The Holy Trinity
The object
the tomb at the base, with the painted skeleton and the inscription
The story
One of the founding paintings of true linear perspective. At the base, painted as if carved in stone, a tomb with a skeleton and the inscription: 'I WAS ONCE WHAT YOU ARE, AND WHAT I AM YOU WILL BE.' The architecture above is constructed around a vanishing point at the viewer's eye level — it feels real enough to step into. Masaccio died at 26, the year after he painted it. Now at Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
The reel
The painting
