The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento ( , ,[
]
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "quattrocento" (US) and
Historical context
In the late Middle Ages, the political structure of the European continent slowly coalesced from small, turbulent
into larger, more stable
ruled by
monarchy. In Italy, urban centers arose, populated by merchant and trade classes able to defend themselves.
Money replaced land as the primary measure of wealth, and increasing numbers of
became freedmen. The changes in
Medieval Italy and the decline of
feudalism paved the way for social, cultural, and economic changes.
The Quattrocento is viewed as the transition from the Medieval period to the age of the Italian Renaissance, principally in the cities of Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples. The period saw the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, and it has been compared with the Timurid Renaissance which unfolded at the same time in Central Asia.
Development of Quattrocento styles
Quattrocento art shed the decorative
typically associated with
Byzantine art along with Christian and Gothic media, as well as styles in
stained glass,
, illuminated manuscripts and
sculpture. Instead, Quattrocento artists incorporated the more classic forms developed by classical
Roman art and Greek art.
List of Italian Quattrocento artists
Since the Quattrocento overlaps with part of the Renaissance, it would be inaccurate to say that a particular artist was Quattrocento
or Renaissance. Artists of the time probably would not have identified themselves as members of a school or period.
Also see the list of 27 prominent 15th century painters made contemporaneously by Giovanni Santi, Raphael Sanzio's father as part of a poem for the Duke of Urbino.
See also
-
Duecento – the 13th century in Italian culture
-
Trecento – the 14th century in Italian culture
-
Cinquecento – the 16th century in Italian culture
-
Seicento – the 17th century in Italian culture
-
Settecento – the 18th century in Italian culture
-
Ottocento – the 19th century in Italian culture
-
Novecento – the 20th century in Italian culture
Further reading
External links
