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| attributed to Desiderio da Settignano St Helena ca. 1460-64 bronze relief Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio |
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| Gregorio di Lorenzo (Master of the Marble Madonnas) Ecce Homo ca. 1480 marble relief Bode Museum, Berlin |
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| Gregorio di Lorenzo (Master of the Marble Madonnas) Mater Dolorosa ca. 1480 marble relief Bode Museum, Berlin |
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| attributed to Giuliano da Maiano Ciborium ca. 1480 marble Chiesa di Badia, Settimo |
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| Tullio and Antonio Lombardo St Matthew ca. 1495-1510 marble relief Chiesa di San Francesco della Vigna, Venice |
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| Donato Benti Virgin and Unicorn (detail of Baptismal Font) ca. 1510 marble relief Chiesa dei Santi Lorenzo e Barbara, Seravezza |
RENAISSANCE (French, rebirth) – The use of the term to denote a period in European history was introduced in 1855 by the French historian Jules Michelet. Art-historical usage reflects Michelet's chronological definition. . . . More contentiously, however, the word also functions as a style label, following its use in 1860 by the German-speaking Swiss scholar Jakob Burckhardt to describe Italian civilization in the early modern period. His usage popularized the notion of cultural rebirth. . . . The two main components of this idea are the 'return to Nature' and the 'revival of classical antiquity'. Research has clearly demonstrated that in neither of these did Renaissance art break with its immediate past; that the northern European style known as Gothic had had both naturalistic and classicizing modes, and that the classical tradition had survived in Italy without a radical break. Nonetheless, common parlance still defines Renaissance style as a new preoccupation with the representation of natural appearances and with the formulae of Graeco-Roman art and architecture. This definition, however, not only postulates a disjuncture between medieval and early modern art, but also presupposes that Italy took the lead in the 'rebirth' of art while northern Europe followed – an interpretation which has been, and continues to be, challenged.
– excerpted from The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists, by Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton (2000)
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| Niccolò Fiorentino (Niccolò di Forzore Spinelli) Portrait of Agnolo Poliziano ca. 1494 bronze medallion Bode Museum, Berlin |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist Library ca. 1490 bronze medallion Museo Correr, Venice |
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| Jacopo da Trezzo Portrait of Ippolita Gonzaga (daughter of Isabella d'Este) 1548 silver medallion Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Francesco Camilliani Plaque with Mask ca. 1563 marble relief Fortezza Medicea, Siena |
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| Giambologna Equestrian Statue of Cosimo I de' Medici 1594 bronze Piazza della Signoria, Florence |
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| attributed to Giovanni Battista Caccini Bust of Giovanni Capponi ca. 1590-1600 marble National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist Door-Pulls 16th century bronze Palazzo Contughi Gulinelli, Ferrara |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist Door-Pull 16th century bronze Palazzo Comunale, Fivizzano |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist Ornamental Panel with Mask 16th century wood and bronze Abbazia di San Bartolomeo, Ripoli |