folds of the drapery and the admirable distribution of light and shade are more in Masaccio's style. The scholar, it is clear, gains confidence at every step, and in the third fresco he rises to new heights and reveals himself as a strong and independent master. This large subject, which includes the Healing of the Cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and the Raising of Tabitha, has a dignity and beauty of composition to which Masolino never attained. The two Florentine youths, it is true, closely resemble Salome's supporters in the Baptistery paintings, of which they were probably the prototypes, but these pictures are more natural and animated, and the atmospheric perspective of the Piazza and distant houses is superior to anything in the Castiglione frescoes. We recognise Masaccio's hand in the deep-set eyes and ample brows of St. Peter and St. John, and in the fine effect of chiaroscuro, which help to render the waking of Tabitha to life so impressive. It is, we repeat, impossible to suppose that Masolino painted this noble composition after the Castiglione frescoes, which, with all their naïve charm and sincerity, are distinctly Giottesque and archaic in character.

There is, however, a marked change in Masaccio's next frescoes, which were probably painted at a later period. During the interval the young artist may have been engaged on some of the many works which he executed in churches of Florence and Pisa. The great St. Paul which he painted on the wall near the belfry of the Carmine, perished long