Comparing Masolino and Masaccio
How did Masaccio and Masolino's choose to tell a story about art and science in their frescos in the Brancacci Chapel? Masaccio was Masolino's assistant and they worked together on the fresco's in the Brancacci chapel. Although it was Masolino that was hired to paint the chapel he had to leave during the commission and Masaccio took over much of the work. Masolino's "Tempation of Adam and Eve" begins the cycle of fresco's. In the painting Adam and Eve face each other directly and Eve holds the apple that the snake on the tree has just given her. She prepares to take a bite and is staring at Adam. This painting portrays the last innocent moment in which art, truth and goodness all hang together. The Sensousness of life and truth are still intertwined. This painting is placid and serene because no break has occurred yet. In stage of the story of Adam and Eve there is no knowledge necessary in the Garden of Eden. Every day was new to Adam and Eve. Nature was not viewed as an object of knowledge.The Garden of Eden was authoritative on its own. Adam and Eve needed no instruction from a higher power they lived without consequence. Clearly this was a paradise and Masolino is telling the story of the last moment of innocence. Masaccio's "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" shows a moment that is extremely different than the one Masolino presented us with. Although the two fresco's go hand in hand this depiction of Adam and Eve is filled with sorrow and mourning. This is the moment in which a break is signaled between art and science. There is truly a divorce between beauty and truth. This painting shows Adam and Eve's fall from the Garden of Eden. In this moment they realize a world exists outside of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve are shown mourning a time when they did not have to know nature, they could just exist within it. The knew knowledge they have can only exist because they have fallen. They see that nature has formerly been their entire world and rather than