Masaccio: Innovator of Perspective and Illusion 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 d ....