Die Kreuzigung des heiligen Petrus

In 1426 a Pisa notary, Giuliano di Colino, paid Masaccio to build a large altarpiece for his chapel in the Carmine church. This is one small panel from the base of it, barely a foot tall. It shows the martyrdom of Saint Peter, crucified head-down at his own request so as not to imitate Christ. Masaccio was in his mid-twenties and doing something new for painting, giving his figures real weight and setting them in believable, measured space, the beginnings of proper perspective. Within two years he was dead, at about 27, and the altarpiece was later taken apart and scattered. This fragment was bought for Berlin in 1880, where it hangs far from the other surviving pieces.