Spotlight: Art of the Western World: Program 3

SPOTLIGHT ON

PROGRAM 3: The Early Renaissance
Italy and the North

The revival of the classical tradition is explored and interpreted through the extraordinary contributions of Florentine artists in the early 15th century. Brunelleschi's soaring dome for Florence's cathedral, Masaccio's brilliant and moving use of linear perspective in painting, and the sculptures of Donatello and Ghiberti exemplify the merging of Christian and classical values in art. In the North, the richly detailed "magic realism" of Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck glows in the newly developed medium of oil paint. Grunewald's Isenheim altarpiece dramatically conveys the spiritual crisis in Northern Europe on the eve of the Protestant Reformation, while Albrecht Durer's prints and drawings herald the arrival of the Renaissance in Germany.

You can take a closer look at the lives and works of many of the famous artists, sculptors, and architects whose talents played a pivotal role in characterizing the Renaissance by visiting this Italian site. Artists featured include Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Alberti, and Michelangelo. For an overview of the site's contents, click on the index button located at the bottom of each page.

World Art Treasures is the Web site of the Jacques-Edouard Berger Foundation, whose mission is "to promulgate the discovery and love of art." Its site features many of the 100,000 art-related slides in the Foundation's collection. One section is devoted to the life and works of the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli.

Biographical information on Flemish artist Jan van Eyck and images of some of his works are located on the Webmuseum site. The works you can view here include Madonna in the Church, The Adoration of the Lamb, and the Ghent altarpiece.

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