Renaissance art is one of the most important characteristics of the Renaissance period. It covers painting, architecture and music which are distinct from the previous eras and at present have influenced many forms of contemporary art. Italian Renaissance painting is considered to be the origin of Renaissance painting since Renaissance itself was given birth in Italy particularly in Florence. Renaissance painting can be distinguished by its highly realistic linear perspective which also pushed architecture into becoming an art all its own.
Another distinguishing mark of Renaissance art was its revival of the arts and a change on how artists depicted the visible world. Thus, realism became the trend in Renaissance painting as well as in other art movements such as the Italian Renaissance painting. Several techniques were developed including the study of light, shadow and the human anatomy. These characteristics are evident in most of Leonardo da Vinci’s works of art such as the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and most especially in his depiction of the human anatomy among many others. Some of the most notable artists during the Renaissance period, other than da Vinci, are Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Titian, and Giotto di Bondone who was credited for treating a painting as a window into space.
Italian Renaissance painting is considered to be the forerunner of all the arts coming from the Renaissance period since it was in Florence, Italy that Renaissance was born. The development of Italian Renaissance painting was influenced by different aspects which include Philosophy, Literature, Architecture, Science, Government, and Theology as well as other aspects of society. The Catholic Church played an important role for many of the paintings that were created during this period. Most of the painting and architecture of the Renaissance period were commissioned by the Catholic Church which portrayed the lives of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and saints, particularly of St. Francis of Assisi.
Renaissance painting was notable for the use of oil paint as the major medium of the Renaissance era which replaced egg tempera and the use of ideas from Ancient Rome as well as daily life activities for many art works during this period. Many Renaissance paintings depicted the human figure as realistically as possible using backgrounds of the natural world. Since mathematics and science also contributed to the development of Renaissance painting, many works of art have figures arranged in geometric groups and showed linear perspective wherein smaller objects appear to be farther from the viewer than the larger objects.
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