Although the configuration of this space has changed since the artwork was created, there are clear indications that the fresco was aligned very precisely in relationship with the sight-lines and perspective arrangement of the room at the time; particularly a former entrance-way facing the painting; in order to enhance the trompe-l'œil effect.

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.

Around 1568, Cosimo I, then Duke of Florence, commissioned Giorgio Vasari to undertake extensive renovation work at Santa Maria Novella, including reconfiguring and redecorating the area where Masaccio's fresco was located.

While it seems plausible that it was Vasari's deliberate intention to preserve Masaccio's painting, it is unclear to what extent Duke Cosimo and/or other "concerned parties" were involved in this decision.

It is unclear from available sources whether the lower section of the fresco, the cadaver tomb, remained unknown or was deliberately omitted (and possibly plastered over) during the 1860s construction work.

[citation needed] Restoration was done to the Crucifixion section of the painting at that time, to replace missing areas of the design; mostly architectural details around the perimeter of the work.

Originally, the design included an actual ledge, used as an altar, physically projecting outward from the now-blank band between the upper and lower sections of the fresco; further enhancing the sense of depth and reality in the work.

Its facing-edge and upper surface integrating with the fresco's steps and archway; and its supporting pillars, both real and illusory, combining with the shadows caused by the over-hang to create a crypt-like effect for the tomb beneath.

For an adult of average height facing the painting, the line of sight would have been slightly above 'ground-level' in the work; with Death in the form of the crypt and skeleton directly front of them, and the promise of Salvation above.

The kneeling patrons represent another important novelty, occupying the viewer's own space, "in front of" the picture plane, which is represented by the Ionic columns and the Corinthian pilasters from which the feigned vault appears to spring; they are depicted in the traditional prayerful pose of donor portraits, but on the same scale as the central figures, rather than the more usual 'diminution', and with noteworthy attention to realism and volume.

[7] As far as can be determined from available records, at the time when this painting was created no large-scale Roman-style coffered barrel vault, Triumphal arch or otherwise, had been constructed in Western Christendom since late antiquity.

[8] Masaccio's fresco is a sacra conversazione, a popular type of Renaissance religious imagery that portrayed contemporary people in scenes with holy or sacred figures.

Most scholars have seen it as a traditional kind of image, intended for personal devotions and commemorations of the dead, although explanations of how the painting reflects these functions differ in their details.

[citation needed] According to American art historian Mary McCarthy: The fresco, with its terrible logic, is like a proof in philosophy or mathematics, God the Father, with His unrelenting eyes, being the axiom from which everything else irrevocably flows.