After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in about the 5th century A.D., Europe remained poor and in poverty until the 11th century. By then, Europe began to grow and flourish. While surrounding countries of Italy, such as France, Spain, and England were powerful centralized nations, Italy was still full of city-sized states.

Italy was now the center of trade and manufacturing. Noble courts and wealthy people criticized artists and scholars as they saw them as non-equals. Most Italian artists and sculptors modeled what the ancient Romans did in the way of art, and literature.

Florence was the place where art had a 'rebirth', following the masterpieces of Giotto in the 13th century. In the 15th century, a man by the name of Filippo Brunelleschi had turned his idea of art into architecture. New buildings and Cathedrals were being built in Florence, and Brunelleschi's amazing sense of contrast

Masaccio life was short, and because of that he was not able to teach many people his skills. But his talent of light, color, contrast, and perspective didn't go unnoticed. Artists now used what Masaccio had discovered in all of the paintings and drawings. And now the importance of lines was emphasized. Outlines in paintings made a huge difference in proportion and weight.

Take the Mona Lisa for example. What was Leonardo thinking while painting it? What was he trying to make her think? We know that no matter what angle you are looking at the painting she is looking at you, but was he really trying to do that? It seems so cool how you can move 180 degrees around the picture, and she is still looking at you.

The author of this book, Lucia Corrain, has a real love for Renaissance art. Her viewpoint of this art is that we would not have the same love and appreciation for art without this wonderful time in history. Although Italy and surrounding areas had troublesome times before, the period of Renaissance art was vital to today's desire and love for art. Since art at this time

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Approximate Word count = 738
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)