A good example of the work of
            Masaccio (1401-1428) and how it relates to the artistic
            innovations of the Early Italian Renaissance is his fresco, The
            Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors
            (Santa Trinità). The fresco depicts
            the Crucifixion of Jesus with an unusual barrel vault in the background, which greatly
            enhances the three-dimensionality of the work. It is the earliest known surviving work
            to use systematic linear perspective, and the fresco features several of Masaccio's
            innovative techniques, including a vanishing point and the occupation of the viewer's
            space (with characters kneeling in the extreme bottom "front" of the piece). Its framed
            background was inspired by Roman triumphal arches, and Masaccio employs a technique
            known as trompe l'oeil ("deceives the eye") in which the barrel
            vault is
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"... divided into squares with rosettes that
            diminish and are foreshortened so well that there seems to be a hole in the
            wall."
The fresco, which can
            be viewed in Florence's Santa Maria Novella Church, is highly three-dimensional except
            in one respect: The God who stands behind the Crucifix is given greater space since he
            is "an immeasurable being." The painting is also the first known work to use the iconic
            combinations of the Virgin Mary, St. John the Evangelist, God and the tomb in a single
            piece.
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