The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias

The Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias is one of the frescoes Masaccio painted in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, around 1425-1427. The scene, from the Acts of the Apostles, shows Saint Peter distributing the community's goods to the poor while Ananias, who lied about his donation, falls dead at Peter's feet. The fresco is among the most celebrated scenes in the chapel for its revolutionary treatment of space and the physical reality of its figures. The Brancacci Chapel frescoes established Masaccio as the founder of Renaissance painting and were studied by generations of artists including Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

The composition is set before a convincing architectural backdrop that recedes into depth through consistent one-point perspective, creating a stage-like space in which the figures move with naturalistic freedom. The figures possess remarkable physical presence, with heavy, gravity-bound bodies that cast consistent shadows on the ground plane. The buon fresco technique is executed with confident, economical brushwork, and the limited palette of earth tones and blues creates an atmosphere of austere dignity appropriate to the moral narrative.