Brancacci Chapel

The Brancacci Chapel is a side chapel within the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence's Oltrarno district, housing one of the most consequential fresco cycles in Western art. Masolino and Masaccio began painting it in the 1420s; Masaccio's contributions are considered revolutionary for their use of linear perspective, physical weight, and emotional intensity — a decisive break from the flat conventions of Trecento painting that shaped virtually every major Renaissance artist who followed, including a young Michelangelo who came here to study. After Masaccio's death in 1428 at around 27, the cycle remained unfinished for decades until Filippino Lippi completed it in the 1480s, and scholars still debate which panels belong to which hand. Visits require a timed reservation, with only a small number of people admitted at once, allowing an unusually intimate encounter with the frescoes.