Renaissance Art (14th through 16th centuries)

Renaissance art came into being in Florence in the first decades of the fifteenth century, then spread throughout much of Italy during that century, and reached an apex (the so-called High Renaissance) in Rome at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

The developments in art and architecture can be characterized in two main ways: new developments in techniques which led to a more realistic depiction of human beings and their world; and new subject matter with more secular attitudes -- even toward religious content. A growing Humanist interest in classical (Greek and Roman) sources, which sometimes provided models for imitation, helped fuel both of these trends. But the trends were already beginning to show up in the late Medieval period. Some call these foreshadowings the "Proto-Renaissance" -- which is a good place to start your tour.

• The Proto-Renaissance
• New artistic techniques
• Use of light and shadow to model figures
• Psychological expressiveness in figures
• Interest in correct anatomy and an understanding of weight shift
• New understanding of space and invention of mathematical perspective
• New subject matter
• A new secularism
• Revival of interest in classical (Greek and Roman) themes
• Imitation of classical models
• Celebrating classical wisdom
• Human dignity