The arts in fifteenth-century Florence made numerous pioneering advances. Artists like Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci brought innovation to the themes, forms, and techniques of painting, opening up a new world of artistic expression. These painters searched for the laws of harmony and beauty with new self-confidence, devoting themselves to the study of antiquity and the practice of sketching from nature. Driven by drawing and in competition with sculpture, they discovered utterly novel modes of representation through portraits, profane visual narratives, and poignant portrayals of church devotion.
Drawing on prominent examples of painting, sculpture, and drawing, this lavishly illustrated volume presents the Alte Pinakothek’s sparkling collection of Florentine art together with more than seventy-five works loaned from museums all over the world, offering multifaceted insights into the intellectual world and working methods of Florentine artists during the Italian Renaissance.