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When studying Italian Renaissance art, it is important to know the background of the Renaissance and how this cultural movement greatly influenced the great Italian artists. Here is a guide to help familiarize yourself with the Renaissance style of art in Italy: 
The European Renaissance was a cultural movement that affected the art, science, politics, literature, and spanned between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Renaissance style of art first developed in Central Italy in the late thirteenth century (where the Renaissance cultural movement began). Scholars of the Italian city-states began to return to the ideas of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy that celebrated nature and the beauty of the human form (humanism). The humanist philosophy influenced the early Renaissance artists (Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello) to depict humans and nature in a highly realistic form. The exploration of science also caused later Florentine artists (Uccello, Leonardo Da Vinci) to study light and perspective in order to achieve a more realistic depiction of nature.
The realistic style of Renaissance art was achieved through the technique of using linear perspective. This technique focused on giving the images a perception of depth through studying the properties of shadow and light. Depth perception within the painted image was attained through foreshortening (shortening lines across the line of sight), chiaroscuro (sharp contrast between light and dark colors), and sfumato (blurring or fading of outlines coined by Da Vinci).
Though the first humanist depictions can be seen in the work of Giotto, the first artists to truly emerge out of early Renaissance (1400-1475) were sculpturers Brunelleschi (Dome of the Florence Cathedral), Ghiberti (Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral), and Donatello (Guatemalata). The painter Masaccio carried on the realistic technique of Giotto and collaborated with artist Masolino to create the frescos of Brancaccio Chapel (highly influential pieces for later Renaissance artists like Michelangelo). The art of Botticelli, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio also greatly influences future Florentine artists in their humanist depictions in the Life of Christ and the Life of Moses frescos in the Sistine Chapel.
Arguably, the most well known Renaissance works were produced during the High Renaissance (1475-1525). The most prominent artists in this group include Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Da Vinci mastered the technique of linear perspective through his scrupulous observations of nature and the human body (Mona Lisa and The Vitruvian Man). Michelangelo’s intricate detail to the beauty of the human body is best scene in his David statue, although he is most known for his masterpiece painting in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (the complete Genesis story spectacularly illustrated). Raphael was the last of the three master painters of the High Renaissance and had a much shorter life span than Michelangelo and Da Vinci (only 37 years). Large body of work showed the true mastery of the naturalistic style that peaked during the High Renaissance. This can be seen in his iconic paintings like the Sistine Madonna and The School Of Athens.
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