Masaccio Tribute Money

Born Tommaso di Giovanni, Masaccio was an influential artist that changed and shaped the Italian Renaissance with his art. His piece, Tribute Money, is one of his most notable works in his short life. Tribute Money is a fresco painting and an early renaissance piece, something that was common and closely associated to the Italian Renaissance.
Masaccio was a trained Florentine artist. Artists in Florentine were trained in things such as anatomy, modeling, and perspective, which helped them to create art that employed life like figures and gave a natural, quite realistic look to the pieces. Masaccio was considered one of the most innovative artists of Florentine because of his mastery of the linear perspective. He pushed Italian painting into entirely new standards previously set by another Italian artist, Giotto. He was so influential that his practices were quickly taken back to Florence and taught to the other artists who trained there. His work was also put into the Brancacci Chapel as a display for future artists during the Renaissance period.
It comes from the book of Mathew that discusses the temple tax imposed on Christ and his disciples. Though the picture looks like one image, there are multiple things unfolding in this picture. The tax collector in the painting looks frustrated at Christ, while Christ has his hand pointed toward Peter. He told Peter to go to the lake and throw out his fish line and to get the first fish he can catch. You can see Peter in the left scene of the painting going fishing. Christ told Peter the fish’s mouth will contain a four-drachma coin that he may give to the tax collector. He is performing a miracle right in front of this tax collector. Once Peter is done, you can see that in the right scene he has given the tax collector this money that Christ