1.
Boccaccio: father of renaissance novels; his Decameron illustrate the lost of spiritual direction of Italy during Black Death
2.
Botticelli: his basically illustrated the beginning of the High Renaissance; his Primavera and Birth of Venus were great works; interestingly, he had a religious conversion and he destroyed most of his earlier pagan works
3.
Bramante: key High Renaissance; designed the The Tempietto in Rome and aided in St. Peter's Basilica
4.
Brunelleschi: key Early Renaissance architect who designed the Duomo in Florence
5.
da Vinci: the ideal universal man; today his best known work were Mona Lisa and The Last Supper; he was one of the Big Three High Renaissance artists
6.
Donatello: Father of Renaissance scuplture; his bronze David was the first free standing scuplture since antiquity
7.
Giotto: Father of Renaissance painting; first use of perspective especially in his works of St. Francis of Assissi
8.
Masaccio: built upon Giotto's foundation in painting; his Rendering of the Tribute Money illustrated the inner religious struggle the Early Renaissance painters illustrated
9.
Michelangelo: the quitensential Renaissance artist, sculptor, and architect
10.
Petrarch: his sonnets to Laura and Africa demonstrated his conection to both emotions and antiquity of the Renaissancd
11.
Raphael: important artist of the High Renaissance, his pudginess and exaggeration of features foreshadowed Mannerism; important work is Schoo of Athens
