These artists, before the Renaissance, painted in the style of Greek icons. Their paintings were important to the education of many Renaissance painters, and were to be seen in the churches where the Renaissance painters worked, and worshipped. Often an altarpiece by one of these artists was surrounded by frescoes by the Renaissance painters who lived 150 to 200 years later. A famous Madonna and Child by Coppo di Marcovaldo stood above the altar where Masaccio, Masolino and Filippo Lippi painted the walls of the Brancacci Chapel. Giotto, who is thought of as the first Renaissance painter, was educated by Cimabue, one of the great masters of the Late Byzantine style.
Name | Dates | Born | Worked | Media | Masterpiece | Museums |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coppo di Marcovaldo | (c.1225– c.1276) | Florence | Florence, Pistoia Siena | Icon, Mosaic | The Last Judgement Bastistry, Florence | Civic Museum, San Gimignano |
Cimabue | c.1240 - c.1302 | Florence | Florence, Assisi | Icon, Mosaic | Madonna of Santa Trinita Uffizi, Florence | Uffizi |
Pietro Cavallini | c.1250 – c.1330 | Rome | Rome, Naples | Fresco, Mosaic | Last Judgement, S. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome | |
Duccio | c.1260 - c.1318 | Siena | Siena | Icon | Maesta, Duomo Museo, Siena | National Gallery, London Uffizi |
Coppo di Marcovaldo, Christ in Majesty
Cimabue, The Madonna of Santa Trinita
Pietro Cavallini, Last Judgement (detail)
Duccio, The Maesta
Proto-Renaissance artists worked before 1400 in Italy when the Renaissance style was slowly developing.
Name | Dates | Born | Worked | Media | Masterpiece | Museums |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nicola Pisano | c.1220 – c.1284 | Pisa | Pisa, Perugia | Sculptor | The Pulpit Baptistery of Pisa | |
Arnolfo di Cambio | c.1240 – c.1300 | Tuscany | Siena, Florence, Rome | Sculptor, Architect | St. Peter St. Peter's Basilica, Rome | National Gallery, London |
Giovanni Pisano | c.1250 – c.1315 | Pisa | Pisa, Siena | Sculptor | The Pulpit Cathedral of Pisa | Duomo Museo, Siena |
Giotto | c.1267 - 1337 | Tuscany | Florence, Padua | Fresco, Tempera | Ognissanti Madonna Uffizi, Florence Life of Jesus Arena Chapel, Padua | Uffizi |
Pietro Lorenzetti | c.1280 - 1348 | Siena | Siena, Assisi | Fresco, Tempera | Scenes of the Passion of Christ Basilica of Saint Francis, Assisi | Metropolitan Museum, New York |
Ambrogio Lorenzetti | c.1290 – 1348 | Siena | Siena | Fresco | Scenes of Good and Bad Government Town Hall, Siena | Louvre, National Gallery, London |
Taddeo Gaddi | c.1300 – 1366 | Tuscany | Florence | Fresco | Life of the Virgin Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence | Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, New York |
Orcagna | c.1308 – 1368 | Tuscany | Florence, Pisa | Fresco, Tempera | The Triumph of Death Campo Santo, Pisa | Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, National Gallery, Washington D.C. |
Altichiero | c.1330 – c.1390 | Verona | Verona, Padua | Fresco | Crucifixion Basilica of Sant'Antonio, Padua | |
Giusto de' Menabuoi | c.1330 – c.1390 | Florence | Padua | Fresco | The Salvation of Humankind, Baptistery of Padua Cathedral |
Artists from many parts of Europe worked in a decorative Gothic style.
Name | Dates | Born | Worked | Media | Masterpiece | Museums |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simone Martini | c.1284 – c.1344 | Siena | Siena, Assisi, Avignon | Fresco, Tempera | The Maesta Town Hall, Siena | Uffizi, Hermitage, Louvre Metropolitan Museum, New York |
Lorenzo Monaco | c.1370-1425 | Florence | Florence | Tempera | Coronation of the Virgin Uffizi Gallery | Uffizi, National Gallery, London; National Galleries of Scotland |
Gentile da Fabriano | 1370 – c.1427 | Marche | Florence, Siena, Rome | Fresco, Tempera | Adoration of the Magi Uffizi | Uffizi, Vatican Museums, National Gallery, London; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Andrea Pisano | c.1290 – c.1348 | Pisa | Pisa, Florence, Orvieto | Sculptor in bronze | Baptistery Doors Florence | |
Tilman Riemenschneider | c.1460 - 1531 | Würzburg | Würzburg | Sculptor in wood | Altarpiece of the Holy Blood Rothenburg ob der Tauber | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Metropolitan Museum, New York |
Veit Stoss | c.1445-1450 | Horb am Neckar Germany | Nuremberg, Krakow | Sculptor in wood | Altarpiece of the Blessed Virgin Mary St Mary's Church, Krakow | |
Limbourg Brothers | active 1385–1416 | Nijmegen | France | illuminators | Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (The Duke of Berry's Prayer Book) Musée Condé, Chantilly, France | Condé Museum, Metropolitan Museum, New York |
Enguerrand Quarton | c.1410 - c.1466 | Villeneuve-lès-Avignon France | Villeneuve-lès-Avignon | Tempera | Coronation of the Virgin Villeneuve-lès-Avignon | Louvre |