- Quattrocento (15th century)
- Cinquecento (16th century): High renaissance

.-Looking for an ideal form of beauty
.- Inspiration in the classical world
.- Symmetry and proportion
.- Use of classical features: rounded arches, domes, columns, barrel vaulting
.- Recovery of portraits and nude human body
.- Linear perspective
.- Use of "chiaroscuro"
.-Inspiration in mythology.

- They gave financial support and protected the artists
.- Medici (Florence),
-Gonzaga, Sforza (Milan),
-Popes

.- Quattrocento: Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli
.- Cinquecento: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael