The Tribute Money

The Tribute Money, fresco created about 1426 in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine basilica in Florence, Italy, by Florentine artist Masaccio. The Tribute Money is part of a group of early Renaissance frescoes in that chapel that revolutionized Florentine painting and were highly influential throughout the Renaissance.

The cycle of frescoes to which The Tribute Money belongs was originally commissioned by Felice Brancacci, a wealthy silk merchant, and depicts the original sin of Adam and Eve and the life of the apostle Peter. In this particular scene from the cycle, Masaccio conflates three separate moments from the story of the tax collector who asked whether Jesus had paid his temple tax, as recounted in the Gospel According to Matthew. The episode begins at the centre of the picture, where the tax collector is seen with his back to us, making his request. From there the scene continues on the far left of the painting (where both Peter and Jesus are pointing). We see Peter collecting “a piece of money” from the mouth of a fish at the water’s edge. Finally, on the far right, Peter pays the tax collector the toll he had asked for.

That the viewer willingly accepts the artist’s depiction of three discrete moments condensed into one whole painting is due, in no small part, to Masaccio’s bold, naturalistic, and entirely convincing treatment of the figures. Their sculpturelike appearance conveys an almost palpable sense of volume. Moreover, the inherent dynamism of the scene and the psychologically charged atmosphere in the centre is conveyed through the glances that are cast by both Jesus and his Apostles. It is a compelling painting, partly because of the very human set of emotions that the artist is able to imbue the characters with, and partly because he successfully fuses technical innovation with an underlying classicism.