Considered the greatest Florentine painter of the early 1400s, Masaccio is one of the most important figures of Western Art. Tommaso di ser Giovanni Cassai di Simon Guidi was born in 1401 and nicknamed Masaccio Careless Tom because of his attitude. He was apathetic to things like personal appearance and worldly materials, and was thus careless with his possessions. As a child, he concentrated more on his art instead of himself and what others thought about him. He moved from Castel S. Giovanni di Altura to Florence in 1417 to become a pupil of Masolino di Panicale. There, he helped...
of the Carmine in 1443. His friend, Brunelleschi was very troubled after hearing about this because Masaccio had given him many tips in perspective and architecture.

Notwithstanding his early death, Masaccio's creations would still be looked upon as a paragon of illusion for years to come. -Sometimes referred to as the forerunner of Michelangelo, Masaccio was, with Donatello and Brunelleschi, one of the founders of the Florentine Renaissance,- according to Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Masaccio is essentially remembered because of his imaginative use of perspective, and this originality will place him in the same stratum as Giotto and Michelangelo.