proto-Renaissance
Before the Renaissance
Proto-Renaissance describes the period in Italian art and culture, roughly from the late 13th to early 14th century, that anticipated the full flowering of the Renaissance.
Artists like Giotto and Cimabue began breaking from Byzantine conventions, introducing naturalism, depth, and human emotion into their work.
The term acknowledges these innovations as precursors rather than the movement proper.
Giotto's frescoes are considered masterpieces of the proto-Renaissance.
Italian epic poet
- PetrarchMedieval Italian lyric poet
- BoccaccioItalian prose master
- Divine ComedyItalian allegorical verse trilogy
- CanzonierePetrarch's lyric poetry collection
Decameron · dolce stil novo · allegory · courtly love · humanism · classical revival · sonnets · moral philosophy
Years 1201 to 1300
- fourteenth centuryYears 1301-1400
- FlorenceTuscan capital city
- SienaTuscan hill city
- Black DeathMedieval bubonic plague pandemic
late medieval · commune · guild system · patronage · mercantile · Tuscan · civic identity · urban growth
Trecento Florentine painter
- frescoWet plaster painting technique
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- perspectiveAttitude or spatial rendering
chiaroscuro · tempera · altarpiece · Florentine · devotional · iconography · gilding · expressiveness
Freestanding tower for bells
- baptisteryChurch's initiation chamber
- duomoItalian term for cathedral
- Florence CathedralFlorentine Gothic basilica
- pointed archArch with angled apex
marble facade · civic buildings · bell tower · loggia · stonework · bronze doors
Dante
Italian epic poet
- PetrarchMedieval Italian lyric poet
- BoccaccioItalian prose master
- Divine ComedyItalian allegorical verse trilogy
Canzoniere · Decameron · dolce stil novo · allegory · courtly love · humanism · classical revival · sonnets · moral philosophy · rhetoric
thirteenth century
Years 1201 to 1300
- fourteenth centuryYears 1301-1400
- FlorenceTuscan capital city
- SienaTuscan hill city
late medieval · Black Death · commune · guild system · patronage · mercantile · Tuscan · civic identity · urban growth · trade routes
Giotto
Trecento Florentine painter
- frescoWet plaster painting technique
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
perspective · chiaroscuro · tempera · altarpiece · Florentine · devotional · iconography · gilding · expressiveness · sacred narrative
campanile
Freestanding tower for bells
- baptisteryChurch's initiation chamber
- duomoItalian term for cathedral
- Florence CathedralFlorentine Gothic basilica
pointed arch · marble facade · civic buildings · bell tower · loggia · stonework · bronze doors
proto-RenaissanceHigh Renaissance
Italian art's zenith period
Mannerism · Baroque · Byzantine art · Gothic art · Rococo
proto-Renaissancemature
Fully grown or developed
culmination · peak · apex · decline · late stage
proto, Renaissance, renascence, renascent, nascent, native, nativity, natal, nation