Felice Brancacci

Felice di Michele Brancacci (fl. 15th century) was a Florentine silk merchant, best known for commissioning the decoration of the Brancacci Chapel. The nephew and heir of Piero di Piuvichese Brancacci, he was involved in Mediterranean silk trade, and also acted as a diplomat

Biography

Felice is known to have won a joust held to celebrate Florence's submission of Pisa in 1406. He acted as a diplomat for the Florentine Republic, and visited the court of the Sultan of Egypt in 1422.cite book | first = Ken | last = Shulman | authorlink = | title = Anatomy of a Restoration: The Brancacci Chapel | edition = | publisher = Walker | location = New York | year = 1991 | page= p. 6 | id = ISBN 0802711219 | url = ] He was also a member of the city's Board of Maritime Consuls. [cite book | first = U. & O. Casazza | last = Baldini | authorlink = | title = The Brancacci Chapel Frescoes | edition = | publisher = Thames and Hudson | location = London | year = 1992 | page= p. 39 | id = ISBN 0810931206 | url = ] As a result of the decline in the wool trade, Mrancacci's wealth as a silk merchant increased rapidly. In May 1431 he married Lena, daughter of Palla Strozzi, a union that put him at the centre of Florentine politics. [cite book | first = Jonathan | last = Davies | authorlink = | title = Florence and its University during the Early Renaissance | edition = | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden | year = 1998 | page= pp. 77-9 | id = ISBN 9004110038 | url = ] In 1433, a number of the most powerful families of the city – including the Strozzis – had driven the family of Cosimo de Medici into exile. When the Medicis returned in triumph the next year, Brancacci was among those expelled as an enemy of the Republic, in spite of his attempts to stay out of active political ploys. [Shulman, p. 9.]

The Brancacci Chapel

Sometime after 1423 and before 1425 Brancacci supposedly commissioned the painter Masolino da Panicale, known as Masolino, to decorate the walls of the Brancacci chapel left by his uncle. The subject was the life of Saint Peter, the name-saint of the founder, and the patron saint of the Brancacci family. The choice also reflected support for the Roman papacy during the Great Schism. Masolino was later joined by the younger artist Tommaso Cassai, or Masaccio. Masaccio's contributions to the frescoes – including "The Tribute Money" – are considered the most important, and central to the development of renaissance art. [cite web | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_511_160/ai_n9769989/pg_1 | title = St Peter and the Brancacci chapel | publisher = Apollo | author = Margaret Finch | date = 2004-09 | accessdate = 2008-02-12] Both artists left before the work was completed, however, in 1427 or 28. [Schulman, p. 7-10.] It was not until the 1480s, when the Brancaccis were allowed to return from exile, that the work was finished, by Filippino Lippi. [cite book | first = Jules | last = Lubbock | authorlink = | title = Storytelling in Christian Art from Giotto to Donatello | edition = | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven, London | year = 2006 | page= p. 215 | id = ISBN 0300117272 | url = ]

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