Renaissance

“Rebirth”: from Florence to Bruges, artists rediscovered antiquity, explored perspective, the body and light – and rose from craftsmen to celebrated geniuses.

The times

Wealthy trading and banking cities such as Florence, Venice, Bruges and Nuremberg became centres of art. Families such as the Medici, popes and princes commissioned altarpieces, portraits and palaces to display their piety and standing. Scholars known as humanists read ancient texts and put the human being at the centre. Printing with movable type, invented by Gutenberg around 1450, spread knowledge and images faster than ever before; from 1517, the Reformation split the Church.

What art set out to do

Art set out to show the world as the eye sees it – and at the same time as perfect. Painters constructed linear perspective, studied anatomy and used oil paint to render fabric, skin and light with astonishing realism. Ancient gods and heroes returned alongside biblical scenes. Portraits showed self-confident individuals, and artists such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Dürer presented themselves proudly as creators in their own right.

How to recognise it

  • Linear perspective: lines run towards a vanishing point, and spaces look deep.
  • Balanced composition, often a triangle around a central figure.
  • Natural bodies and faces, sometimes modelled on ancient statues.
  • In the north: tiny details, glowing oil colours and a landscape beyond the window.

Timeline

  • c. 1435: Jan van Eyck paints the “Madonna of Chancellor Rolin” – oil painting of new refinement.
  • c. 1485: Botticelli paints “The Birth of Venus”.
  • 1503: Leonardo begins the “Mona Lisa”.
  • 1508–1512: Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
  • 1517: Luther’s theses launch the Reformation.

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