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The cultural and artistic events ofItaly during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as theQuattrocento (UK:/ˌkwætroʊˈtʃɛntoʊ,-trəˈ-/KWAT-roh-CHEN-toh, -trə-,US:/ˌkwɒtroʊˈ-/KWOT-roh-,[1][2][3][4]Italian:[ˌkwattroˈtʃɛnto]), from the Italian word for the number '400', in turn frommillequattrocento, '1400'. The Quattrocento encompasses the artistic styles of the lateMiddle Ages (most notablyInternational Gothic), the earlyRenaissance (beginning around 1425), and the start of theHigh Renaissance, generally asserted to begin between 1495 and 1500.
In the late Middle Ages, the political structure of the European continent slowly coalesced from small, turbulentfiefdoms into larger, more stablenation states ruled bymonarchies. In Italy, urban centers arose, populated by merchant and trade classes able to defend themselves.Money replaced land as the primary measure of wealth, and increasing numbers ofserfs became freedmen. The changes inMedieval Italy and the decline offeudalism paved the way for social, cultural, and economic changes.[5]
The Quattrocento is viewed as the transition from the Medieval period to the age of theItalian Renaissance, principally in the cities ofRome,Florence,Milan,Venice,Naples. The period saw thefall of Constantinople to theOttoman Empire, and it has been compared with theTimurid Renaissance which unfolded at the same time in Central Asia.[6]
Quattrocento art shed the decorativemosaics typically associated withByzantine art along with Christian and Gothic media, as well as styles instained glass,frescoes,illuminated manuscripts andsculpture. Instead, Quattrocento artists incorporated the more classic forms developed by classicalRoman andGreek art.
Since the Quattrocento overlaps with part of the Renaissance, it would be inaccurate to say that a particular artist was Quattrocentoor Renaissance. Artists of the time probably would not have identified themselves as members of a school or period.
Also see the list of 27 prominent 15th century painters made contemporaneously byGiovanni Santi,Raphael Sanzio's father as part of a poem for theDuke of Urbino.
The dictionary definition ofquattrocento at Wiktionary
