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| Fra Bartolomeo Recumbent Child with raised arm 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Anonymous artist Study of a foot early 16th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
"The demands of late medieval religion, centered as it was on a suffering human god, undoubtedly inspired this emphasis on the human figure in art, but the impact spilled beyond the field of religion. Renaissance artists and their public increasingly considered the human figure the principal element of art and consequently the focal point for display and appreciation of artistic skill, regardless of the subject illustrated. Of this we find economic evidence in the fact that artists were often remunerated according to the number of figures a picture contained. Similarly significant is the curious advice of the Venetian painter Paolo Pino who, in his Dialogo di Pittura (1548), enjoined his colleagues to include in their narrative composition "at least one wholly mysterious figure, that is forced and difficult, in order to be recognized as a good painter by those who understand the perfection of this art."
– François Quiviger, The Sensory World of Italian Renaissance Art (London : Reaktion Books, 2010)
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| Anonymous artist Studies of limbs and a Bust 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist working in Florence Anatomical studies of an arm 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist Foreshortened head from below 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist working in Venice Studies of heads 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist working in Siena Studies of heads 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist working in Bologna Figure studies 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist working in Venice Figure study 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Parmigianino Decorative figure bearing lamp and vase ca. 1518-42 drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist Hercules defeating Cerberus, after an antique carved gem 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist Roman statue of seated nymph 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist working in Bologna Studies of women 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist Skull of a Horse 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous artist Dolphin sketches 16th century drawing British Museum |