San Pablo

In 1426 a Pisa notary named Giuliano di Colino paid for a large multi-panelled altarpiece for his chapel in the Carmine church, and the young Masaccio took the job for 80 florins. This figure of Paul, sword in one hand and book in the other, belonged to that ensemble. Masaccio was in his mid-twenties and had only about two more years to live. Sometime in the 18th century the altarpiece was pulled apart and its panels sold off across Europe, so that today any reconstruction leans on a description Vasari wrote in 1568. Of all those scattered pieces, this Paul is the one that never left Pisa.