The Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine
Piazza del Carmine
Reservations are required. Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays except for Tuesday, from 1:00 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends
Closed Tuesdays
Entrance fee € 4.00; Cumulative ticket for the Cappella Brancacci and Palazzo Vecchio: € 8.00
The Cappella Brancacci is a tiny chapel reached through the cloisters of the otherwise pretty plain Santa Maria del Carmine Church. Two layers of frescoes commissioned in 1424 by Felice Brancacci, a wealthy Florentine merchant and statesman, illustrate the life of St. Peter, shown in his orange gown. The frescoes were designed by Masolino da Panicale, who began painting them with his pupil Masaccio. In 1428 Masaccio took over from Masolino but died that year, aged 27, and the rest of the frescoes were completed in the 1480s by Filippino Lippi.
The chapel was recently superbly restored, with the removal of accumulated candle soot and layers of 18th century egg-based gum which had formed a mold. The frescoes have an intense radiance, making it possible to see very clearly the shifts in emphasis between Masolino's work and that of Masaccio (contrast the serenity of Masolino's Temptation of Adam and Eve with the excruciating agony of Masaccio's Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise).
The restoration also highlights Masaccio's mastery of chiaroscuro (light and shade), which, combined with his grasp of perspective, created much marvel and was consciously copied by the Florentine painters of the 15th century. His depiction of St. Peter healing the sick (left of the altar, lower register) showed beggars and cripples with revolutionary realism.