Masaccio’s Holy Trinity and the Illusion of Depth
The Holy Trinity by Masaccio is one of the most important paintings of the early Renaissance, famous as the first…
Raphael’s Transfiguration: His Final Masterpiece
The Transfiguration is the last painting by Raphael, one of the supreme masters of the Italian High Renaissance. Begun around…
Inside Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam
The Creation of Adam is the most famous scene from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo during the High…
Michelangelo’s Last Judgment: Heaven and Terror
The Last Judgment is the great fresco that fills the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo in…
The Sistine Chapel Ceiling and Its Hidden Order
The Sistine Chapel ceiling is the vast fresco that Michelangelo painted over the papal chapel in the Vatican between 1508…
Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks: Two Versions, One Mystery
The Virgin of the Rocks is one of the most haunting religious paintings of the High Renaissance, created by Leonardo…
Fra Angelico’s Annunciation: A Whisper of Light
The Annunciation is one of the best loved religious paintings of the early Italian Renaissance, made by the Dominican friar…
Botticelli’s Cestello Annunciation, Grace in Motion
The Cestello Annunciation is one of the most graceful treatments of the Annunciation in all of Renaissance art, painted by…
The Mystic Nativity and Botticelli’s Secret Prophecy
Mystic Nativity is the strangest and most personal religious painting by Sandro Botticelli, made around 1500 to 1501. On the…
Masaccio’s Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is one of the founding images of Renaissance painting, a fresco made by…