Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/123

1428] ordinary progress made by the artist during the interval which had elapsed since he finished the first subject, is apparent to all. Then he was the young and inexperienced student, carrying out his master's ideas, and only timidly venturing on innovations and improvements of his own. Now he had mastered the problems of anatomy and perspective, and was able to give complete expression to his dreams. It is a strangely moving scene, this picture of our first parents driven out of Eden, and dragging their weary limbs along under the burden of their despair, while the stern Angel hovers above with bared sword, and points to the wide and desolate world before them. The nude forms are drawn with easy mastery, and the contrast between the passionate wail of the woman and silent despair of the man is nobly conceived and finely rendered. No wonder Raphael was fascinated by the sight, and when he came to illustrate the same story in the Vatican Loggia, could find no better or more satisfying conception than this which Masaccio had imagined eighty years before.

The smaller frescoes on the altar and wall represent St. Peter and St. John distributing alms and healing the sick, and St. Peter baptizing. Here the consciousness of a divine mission is suggested in the majestic bearing of the Apostle, who moves among the lame and halt, healing them by the passing of his shadow, without even reaching out his hand. Unlike the later Giotteschi, Masaccio never introduces a single superfluous figure in his compositions but, as in Giotto's works, each actor plays an important part in the development of the action. The