Linear perspective in Masaccio's Trinity fresco: demonstration or self-persuasion?

What is it about?

The present paper discusses some new findings on the topic of Masaccio's Trinity fresco perspective reconstruction. Some scholars have tried to reduce the fresco's anomalies with the help of photogrammetrical reproductions and computer analysis. On this basis, it has been argued that Masaccio used the normal case of costruzione legittima.

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Why is it important?

Because Masaccio took the lines of the plane joining the abaci of the capitals as a guide for drawing the vanishing lines of the coffered vault, he followed an erroneous method of construction disregarded till now. The aberrations thus discovered strongly show that Masaccio's Trinity fresco is not a model of linear perspective. Thus the search for the distance point is condemned to remain an unending problem.