Renaissance

About

In the 1410s the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi demonstrated a geometric method for showing depth on a flat surface, and within a few years painters used it to open walls into convincing space: Masaccio's fresco Holy Trinity (c. 1427) is an early example. Measurement, observation and admiration for ancient Rome define the Renaissance, the “rebirth” that transformed Italian art and spread across Europe.

Look for single-point perspective, anatomically convincing bodies, balanced compositions and figures modelled by consistent light. Donatello revived the free-standing bronze nude in his David, Leon Battista Alberti set down the rules in On Painting (1435), and patrons such as the Medici competed to build and decorate chapels and palaces. Around 1500 Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael pushed ambition further, from The Last Supper (c. 1495–98) to the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–12), while in Venice Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and Titian made colour and atmosphere carry feeling.