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The Mona Lisa.

Leonardo da Vinci's enigmatic masterpiece.

The Mona Lisa is undoubtedly the world’s most recognised painting, it is also the most famous portrait in the world. Being the most famous does not imply that it is the best but certainly it is a masterpiece of outstanding quality.

Who was she?

The identity of the sitter has been questioned although it is accepted that Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo is the subject of the painting it is by no means certain that she was.

The theft of The Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911 by an Italian immigrant and employee of the Louvre, Vincenzo Peruggia.

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The Mona Lisa Leonardo da Vinci's magnificent oil painting.

The Mona Lisa, Leonardo's enigmatic Florentine muse is the most famous portrait in the world, a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance.

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Da Vinci Drawings magnificent artwork from the renaissance master

Leonardo Da Vinci drawings offer an insight into the mind of the Renaissance genius

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The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

The Birth of Venus is an iconic, mythological Renaissance masterpiece. This vision of the Goddess of Love washed ashore on a sea-shell continues to fascinate generations of art lovers. Discover Botticelli’s classical poetic inspiration for this magnificent painting.

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Michelangelo Buonarroti, the life and art of the renaissance master

Michelangelo Buonarroti the Italian Renaissance painter poet and architect was also regarded as the greatest sculptor of the sixteenth century.

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Raphael Sanzio the High Renaissance genius from Umbria.

The life and work of the famous renaissance artist, Raphael Sanzio, painter and architect

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Giotto di Bondone was the great innovator of the proto renaissance

Giotto di Bondone, the first great artist of the renaissance, his paintings display a three dimensional quality which breaks with the flat representations of the past.

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The High Renaissance when the explosion in art reached its pinnacle

The High Renaissance, in Rome and Venice the lessons learned from previous generations of artists resulted in the greatest flowering of the arts in history.

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Early Italian Renaissance the history of artistic achievement.

The beginning of the Italian Renaissance, emerging from the dark ages the artists, plague and events that shaped the modern world.

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The Medici of Florence.

New and updated The Medici artistic patrons of the Renaissance. The Medici were an important banking family from the city of Florence. Their rise to power during the 15th century influenced the art, culture, and political events during the Renaissance period. The family was one of the wealthiest in Europe and the Medici bank was the most respected financial institution of the time.

Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent (1449-1492) held the reins of power in Florence during the golden age of the Renaissance. As an active promoter of the arts he was involved in gaining commissions for artists such as Sandro Botticelli, known for his famous painting “The Birth of Venus”. Other eminent artists included Domenico Ghirlandaio, Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

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