article

Early Renaissance painting bridges the period of European art history between the art of the Middle Ages and the art of the Renaissance.

Two regions of Europe were particularly artistically active during this period: Italy, initially, and later northern Europe (essentially Flanders). The Renaissance is considered to have reached northern Europe in the late 15th and early 16th century. Thus, most of the Early Renaissance works in northern Europe were produced between 1420 and 1550.

Themes and symbolism

The works of art of this period features mainly religious themes (the Church was the main client of these artists), but also some purely figurative themes.

The religious symbolism is largely drawn from the work of Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend (1260).

Some more mundane themes were treated, but they were often treated via a religious or mythological representations. For instance, Early Renaissance artists sometimes used the theme of Adam and Eve as a way to represent female and male nudes in a then morally acceptable way. Sometimes a fig leaf covered their genitals.

Techniques

  • The use of perspective. The first major treatment of the painting as a window into space appeared in the work of Giotto di Bondone, at the beginning of the 14th century. True linear perspective was formalized later, by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti. In addition to giving a more realistic presentation of architecture, it moved Renaissance painters into using more unified compositions.
  • Panel painting

Flemish artists

Main article: Early Netherlandish painting

German artists

French artists

Italian artists

Works

Main viewing locations

Legacy

The Pre-Raphaelite painters of the 19th century - literally before Raphael (1483-1520) - copied the style of Early Renaissance paintings.

See also

Renaissance art

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Early Renaissance painting".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world