Cappella Brancacci

Piazza del Carmine, 14

The church and convent of the Carmine in Florence are very ancient. They were founded shortly after the middle of the thirteenth century by a group of Carmelite monks from Pisa, the first of the great structures built by the mendicant orders in Florence. The oldest parts of the convent are those surrounding the current cloister rebuilt during the seventeenth century: in particular the old chapter house that overlooks the portico and the Sala del Cenacolo decorated in 1581 by Alessandro Allori.

In the church we find the Brancacci Chapel, a masterpiece known around the world for its frescoes of the Life of Saint Peter by Masaccio and Masolino. Created between 1425-1427, the frescoes were left incomplete and finished by Filippino Lippi between 1481 and 1482.

The Sala della Colonna in the convent of the Carmine houses a number of detached frescoes and sinopie (underpaintings) from the same convent and church, in particular two frescoes from the beginning of Filippo Lippi’s career, frescoes by Gherardo Starnina from the destroyed Chapel of San Girolamo and two sinopie attributed to Masaccio and Masolino found in the Brancacci Chapel.