How Did Tommaso Masaccio Influence Renaissance Art?

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Tommaso Masaccio The Tribute Money During the Renaissance, many works were produced that helped influence later artists. Tommaso Masaccio was one of the many artists that impacted many of the later Renaissance works. He helped pioneer the laws of perspective and introduce it into Renaissance art. In his painting, The Tribute Money, Masaccio applied linear perspective to help create an illusion of light, air, and space. This technique enabled the focus to be on man rather than God. Through The Tribute Money, early Renaissance painter,Tommaso Masaccio, was able to greatly influence later artists. Tommaso Masaccio helped to transform painting in Florence. Although his life was quite short, he was born on December 21, 1401 and died in 1428, he had arguably one of the most influential …show more content…

He reinvented perspective and created a style that was entirely his own and helped shape the Florentine Renaissance. Masaccio was influenced by Leon Battista Alberti’s book “Della Pittura”, from which the basic guidelines and rules of linear perspective are from, also, he incorporated Brunelleschi’s perspective achievements in painting. Before this technique was used, Gothic paintings looked unrealistic and lifeless. Through the use of linear perspective, paintings began to look more lifelike and as though the characters in them were actually alive in the painting. Masaccio began drifting away from symbolism and more towards humanism in his works. In The Tribute Money, the focus is on Man rather than God. This was almost unheard of at the time and even considered radical. However, as the Renaissance progressed, this idea was common and used in most works. Through the use of linear perspective and humanism, Tommaso Masaccio drifted away from Gothic styles and created a style that influenced countless Renaissance artists. He pioneered a new style that later became