Renaissance Art

To attempt to closely define "the Renaissance" is to step into a chronological swamp: the vague term can stretch to include both Giotto and Tintoretto. But as a matter of purpose, "Renaissance" refers to a stylistic return among artists and intellectuals to cultural influences of classical antiquity - a repudiation of homegrown European artistic style. Informally, the master artists of the fifteenth (and to some degree the sixteenth) century - those in whose work a classical purity, harmony, and balance can be seen - are called Renaissance artists. These include da Vinci, Lippi, Bellini, Titian, Botticelli, Bronzino, Durer, Raphael, and others. Glorious paintings by these and more Old Masters fill this book of postcards. Published with the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Contains 30 oversized color postcards.