Part I · Art movements · Chapter 1 of 31

The Italian Renaissance

c. 1400–1600. The Renaissance — 'rebirth' — is when European painters rediscovered the art of ancient Greece and Rome and set out to paint the world as the eye really sees it. Perspective, anatomy, light and the dignity of the individual all arrive here.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci — **Mona Lisa**, Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1503–1519). Oil on poplar panel. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli — **The Birth of Venus**, Sandro Botticelli (c. 1484–1486). Tempera on canvas. Uffizi Galleries, Florence. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The School of Athens by Raphael — **The School of Athens**, Raphael (1509–1511). Fresco. Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Context

In 15th-century Florence, wealthy merchant families such as the Medici paid for churches, palaces and paintings. Humanist scholars revived Greek and Latin texts, and artists began to see themselves as thinkers, not just craftsmen.

Around 1420 the architect Filippo Brunelleschi demonstrated linear perspective, and Leon Battista Alberti wrote it down for painters in On Painting (1435). For the first time a flat panel could behave like a window into believable space.

The High Renaissance (about 1490–1527) — Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael — balanced realism with ideal beauty. In Venice, Giorgione and Titian put colour and atmosphere first, and used oil on canvas instead of tempera on wood.

Key artists

Artist	Life	Known for
Sandro Botticelli	c. 1445–1510	Graceful line and mythological subjects: The Birth of Venus, Primavera.
Leonardo da Vinci	1452–1519	Sfumato, anatomy and observation of nature: Mona Lisa, The Last Supper.
Michelangelo	1475–1564	Sculptural, muscular figures: the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Raphael	1483–1520	Clarity, harmony and perfect composition: The School of Athens.
Giorgione	c. 1477–1510	Mood and landscape: The Tempest.
Titian	c. 1488–1576	Venetian colour and loose late brushwork: Bacchus and Ariadne.

Key works

Tap any image to zoom; works marked ◎ have notes on key details.

Primavera by Sandro Botticelli — **Primavera**, Sandro Botticelli (c. 1480). Tempera on panel. Uffizi Galleries, Florence. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci — **The Last Supper**, Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1495–1498). Tempera and oil on gesso (mural). Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci — **Lady with an Ermine**, Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1489–1491). Oil on walnut panel. Czartoryski Museum, Kraków. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Tempest by Giorgione — **The Tempest**, Giorgione (c. 1506–1508). Oil on canvas. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian — **Bacchus and Ariadne**, Titian (1520–1523). Oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci — **Vitruvian Man**, Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1490). Pen and ink with wash over metalpoint on paper. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Techniques

Linear perspective: parallel lines meet at a vanishing point on the horizon (eye level).
Egg tempera on gessoed wood panels — fast-drying, built up in fine hatched strokes.
Fresco: pigment in water painted onto fresh lime plaster, one day's section (giornata) at a time.
Oil glazing: thin transparent layers over a monochrome underpainting.
Sfumato: soft, smoky transitions between light and shadow with no hard outline (Leonardo).
Chiaroscuro: strong modelling of light and dark to make figures look solid.
Pyramidal composition: figures grouped into a stable triangle.
Contrapposto: weight on one leg so hips and shoulders tilt in opposite directions.

How to paint in this style

Plan a stable composition — try a triangle of figures in front of a symmetrical background.
Draw a horizon line and a single vanishing point; build floors and architecture to it.
Make a full-size drawing (cartoon) and transfer it to your panel or canvas.
Underpaint the whole picture in a warm or green-grey monochrome (verdaccio) to settle values.
Glaze local colours thinly on top: ultramarine for robes, vermilion and red lake, earth tones for flesh.
Soften every edge in the face with a dry brush for sfumato; keep the outline lost in shadow.
Finish with an atmospheric landscape: warm and detailed in front, cooler and bluer as it recedes.

Typical palette

Lead white, yellow ochre, lead-tin yellow, vermilion, red lake, raw umber, burnt sienna, green earth (for flesh underpainting), malachite, azurite and — for the most important robes — ultramarine from lapis lazuli.

Drawings and studies

Studies for the Libyan Sibyl by Michelangelo Buonarroti — **Studies for the Libyan Sibyl**, Michelangelo Buonarroti (ca. 1510–11). Red chalk, with small accents of white chalk on the left shoulder of the figure in the main study (recto); soft black chalk, or less probably charcoal (verso). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access)

The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right by Leonardo da Vinci — **The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right**, Leonardo da Vinci (1510–13). Black chalk, charcoal, and red chalk, with some traces of white chalk (?); some remains of framing lines in pen and brown ink at upper right (not by Leonardo). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access)

Head of a Man in Profile Facing to the Left, Leonardo da Vinci (1490–94). Pen and brown ink, over soft black chalk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access)