A-level: Renaissance in Italy—Religious paintings in Florence + Rome + Venice

videos + essays

Following the outstretched arms of the apostles, we look up to Mary and arrive at a circle of light.

Mantegna was fascinated by perspective. His radical foreshortening and realism focus attention on Christ’s wounds.

The life-sized figures of Mary and Gabriel occupy an open porch—a space not unlike the cloisters of San Marco.

What are Persian carpets, a peacock, and a cucumber doing in a painting of The Annunciation?

This painting blends deep piety with scientific observation. Both its architecture and figures were radically new.

Brilliant golden brocades. Psuedo-Arabic. Turbans. Leopards and lions. The Adoration of the Magi speaks to the global flow of goods at this time.

Three men arrive to bless Christ. Are they wise—or just rich? Better defer to that young painter in the crowd...

As it recesses, Tintoretto’s strange space collapses time. No wonder Saint Mark multiplies.

Now in Technicolor! Mantegna’s saturated paint and vivid illusionism bring the Court of Heaven to life.

This personal image was destined for Titian’s tomb, but he may also appear in it as St. Jerome.

Here, everything is askew. Form dissolves as Tintoretto unites Florentine line with Venetian color.

An ambitious ceiling made by a celebrated artist for the Sistine Chapel