Cappella Brancacci

Inside the rather workaday baroque finery of Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, the small Brancacci chapel harbours one of the great treasures of early Renaissance art. Commissioned in 1424, the fresco cycle was begun by Masolino, but it’s the work of his pupil Masaccio, then only 22, that makes art historians launch into paeans. His most important contributions include Expulsion of Adam and Eve, Tribute Money, St Peter Healing the Sick and Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias. Besides their naturalism and successful use of perspective, Masaccio’s depiction of emotion – particularly Eve’s anguish – lends the cycle a remarkable combination of immediacy and humanity. Reservations are required as visits are timed and limited to small groups. Reserve ahead in high season.