Quattrocento

Tommaso Masaccio's fresco, The Tribute Money

Sandro Botticelli's Annunciation, 1489–1490, is an example of Quattrocento art

Art of Italy
Periods
Etruscan Ancient Roman Gothic Renaissance and Mannerism Baroque and Rococo Neoclassical and 19th century Modern and contemporary
Centennial divisions
Duecento Trecento Quattrocento Cinquecento Seicento Settecento
Important art museums
Uffizi Pinacoteca di Brera Vatican Museums Villa Borghese Sabauda Gallery Gallerie dell'Accademia Pitti Palace Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze Bargello
Important art festivals
Venice Biennale Rome Quadriennale
Major works
The Tribute Money (Masaccio) Botticelli's Venus Primavera Mona Lisa The Last Supper Annunciation (Leonardo) Sistine Chapel ceiling Sistine Madonna Pietà The Last Judgment The Creation of Adam David (Michelangelo) The School of Athens The Battle of San Romano Venus of Urbino David (Donatello) The Calling of St. Matthew Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
Italian artists
Painters Sculptors Architects Photographers Illustrators
Italian art schools
Bolognese school Ferrarese school Forlivese school Florentine school Lucchese and Pisan School Sienese school Venetian school
Art movements
Renaissance Mannerism Baroque I Macchiaioli Metaphysical art Futurism Arte Povera Novecento Italiano Pittura infamante Purismo Transavantgarde Scuola Romana
Other topics
Italian architecture Sculpture of Italy Timeline of Italian artists to 1800 Raphael Rooms

The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (Italian pronunciation: [ˌkwattroˈtʃɛnto]) from the Italian for the number 400, in turn from millequattrocento, which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encompasses the artistic styles of the late Middle Ages (most notably International Gothic), the early Renaissance (beginning around 1420-1425), and the first portion of the High Renaissance, generally asserted to begin sometime between 1475 and 1490.

Historical context

After the decline of the Western Roman Empire in 476, economic disorder and disruption of trade spread across Europe. This was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages, which lasted roughly until the 11th century, when trade picked up, population began to expand and the papacy regained its authority.

In the late Middle Ages, the political structure of the European continent slowly evolved from small, highly unstable fiefdoms into larger nation states ruled by monarchies, thereby providing greater stability. In Italy, urban centers arose that were populated by merchant and trade classes, who were able to defend themselves. Money replaced land as the medium of exchange, and increasing numbers of serfs 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 Renaissance, principally in the cities of Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice and Naples.

Development of Quattrocento styles

Quattrocento art shed the decorative mosaics typically associated with Byzantine art along with the Christian and Gothic media of and styles in stained glass, frescoes, illuminated manuscripts and sculpture. Instead, Quattrocento artists and sculptors incorporated the more classic forms developed by Roman and Greek sculptors.

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.