The Renaissance was a period of great creative and intellectual activity, during which artists broke away from the restrictions of Byzantine Art. Throughout the 15th century, artists studied the natural world in order to perfect their understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective.

Among the many great artists of this period were Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca.

During this period there was a related advancement of Gothic Art centered in Germany and the Netherlands, known as the Northern Renaissance.

The Early Renaissance was succeeded by the mature High Renaissance period, which began circa 1500.

The High Renaissance: Centered in Italy, Early 16th Century

The High Renaissance was the culmination of the artistic developments of the Early Renaissance, and one of the great explosions of creative genius in history. It is notable for three of the greatest artists in history: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael Sanzio and Leonardo da Vinci.

Also active at this time were such masters as Giorgione, Titian and Giovanni Bellini.

By about the 1520s, High Renaissance art had become exaggerated into the style known as Mannerism.

Mannerism: Europe, Mid to Late 16th Century

Mannerism, the artistic style which gained popularity in the period following the High Renaissance, takes as its ideals the work of Raphael and Michelangelo Buonarroti. It is considered to be a period of technical accomplishment but also of formulaic, theatrical and overly stylized work.

Mannerist Art is characterized by a complex composition, with muscular and elongated figures in complex poses. Discussing Michelangelo in his journal, Eug¨¨ne Delacroix gives as good a description as any of the limitations of Mannerism:
"All that he has painted is muscles and poses, in which even science, contrary to general opinion, is by no means the dominant factor... He did not know a single one of the feelings of man, not one of his passions. When he was making an arm or a leg, it seems as if he were thinking only of that arm or leg and was not giving the slightest consideration to the way it relates with the action of the figure to which it belongs, much less to the action of the picture as a whole... Therein lies his great merit; he brings a sense of the grand and the terrible into even an isolated limb."

Prominent Members
 
In addition to Michelangelo, leading Mannerist artists included Rosso Fiorentino, Pontormo, and Parmigianino.

By the late 16th century, there were several anti-Mannerist attempts to reinvigorate art with greater naturalism and emotionalism. These developed into the Baroque style, which dominated the 17th century.

The Northern Renaissance: Centered in Germany and the Netherlands, 15th-16th Centuries

The northern European tradition of Gothic Art was greatly affected by the technical and philosophical advancements of the Renaissance in Italy. While less concerned with studies of anatomy and linear perspective, northern artists were masters of technique, and their works are marvels of exquisite detail.

The great artists who inspired the Northern Renaissance included Jan van Eyck (and his brother Hubert, about whom little is known), Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden.

As Italy moved into the High Renaissance, the north retained a distinct Gothic influence. Yet masters like Albrecht D¨¹rer, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel and Hans Holbein were the equal of the greatest artists of the south.

In the 16th century, as in the south, the Northern Renaissance eventually gave way to highly stylized Mannerist art.