best of them were sought after by collec-
tors, monarchs, and nobles.
Painting in the Middle Ages was domi-
nated by religion and familiar scenes from
the Bible and Christian mythology. It was
an art closely associated with architecture,
as painting was a medium used most of-
ten for the decoration of church walls, ceil-
ings, altars, doorways, and naves. In the
early Renaissance, this tradition began to
change, as artists began creating works in-
tended to stand alone as works of art ad-
mired for the skill of the artist rather than
for their function as an object of worship
or religious instruction.
The humanism of the Renaissance left
an important stamp on painting. Human-
ism passed over religious faith to seek out
essential truths through rational investiga-
tion, deduction, and debate. Painters in
the humanist tradition set pagan myths
and philosophies on an equal footing with
Christianity. They studied anatomy to ar-
rive at a more accurate depiction of the
human form, and developed the science of
perspective to lend their painted scenes
the illusion of three-dimensional reality.
These new techniques were greatly helped
by the invention of oil painting and the
artist’s easel, which enhanced the idea of
the painting as a self-contained work of
art. The greatest humanist monument of
the Renaissance, however, was the im-
mense frescoed ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel, created by Michelangelo, which
depicted biblical themes in the dramatic
and monumental style of ancient classical
sculpture.
Painters of the Renaissance usually
trained as apprentices in the workshops of
older, more experienced men. After serv-
ing their terms, many of them traveled in
order to study, to discover classical archi-
tecture, or to view the works of their con-
temporaries. An independent career as a
painter, however, was still an impossibility
for most, and painters eagerly sought the
patronage of wealthy noblemen, kings, or
popes in order to support themselves with
well-paid commissions. Private citizens or-
dered portraits of themselves or their fami-
lies; and had painters decorate the cham-
bers of their homes. Prosperous cities
asked artists to enhance their public build-
ings with frescoes and create interior mu-
rals celebrating their history.
The wealth earned through trade and
banking made Florence a center of art pa-
tronage that had no rival in Europe. At the
same time, ideas were spreading rapidly as
communications improved and long-
distance travel grew easier, and as printed
books became available after the 1450s.
Leading Italian painters of the Renais-
sance include Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Fra
Angelico, Sandro Botticelli, Piero della
Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,
Michelangelo Buonarroti, Andrea Mante-
gna, Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, the
Bellini family, and Giorgione. Major paint-
ers of the Northern Renaissance, in En-
gland, the Low Countries, and Germany,
included Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach,
Matthias Grünewald, Pieter Brueghel, and
Hans Holbein. These painters were con-
cerned with a precise rendering of natural
detail, with the astonishing technique of
the Dutch painter Jan van Eyck serving as
their model. Religious imagery still played
a strong role in art of the north.
In the late Renaissance, several Italian
painters developed a new, “Mannerist”
style in reaction to the naturalistic detail
of leading painters such as Michelangelo,
Raphael, and Leonardo. Mannerist paint-
ings created crowded and elaborate scenes,
exaggerated certain details of the human
form, and tricked the observer’s eye withpainting