My wife and I stopped at the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. It was after 5 pm and the chapel was officially closed. However, we could see it quite well from a distance just standing in the transept of the church. It is undoubtedly one of the most important works from the Italian Renaissance.
We wanted to see more of the city but we were both tired so we stopped on the square of Santo Spirito. We found a nice place to sit and pulled out of our bags everything that we needed to do some watercolour painting. The wind was bothersome but we worked well in the afternoon light in front of the somber, unfinished but bright façade.
Painting is light and intelligence. Masaccio gave a part of his soul through the knowledge of his painting technique. One who contemplates this high ideal of art is affected both mentally and emotionally (not to mention spiritually). Masaccio’s inspiration (from Latin: inspiration – in– “in” + spirare “to breathe) blew into our hearts and moved us to ‘re-create’ the light that surrounded us that afternoon in Florence.
