Italian Renaissance art facts for kids

Raphael, The Marriage of the Virgin.

Italian Renaissance art is a style of painting and sculpture that began in the late 13th century (1200s) with the work of the painter Giotto and a sculptor Nicola Pisano. The Renaissance way of painting and sculpting did not become the usual style until about 100 years later. From 1400 to about 1600 many artists in Italy used and developed the style. Leonardo da Vinci is a very famous example of an artist in this style.

The city of Florence is a birthplace of the Renaissance and in particular, of Renaissance art.

Italian Renaissance painting can be divided into four periods:

• Proto-Renaissance, 1300–1400.
• Early Renaissance, 1400–1475.
• High Renaissance, 1475–1525.
• Mannerism, 1525–1600.

The Proto-Renaissance begins with the works of the painter Giotto and includes Taddeo Gaddi, Orcagna and Altichiero and the sculptor Nicola Pisano. The Early Renaissance was the time of the painters Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Uccello, Piero della Francesca and Verrocchio, and the sculptors Ghiberti and Donatello. The High Renaissance was the time of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Titian as well as Michelangelo who was famous as a sculptor and as a painter. The Mannerist period was the time of Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and Tintoretto and the sculptors Giambologna and Cellini.

Background

The Tribute Money for the Brancacci by Masaccio

The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello.

The Birth of the Virgin Mary, by Ghirlandaio.

The Medici

Cosimo de' Medici was intelligent, deeply religious, very rich, and wanted to be remembered as a man who did great things for Florence. He was a great patron of the arts and learning. He paid artists to make many beautiful paintings and sculptures. He collected many books, that were given to the Friary of St Mark so that a library could be made and many people could use them. After Cosimo, his sons Piero and Giovanni, and his grandsons Lorenzo and Giuliano continued to be patrons of the arts and of learning. They gathered a group of philosophers, poets and artists together in the "Medici Academy".

Other pages

• Renaissance
• Renaissance architecture
• Mannerism
• List of Renaissance artists
• Giorgio Vasari
• Duecento
• Trecento
• Quattrocento
• Cinquecento

Images for kids

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  Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, showing a Classical allegory for a private patron

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  Duccio di Buoninsegna: Madonna and Child (c. 1280) at the National Gallery, London, is mainly Italo-Byzantine in style.

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  Giotto: The Lamentation, c. 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, foreshadows the Renaissance.

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  Taddeo Gaddi: Annunciation to the Shepherds (detail), Santa Croce

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  Simone Martini: The Annunciation, 1333, Uffizi, is International Gothic in style.

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  Paolo Uccello: The Presentation of the Virgin shows his experiments with perspective and light.

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  Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation demonstrates the artist's control over both perspective and light.

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  St. Jerome in His Study, c. 1475. National Gallery, London

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  Leonardo da Vinci: The Last Supper

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  Michelangelo: The Creation of Adam

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  Raphael: The School of Athens, commissioned by Pope Julius II to decorate a suite now known as the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican

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  Giovanni Bellini: The Brera Madonna

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  Giovanni Bellini, The San Zaccaria Altarpiece

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  Titian: Assumption of the Virgin

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  Correggio: Assumption of the Virgin

See also

In Spanish: Pintura renacentista de Italia para niños