Early Renaissance painting bridges the period of European art history between the art of the Middle Ages and the art of the Renaissance.

It represents a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries. Early Renaissance, mostly in Italy, bridges the art period during the fifteenth century, between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance in Italy. It is generally known that Renaissance matured in Northen Europe later, in 16th century.

The term renaissance means rebirth and is used to mark an era of broad cultural achievement as a result of renewed interest in the classical art and ideas of Ancient Greece and Rome.

The main idea of rebirth lies at the belief that through the study of the intellectual and artistic treasures of the Greco-Roman antiquity, inspired by Humanism, can be reached the artistic greatness, wisdom and enlightenment.

Two regions of Europe were particularly artistically active during this period: Italy, initially, and later northern Europe (essentially Flanders). The Renaissance is considered to have reached northern Europe in the late 15th and early 16th century. Thus, most of the Early Renaissance works in northern Europe were produced between 1420 and 1550.

Themes and symbolism

The works of art of this period features mainly religious themes (the Church was the main client of these artists), but also some purely figurative themes. The religious symbolism is largely drawn from the work of Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend (1260).

Some more mundane themes were treated, but they were often treated via a religious or mythological representations. For instance, Early Renaissance artists sometimes used the theme of Adam and Eve as a way to represent female and male nudes in a then morally acceptable way.

The spiritual content of painting changed - subjects from Roman history and mythology were borrowed. Devotional art of Christian orientation became classically humanized.

During this artistic period two regions of Western Europe were particularly active: Flanders and Italy. Most of the Early Renaissance works in northern Europe were produced between 1420 and 1550

Techniques

The use of perspective.

The first major treatment of the painting as a window into space appeared in the work of Giotto di Bondone, at the beginning of the 14th century. True linear perspective was formalized later, by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti. In addition to giving a more realistic presentation of architecture, it moved Renaissance painters into using more unified compositions.

Panel painting