In the context of this artwork, explore the Commissioners and donors of the History.
Not much is known about the details of the commission; no contemporaneous documents naming the altar-piece's patron(s) have been found. The two donor portraits included in the fresco, one figure kneeling on either side of the archway, have not been positively identified. The persons depicted are almost certainly contemporary Florentines; either the persons who funded the work, or relatives or close associates. According to the established conventions of such depictions, it is generally, but not universally, assumed that they were probably still alive at the time of the artwork's commissioning.The leading theories as to their identity favor two local families; either the Lenzi or, for at least one of the figures, a member of the Berti, who were a working-class family from the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. Records of the Berti family, discovered in 2012, indicate that they owned a tomb at the foot of the fresco.  Other sources mention a Lenzi tomb near the altar, with the inscription "Domenico di Lenzo, et Suorum 1426", as well as other Lenzi decorations in the chapel at that time, and theorize the donor portraits were posthumous images of Domenico (and his spouse?). In the Florentine dating system of that time, the new year began on March 25; and factoring in the conversion from Julian to Gregorian calendars Domenico's death, as recorded, would have been on 19 January 1427.It has been hypothesized that Fra' Alessio Strozzi and/or Filippo Brunelleschi may have been involved, or at least consulted, in the creation of the Trinity. Brunelleschi's experiments in linear perspective likely were the inspiration for the perspectival construction of the painting. Fra' Alessio's involvement has been posited more on the matter of the appropriate depiction of the Holy Trinity, according to the preferences and sensibilities of the Dominican order. However, there is, to date, no concrete evidence for the direct involvement of either of these two men.
Santa Maria Novella Florence Filippo Brunelleschi Dominican Dominican order donor portrait Trinity donor portraits Holy Trinity perspective linear perspective Fra' Alessio Strozzi fresco