page_title: The Tribute Money (Masaccio)
section_title: Subject matter
hierarchical_section_title: The Tribute Money (Masaccio) / Subject matter
context_page_description: The Tribute Money is a fresco by the Italian Early Renaissance painter Masaccio, located in the Brancacci Chapel of the basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Painted in the 1420s, it is widely considered among Masaccio's best work, and a vital part of the development of renaissance art.
  The painting is part of a cycle on the life of Saint Peter, and describes a scene from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus directs Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish in order to pay the temple tax. Its importance relates to its revolutionary use of perspective and chiaroscuro. The Tribute Money suffered great damage in the centuries after its creation, until the chapel went through a thorough restoration in the 1980s.
context_section_description: The scene depicted in The Tribute Money is drawn from Matthew 17:24–27:
  24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25. He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26. Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
  — Matthew 17:24–27
  The story is only found in the Gospel of Matthew, which according to Christian tradition was written by the apostle Matthew, himself a tax collector according to Matthew 9:9–13. The passage has been used as a Christian justification for the legitimacy of secular authority, and is often seen in conjunction with another passage, the "render unto Caesar..." story. In Matthew 22:15–22, a group of Pharisees try to trick Christ into incriminating himself, by asking if it is "lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not." Pointing out Caesar's image on the coin, he replies "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
caption: Peter removing money from a fish's mouth
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