The Quattrocento corresponds to the 15^h century, the most important period of the Renaissance. It occurs after the Trecento, which marked the beginning of the Renaissance, and represents its most famous period: this was when the Renaissance spread out through Italy, and we found the most important artists of Renaissance like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, Masaccio and Botticelli.

Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, Leonardo da Vinci was the most versatile talent in Italy’s Renaissance.

Michelangelo was a great artist of the XVI century: a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. He lived to a great age, and enjoyed great fame in his lifetime.

He was the principal painter of the Sistine Chapel.

Rafael, also know as Rafaello Santi or Rafaello Sanzio, born in Urbino 1483, was an Italian Renaissance painter, considered on of the biggest painters of all times. He received his first artistic instruction from his father, the painter Giovanni Santi. In 1499 he became student and assistant of the painter Perugino, who he followed. Their artistic styles are so similar that some art historians had difficulties to distinguish their paintings.

In 1504 he moved to Florence, where he was influenced by the artistic innovations of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. His style changed from style based on perspective and rigid geometrical composition for a more informal, natural and gentle way of painting.

Rafael’s work called the attention of Pope Julius II, who, in 1508, called him to come to Rome and charged him to paint the frescos in four small rooms (stanze) of the VaticanPalace: the "Stanza della Segnatura" , the "Stanza di Eliodoro", the "Stanza dell' Incendio di Borgo" and the "Stanza di Constantino". Rafael dies with 37 years old, in April 6, 1520, not finishing the painting projected for the fourth room.

His most famous fresco, called The School Of Athens, is painted in the “Stanza della Segnatura”.

Masaccio (born in December 21, 1401, died in 1428, with only 27 years old) was the first great painter of the Quattrocento of the Italian Renaissance. His frescos are monuments to the Humanism, and they introduce a plasticity never seen before in painting. He was the first great Italian painter after Giotto, and a master of the Italian Renaissance. Masaccio understood what Giotto has started at the end of the Medieval Art (in the Italian Trecento), and made its comprehension available to all.

He died with only 27 years old, but his work is mature.

Botticelli was one of the most notable painters of the second half of the century XV. He is a cultured man and has a romantic artistic temperament.