Italian Renaissance Art

What the page covers

Most of the resources here are flashcard decks for identifying works, which suits image-based art history exams. They run from Duccio, Cimabue and Giotto in late Italian Gothic art to the Early Renaissance of Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Uccello and Mantegna, then on to the High Renaissance and Mannerism. Mind maps pick out single works and themes, such as altarpieces, fresco, portraiture, sculptures and religious architecture.

Where to start

1. Begin with the deck Late Italian Gothic and Early Renaissance Art, which sets out the earliest artists and works.
2. Move to Renaissance Artists and Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture for wider coverage of painters and buildings.
3. Use Architecture in Italy for Brunelleschi's buildings, including the Hospital of the Innocents and the cathedral cupola.
4. For AP Art History, try the deck on APAH chapters 8 and 9, which covers the Early Renaissance, High Renaissance and Mannerism.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a mind map first to see how a work or artist fits together. The mind maps on Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, David, the Tempietto and The Virgin of the Rocks are good examples. Then take a quiz to see what stuck. Art and Artists of the Renaissance asks who painted The Last Supper and what Realism meant in the period. High Renaissance Quiz asks when the High Renaissance began and why the Renaissance happened. Go back to the flashcards for anything you missed.

Where it sits

This unit belongs to the Renaissance and Baroque strand of Art history, within Social sciences and humanities. Several notes also go deeper on single figures, such as Botticelli, Giotto and Michelangelo, and one asks whether women patrons had a Renaissance.

Next step

Choose one deck, work through it, then sketch your own mind map of a favourite painting or building.