- Because of their audience, Italian Renaissance artists often filled their paintings with the figures and stories from the Bible. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel for the Apostolic Palace, the residence of then-Pope Julius II. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contained scenes from the Bible's creation story as well as the stories of Moses and Jesus. Leonardo da Vinci also painted religious art. Other artists of the era, including Raphael, painted altarpieces for churches with subjects like the Virgin Mary.
- Italian Renaissance artists drew on their inspiration from Greek and Roman history to create other artworks, even those for their Christian patrons. Pope Julius II requested that Raphael paint the rooms for the Palace of the Vatican, but Raphael also included depictions of the Greek muses and the Greek god Apollo. Sandro Boticelli's "Birth of Venus" was also an iconic example. Painted in 1486, it depicted the Roman god of love emerging from the sea.
- Italian Renaissance artists used perspective and geometry to give their paintings depth and realism. The artists focused on one-point perspective, vanishing points and the geometric groupings of figures. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the artists who often depicted the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus in a triangle shape. "The Last Supper" was also geometrically displayed with Christ as the focal point, forming a triangle with his arms.
- Chiaroscuro was when artists used light and dark colors to create depth and realism. The term comes from an Italian term for light and dark. Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael used the chiaroscuro technique in much of their work, but it was Tommaso Masaccio who introduced the technique into the Italian Renaissance. Masaccio's "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" was one of the first works of the Renaissance to contain realistic figures, depth and shadow.
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