Why Mongols Featured in Italian’s Martyrdom of the Franciscans Fresco

This frescoed was done by Ambrogio Lorenzetti ca. 1330 for a monastery in Siena dedicated to St. Francis. It was one of several scenes in and near the chapter house that narrated Franciscan history, including events that occurred far from Italy: the Franciscans’ missionary activities took them to Central Asia, China, India, and elsewhere. In […]

Drawing the Italian Renaissance: How artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo & Raphael worked

During the Italian Renaissance, generally held to be the period 1400 – 1600, drawing became a much more important part of an artist’s creative process. With paper becoming cheaper as a result of the book printing revolution in the 1500s, an artist could use it wastefully in a more experimental manner. Find out more about […]

Who was Albrecht Dürer?

Albrecht Dürer’s drawings, paintings and prints make up some of the most iconic images in the history of art and have influenced generations of artists. Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, our exhibition ‘Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist’ brings to life this art history megastar and the people and places he visited.  

Raphael and His Main Works

Por centuries Raphael has been recognised as the supreme High Renaissance painter, more versatile than Michelangelo and more prolific than their older contemporary Leonardo. Though he died at 37, Raphael’s example as a paragon of classicism dominated the academic tradition of European painting until the mid-19th century. Raphael (Raffaello Santi) was born in Urbino where […]

Isabella of Portugal (1503–1539): A Renaissance Tour de Force in Politics and Culture

By Josh Longster Isabella of Portugal (1503–1539) stands as a notable figure in the Renaissance era, known for her impactful role in European politics and her contributions to cultural patronage. Born in 1503 in Lisbon, Portugal, she was the daughter of the Portuguese king Manuel I and Maria of Aragon. Isabella’s life took a significant […]

Gold in Renaissance Painting (Video)

Journey through the Gallery’s collection to learn how artists such as Andrea Mantegna and Duccio applied gold to their paintings and explore the different gilding techniques used in works such as ‘The Wilton Diptych’ and ‘The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece’, with our Curatorial, Scientific and Conservation departments. Gold shines bright throughout the National Gallery’s collection, […]

Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance

Florence, during the first decades of the fifteenth century, was the axis around which the world turned. In among its twenty neighbourhoods with their gonfaloniers, their streets and palaces, their churches and houses, Alberti was writing his treatise “On Painting”, Masaccio had painted the Brancacci Chapel frescoes and his Holy Trinity adorned Santa Maria Novella […]