Although it was Leon Battista Alberti, in the southern Renaissance, who first developed the subject of composition in […]
renaissance
The great Florentine poet and writer Dante died of malaria on 14 September 1321, 700 years ago this Tuesday. A celebration of his life in paintings.
An overview and contents of the articles outlining the history of the Italian Renaissance, centred on paintings from Florence.
A timeline of milestone paintings, first surviving examples of the achievements of the Italian Renaissance, from 1320-1596.
From about 1530, painting started to change. Brushstrokes became visible, anatomy exaggerated, composition less balanced and ideal. First Mannerism, then came the Baroque.
The significance of Alberti’s textbook on painting and simplified perspective, followed by Piero’s account of perspective, and Vasari’s new history of painting.
From Leonardo’s abandoned Adoration of the Magi from 1482, his development of pyramidal form in composition influenced Raphael and many others.
In Florence, stories told in paintings became increasingly secular, and ingeniously integrated multiple scenes from the single story into one painting.
How rendering of the surface texture of fabrics changed during the southern Renaissance, and new techniques were exported to the north.
It was the patrons who funded, enabled, and occasionally directed the movement towards realism and secular subjects, and developed the genres.
