Renaissance Paintings at the Gallery of the Academy look much like photographs and exhibit far more depth, background, and even movement. They are more lifelike than any art preceding them except for statues. I think realism comes from the advanced techniques used during the Renaissance. The Renaissance artists created depth, including methods for seeing the horizon in the distance. Renaissance paintings are very lifelike.
Photoblog, Florence, Italy, April 12, 2025
What are we doing in Europe? Here is the story. Touring Europe might be a crazy idea.
Introduction to the Renaissance
Florance is the birthplace of the Renaissance, while Rome is about Ancient Rome and Greek cultures. Florance took art to a new level, starting in the late 1300s when new major masterpieces were revealed to the world.
I think of terms like Pre-Renaissance and Renaissance as having a dividing line. It took about 200 years between 1400 and 1600 before the change took hold. To shorten the list of paintings, I have sorted them by style and not just dates. My date dividing line is 1500. Before that, unless the painting had the style associated with the Renaissance, I put it in a group I call Pre-Renaissance. Finding the name of each painting and the artist’s name was quite a task, but I didn’t want to just put the paintings without telling you who painted each one.
Here is a link to my Pre-Renaissance article. Pre-Renaissance paintings at The Gallery of the Academy
Timeline of the Renaissance
The most widely known artists are Donatello, Bellini, Bottilechi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. This list places the artists in order of their careers. Michelangelo was born six years after Donatello died. Others had careers that overlapped. We think of Michaelangelo’s works in Rome, but this was after he was famous in Florence.
In this article, I highlight Renaissance paintings in the order in which we saw them. Although I mentioned the Masterpiece makers of Renaissance art, the focus isn’t on them but on the paintings we saw. There are some paintings by the previously mentioned masters.
The Gallery of the Academy also has pre- and Renaissance paintings. Given the number of pieces in the gallery and my inadequate knowledge of art history, I will attempt to divide the photos by style and make some comments that will hopefully entertain but won’t embarrass me in the process.
I’m sure I can group the art into three categories and three posts, including this one. Here are the links to the other two articles. I am sure all the entries in this post will be statues. As for the divisions in the other two articles, I am focusing on style rather than date.
Pre-Renaissance paintings at The Gallery of the Academy
Renaissance paintings at The Gallery of the Academy (This article)
Masterpiece Renaissance Sculpture at the Gallery of the Academy
Photos of the Renaissance paintings at the Gallery of the Academy
Including the image at the top, the paintings are in the order we saw them at the Gallery Academy. Generally, the oldest Renaissance paintings are at the top, and the newer paintings are at the bottom. One of the things I think you will see right away is how, over the two hundred years, Renaissance paintings is how advanced they became.
Oil on wooden panel, circa 1505-1508
Oil on panel, c. 1531/1533-1536
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Links
The Gallery of the Academy of Florence
Archives at the Gallery of the Academy of Florence
About our photos
These photos were taken during our visit. Our photos are often “enhanced” to represent what we saw in person and correct for lighting and other things. Sometimes, this editing makes the images look better than what we saw in person.
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