Cappella Brancacci, Florence

The Brancacci Chapel is a chapel within Santa Maria del Carmine, known for a fresco cycle ranked among the most famous and influential of its period. Felice Brancacci commissioned the decoration, and work began in 1422; the paintings were made from 1425 to 1427. Masolino da Panicale, Masaccio, and Filippino Lippi shaped the ensemble across different phases.

Look toward the painted scenes: Masaccio gives biblical figures unusual physical presence, using perspective and light to build convincing space. His Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is charged with emotional force: Adam hides his face, Eve expresses shame, and an armed angel drives them from paradise. The chapel’s best-known image is Masaccio’s Tribute Money, which presents a story about Peter and a tax collector in three connected moments.

Christ commands Peter to find a coin in a fish; Peter retrieves it, then pays the tax. The sequence turns a miracle into a human drama governed by divine instruction. Access now comes through the neighbouring convent designed by Brunelleschi, linking this remarkable painted interior with another major name in Renaissance architecture.