The Proto-Renaissance or Trecento (from Italian “mille trecento,” 1300) refers to Italian culture of the 14th century. It was in the Proto-Renaissance that the ornamental, very detailed, International Gothic style of painting by artists like Gentile da Fabriano was in full bloom. The Proto-Renaissance style of painting and sculpture was shortly to change, however. Brewing in the Proto-Renaissance was a new style, more simple and classical which would revolutionize the art world. It is during the Proto-Renaissance that we see the beginnings of Early Renaissance Art in Italy. Proto-Renaissance or Trecento painters like Giotto di Bondone and others were active during this time. Proto-Renaissance artists laid a solid groundwork upon which later artists were able to build. The Proto-Renaissance or Trecento was also a time of extraordinary literary achievement, with Proto-Renaissance/Trecento writers like Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio leading the field.
Brenda Harness, Art Historian
- Giotto di Bondone, Italian Renaissance Painter Information about early Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone who began the movement to the return to Greek and Roman ideals of naturalism in Italian Renaissance art.