Subjects: Saints, Biblical stories, mythology, secular patrons, human form
Techniques: realistic scenery, linear perspective, chiaroscuro Notable Artists: Michelangelo, Raphael, Da Vinci, Masaccio, Botticelli, Donatello
Etc.:
Northern Renaissance
Period: 1450-1550
Subjects: Saints, Biblical stories, secular patrons, village scenes, human form
Techniques: realistic scenery, linear perspective, chiaroscuro, detail
Notable Artists: Bosch, Dürer, van Eyck, Breugel, Holbein
Etc.:
Mannerism
Period: 1520-1600
Subjects: same as Renaissance
Techniques: rich colors; careful details; distortions in color, scale, perspective, proportion
Notable Artists: El Greco, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Arcimboldo, Cellini (sculpture)
Etc.: tried to go "beyond" Michelangelo – away from perfection
Baroque
Period: 1600-1700
Subjects: religious grandeur, religious visions and martyrdom, dramatic scenes, Biblical stories
Techniques: grandiose, vivid and dramatic use of color, extreme chiaroscuro, realism
Notable Artists: Rubens, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Gentilleschi, Bernini (sculpture)
Etc.: fostered by Counter-Reformation, aristocratic patrons (especially merchants)
Rococo
Period: 1700-1775
Subjects: aristocrats, love, pleasure, sensuality, cherubs, Orientalism
Techniques: playful, light-hearted, decorative, pastel colors, curved lines, asymmetry
Notable Artists: Fragonard, Boucher, Watteau, Gainsborough, Le Brun
Etc.: in interiors, white walls with curvy, asymmetrical gold decoration
Neoclassicism
Period: 1765-1850
Subjects: portraiture, history (ancient or contemporary), classical mythology, human rights [not religion or sensuality]
Techniques: simplicity, highly structured (triangular composition), controlled emotion
Notable Artists: David, Ingres, Reynolds
Etc.: this is the art of the Enlightenment and Napoleonic Era
