Holy Trinity Analysis Essay

Masaccio’s famous religious painting, “The Holy Trinity”, is known for the engagement of linear perspective to create an image that goes beyond just paint on canvas, (or should I say wall?) by creating the illusion of depth. This painting addresses many religious concepts by setting up different levels and layers in the constructed space. The characters depicted are made up of four groups of human figures, which include the Trinity (God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), the Virgin Mary and Saint John, a pair of donors, and a skeleton on a tomb at the bottom of the picture. There is an apparent point of separation, which is made clear due to each group being on separate levels. Their difference in power is fundamental feature in

The Trinity in Christian culture is a belief that God is represented in three major forms. In various works of art to include more plainly; The Trinity by Agnolo Gaddi. God is shown in his three most popular forms. God the Father, God the Son known to be Jesus Christ, and God the Holy spirit in the form of a white dove. This painting was done between ca. 1390-1396 by has mentioned before Agnolo Gaddi. Gaddi is from Florence, Italy and is the son of Taddeo Gaddi and the grandson of Gaddo Gaddi whom are all famous painters. Agnolo Gaddi died in 1396. Before his death he is said to have done a few popular pieces to include: Virgin Mary in the Prato Cathedral, Madonna Enthroned with Saint and Angels, and Coronation of the Virgin. His final

Another technique that was developed was perspective. Perspective was formed with the creation of the vanishing point to make paintings more realistic. Masaccio was one of the great painters of his time because of his skill of recreating lifelike figures and movement, along with portraying a sense of three-dimensionality. One of Masaccio’s greatest paintings is the Holy Trinity which was painted in 1427. This painting has a great use of perspective and chiaroscuro to show realism. Chiaroscuro was another technique that was formed to show light and dark intensities to give the impression of depth and texture as well as a source of light. With the use of different shades of colour, sfumato was a new technique that emerged during this time that produces soft, imperceptible transitions between colours and tones to show blending and oneness. These techniques established a basis of modern art. These techniques are still used till this day and have shaped the way art is currently produced.

The iconography of Christ in the High and Late Renaissance period was based on the role the artist perceived him to be. Renaissance artist used their art as a religious tool to convey the meaning of Christianity to people who could not read, see, or could not understand the Bible. Many artists perceived Christ in their works as he is described in the Bible. In the Bible Christ is described to be our savior, our teacher, a miracle worker, our loving father who forgives us, the perfect one, and the son of God who was crucified for our sins. However, some artist during this era perceived Christ in their own way. There are many artist during the High and Late Renaissance that depicted Christ in their work however, Leonardo’s Madonna of the Rocks, Tintoretto’s Last Supper, Veronese’s Christ in the House of Levi, Michelangelo’s Pieta, and Last Judgement most exemplify their different perceptions of Christ.

Perspective plays an important role in understanding Masaccio’s frescos. Masaccio was born in 1401 and died unfortunately young in 1428. His full birth name is Tommasio di Ser Giovanni de Simone. He made a great contribution to Italian and Florentine art during the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. He worked alongside Filippo Brunelleschi an Italian architect and engineer. Together they created the idea of linear perspective with the influence of earlier artists such as Lorenzetti, Duccio and Giotto brothers. Linear perspective helps to form the impression of a three-dimensional space on a completely flat surface. This essay will compare ‘The Holy Trinity’ (fig. 1) by Masaccio and Raphael’s ‘The School of Athens’ (fig. 2). Both Masaccio and Raphael use linear perspective in their paintings to create a sense of depth and realism.

The Holy Trinity by Masaccio was a painting done in approximately 1428. It is a

The Trinity, by Masaccio (1428) renders the crucifixion in a fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy. The context of this early Italian Renaissance work demonstrates the innovations that embodied the contemporary concerns and influences of the early fifteenth century and would become an influential reference for generations to come. Masaccio’s amalgamation of religion and science influenced the artistic foundation of the early Italian Renaissance. In the early fifteenth century the papacy was the governing force and was very common to have religious subject matter commissioned.

The Renaissance movement was also significant in that it influenced the developments which occurred in philosophy, literature, music and science. This influenced Leonardo Da Vinci to created one of his most accomplished works of all time “Mona Lisa. “Mona Lisa” was an portrait oil painting created in the early 1500s and is widely considered to be the greatest artwork of all time. Leonardo Da Vinci used gaze and demand within the artwork. This allows the audience to feel interactively connected to the artwork and the character. Leonardo Da Vinci achieved an unusual effect of having Mona Lisa's smile alter depending on the angles the audience looks at the artwork. The use of perspective also gives the artwork a three dimensional feel. This allows the audience to see idealised female form as well as the themes and values of the Renaissance. The artwork “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci had a focus on challenging the International Gothic Style as well as representing the values and attitudes of the world at the time.

Art in the Medieval Times was dreary and bland. Many works of art were solely about God or holy figures. The most obvious change from the Renaissance to Medieval Times was the arts, according to Document A and also that “One begins to know the names of the artists ... feel stronger emotions in the subjects”. This shows that Renaissance art not only changed in style, in changed in how it made the viewer feel when seeing the art. Similarly, in Document A, Renaissance art is described as “new artistic styles would echo the broader movements and interests of the new age.…”. As compared to Medieval Times, the style of art became something similar to the time that people could relate to. In the Medieval Times, art was just meant to extol God’s many feats. People who viewed the painting were supposed to put that style of art on a pedestal. Medieval art was supposed to be worshipped, not so much understood. The individual in the Medieval Times was supposed to take away from the painting that the only thing that mattered in their life was the Roman Catholic church and God already had a plan for their lives. But in comparison, Renaissance art was supposed to empower and help people of the time to understand themselves and the fact that they can change their own lives.

The essential trinity focuses on the relationship of the Son and Holy Spirit within God Himself. Augustine of Hippo taught the basis of essential trinity using his analysis of love: to love, there must be a lover, a beloved and their sharing a mutual love. On this basis of his psychological analogy, Augustine argues for a threefold understanding of the Godhead, in terms of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (McGrath, pg 195). Augustine states that just as there are three entities of the mind, there can be three persons of God.

Perspective is shown because you can see the cross is set in the front of the painting, this bringing the effect of 3 dimensions in the painting. Beauty is shown in this picture because it has a lot of details, for example, the cross is neatly painted as if the wood from which it is made was completely smooth, without any crease or imperfection.

As a result, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, worship, and most importantly salvation in its purest form can be discerned and acted upon correctly. In addition, a further understanding can be thus gained regarding the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Finally, heresies and heretical groups or beliefs can lead God’s followers astray from the truth and create an improper understanding, and thus relationship with God. Positions past and present have, and are, attempting to mislead Christians about the Trinity. A skewed view of the Trinity can result in a view of God as either divinely apart from creation or simply a better version of all the best attributes of humans. Some positions even take away from the Divinity of Jesus Christ. All of these views severely diminish who God is and alters a proper and true relationship and worship. It is a necessity that these errant views be exposed as a hindrance to God in order not to mislead God’s followers. Likewise a Biblically sound explanation of the Trinity is needed. As a result, a true and pure knowledge of the concept of the Trinity is crucially needed to understand God and be obedient to the Bible.

God as Trinity, is a fact that all orthodox Christians can attest to with absolute certainty, however if we were to ask those same people “what does that mean for us, how does that affect the way we live our lives”? I suspect, most would not have an answer. For the majority of orthodox Christians, the Trinity is an abstract theological concept, that is best left for theologians to philosophise over, and has no place in the life of the average Christian. Karl Rahner, an Austrian philosopher and theologian, commenting on the “current neglect of the Trinity in the West” says:

Ahl tells how Masaccio was underappreciated in his time, but since his works were not as accessible as some of his contemporaries. It was the way in which Masaccio was able to influence generations of artists after him that art historians today consider him a master of art. Masaccio looked to antiquity and architecture to further develop his use of linear perspective which literally pulls the viewer of the Trinity into the work itself.

This unique blending of fresh ideas and rejuvenating classical ideas defined Masaccio’s artwork and more importantly the art of the early renaissance.