The Renaissance is perhaps the most famous period in the history of art. Many people can name a Renaissance artist - most commonly Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci - and many are familiar with the great icons of the age - the David and the Mona Lisa.
A simple, but effective explanation of what the Renaissance was all about is that it was a breakthrough of ideas, a time when all kinds of new ideas, mixed with those of the past, finally came into focus and were developed.
The date normally used as a beginning to the Renaissance is 1401, the year when Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) beat off competition from Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) to win the commission for the North Doors of the Baptistery in Florence, with his panel The Sacrifice of Isaac. 1401 might seem a quite arbitrary date - but you have to start somewhere !
The Renaissance is an area of specialist study for the Art Information People and new titles are being added constantly to create this important and fascinating series.
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