The Tribute Money

Personal Reflection

This painting fascinates me because it's an early example of a poly-scenic painting. The non-linear storytelling of a scene from the gospel of Matthew: Peter (and co.) standing next to Jesus in Capernaum, then fetching the coin from the mouth of a fish in the lake of Galilee, and finally handing the coin over to the tax collector on the right. The gestures and orthogonals guide you around the painting to tell the story. I love this painting because it's technically advanced for it's time too, the modeling and the shadows reflect how they would've looked IRL because it's right next to a window in the chapel, so it's accurate to life. Adam and Eve's Expulsion from the garden of Eden is also right next to this painting and has the same accurate shadows. Since it's a fresco, we can easily see the gionata, the sections that were painted in a day, but can be hidden with good architectural tricks. Tribute Money is also a good early example of certain art techniques that weren't always practiced at the time, like foreshortening, circular composition to amplify the foreground, and the use of atmospheric perspective, and symbolism in the architecture. Masaccio is said to be the artistic descendant of Giotto, and I agree with that because their style is similar despite the many years between their life.

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