Renaissance Art in Florence Trivia Quiz

Answer: Masaccio

Masaccio is said to have started the early Italian Renaissance, and was the first painter to use linear perspective and vanishing points in his art. He started the fresco work in the Brancacci Chapel, with "The Expulsion" being his most famous work. Sadly he died at the age of 26, leaving the project unfinished; it was completed by Filippino Lippi in the 1480s.

In 1427 Masaccio painted the fresco of the Holy Trinity in the church of Santa Maria Novella, the earliest surviving painting to use systematic linear perspective.

The Brancacci Chapel is a tourist hot-spot and is normally crowded, but my wife and I spent Christmas 1999 in Florence and were able to view the frescoes with not a single other person present - wonderful!

Answer: Filippo Brunelleschi

Brunelleschi was one of the first Renaissance architects, and his work on the dome of the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiori, was astonishing. It was the first dome to be built in Europe since antiquity, and Brunelleschi had to devise many different methods of solving the architectural and construction problems.

He left many other wonderful buildings in Florence, such as the Foundling Hospital and the Pazzi Chapel.

Answer: Paolo Uccello

Uccello is probably best known for his paintings that are often exercises in perspective, such as "The Battle of San Romano" (1450) and "St. George and the Dragon" (1470). His fresco of Sir John Hawkwood, an English mercenary leader, was his first work; it's in monochrome, and due to its use of perspective appears to be a statue viewed from below.

Answer: Donatello

Donatello's little bronze of David is one of my favourite works of art. David stands with a sword in his right hand and with his left hand on his hip; he wears a peculiar little hat. It was the first free-standing nude statue to be produced since antiquity, and his later work in Padua commemorating Gattamelata was the first civic equestrian statue.

Answer: Fra Angelico

These beautiful works by Fra Angelico are in the cells of San Marco: exquisite small frescoes showing incidents in the life of Christ, with a beautiful "Annunciation" over the stairs. Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar, and he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Answer: Lorenzo Ghiberti

Ghiberto spent almost his entire career working on two sets of bronze doors for the Baptistry of St. John. The first set (the north doors) took 21 years to complete and shows 28 New Testament scenes in relief. The second set (the east doors) took 27 years and shows ten scenes from the Old Testament.

These ten reliefs are works of sheer genius, with naturalistic figures and perspective being used. Michelangelo dubbed them "The Doors of Paradise". Sadly the original doors were removed in 1990 and replaced with replicas; they are now housed in the Cathedral Museum where they're undergoing restoration.

Answer: Benozzo Gozzoli

As its name suggests, the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi was built for the Medici family in the late 1400s. The walls of its small chapel are almost entirely covered by Gozzoli's magnificent frescos showing the procession through the mountains of the Magi on their way to view the Nativity at Bethlehem.

The hundreds of figures wear contemporaneous costume, and many of them are recognizable as historic personages: in particular, the youngest Magi is said to be a portrait of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Other works by this rather neglected artist can be seen in Pisa and in San Gimignano.

The chapel is quite small but glows with colour, and, like the Brancacci Chapel, is a tourist hot-spot. Again, however, in 1999 my wife and I were able to view the frescoes with not a single other person being present - we were so lucky!

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

The Uffizi Museum is full of treasures, with this painting by Leonardo being one of the most impressive - it's a huge work, 7 feet from edge to edge. It's thought to be his earliest complete surviving work, from when he was in his early twenties. The arrangement of the two figures in the painting echoes that of the "Annunciation" by Fra Angelico.

Answer: Sandro Botticelli

Botticelli's "Primavera" and "The Birth of Venus" are probably the two most famous paintings in the Uffizi. They're huge, luminous and almost other-worldly. The "Primavera" depicts a garden with several figures from antiquity, but it seems that all knowledge of its meaning has vanished. But it's very, very beautiful!

Answer: Michelangelo

Michelangelo's "David" is possibly the most famous statue in the world! Seventeen feet high, it was carved from a single (flawed) block of marble (I've actually visited the Fantiscritti quarry in Carrara from whence the block came). It stood in the Piazza della Signoria from 1504 until 1873, when it was moved to its present location and was replaced by a replica.

It's a masterpiece of the High Renaissance, crafted by an artist who has left an indelible mark upon Western art and culture - but I still prefer Donatello's statue!