Quick, think of a famous painting! What do you see?
If you're like most people, you just visualized the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper or the Sistine Chapel's The Creation of Adam.
What do these masterpieces have in common? They were all created by Italian Renaissance painters. Few epochs in Western history have yielded as many great paintings as the Italian Renaissance. Lasting from the 14th century through the 17th century, the Italian Renaissance inspired paintings which have survived to become the crowning grace of places where they were painted directly onto the ceilings and walls of churches and palazzos, cannot be moved but today enjoy the prestige of being world heritage sites.
These paintings were created by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Fra Angelico, Sandro Botticelli, Giorgione, Lorenzo Lotto and Masaccio and Piero della Francesca — masters who are still studied in modern art schools. Although their work was often created on commission for wealthy patrons or the Catholic Church, these artists put their hearts and souls into these creations, managing to say something about the human spirit which is still relevant to art lovers today.
Are you ready to prove your love of art? Come on, let's test your Renaissance painting knowledge!
