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Secondary sourcePainting1426

Saint Paul (Pisa Altarpiece)

Masaccio · 1426

A surviving panel from Masaccio's Pisa Altarpiece showing Paul holding a sword and book, painted in 1426.

Depicts Paul holding the sword of his martyrdom and the book of his teaching, in an early Renaissance style.

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Painting of a bearded man with a halo in a gold arched panel. He wears a red-pink robe and holds a long dark sword in his left hand and a closed book in his right. The gold background has a faint halo around his head.
Masaccio, Saint Paul, 1426. National Museum of San Matteo, Pisa.

About this source

What it is

This tempera-on-wood panel by Masaccio was part of a large altarpiece commissioned in 1426 for a chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa. The altarpiece was later dismantled and its panels scattered; this one, showing Paul, remains in Pisa at the National Museum of San Matteo.

Why it matters

Masaccio's altarpiece is the only documented work firmly attributed to him, and this panel is the only piece still in Pisa. It shows an early Renaissance shift toward naturalism in religious art, reflecting the ambitions of the notary who commissioned it and the artistic changes taking place in 15th-century Florence and Pisa.

Look closer

  • What do the sword and book in Paul's hands represent about his story?
  • Why do you think the altarpiece was later broken apart and spread across different museums?
  • How does the gold background compare with more realistic details in the figure?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Paul on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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