Renaissance

(1500–1600)

Level 2: Rooms 2– 14

Inspired by the art and literature of Ancient Greece and Rome, Renaissance artists developed new poses, compositions and ways of painting. The demand for Christian art continued, but patrons also wanted history, mythology and landscape paintings. Portraits were increasingly popular, for diplomacy, to express power and the inner life of the sitter. The 16th-century collection includes work by Titian, Hans Holbein the Younger and Bronzino.

Rooms 17–32 Floorplan

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Explore the Renaissance rooms

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Room 2 (Level 2)

Power, Patronage and Politics: Painting in Florence and Rome 1500–1600
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Room 4 (Level 2)

The Spectacle of Portraiture: European Painting 1500–1600
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Room 5 (Level 2)

City and Court: Northern Italian Painting 1500–1600
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Room 6 (Level 2)

Design, Colour and Invention: Central Italian Painting 1500–1575
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Room 7 (Level 2)

Paintings for the Home: Italian Painting 1510–1525
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Room 8 (Level 2)

Titian (active about 1506–died 1576)
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Room 9 (Level 2)

Radical Innovation and Rivalry: Painting in Venice 1500–1600
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Room 10 (Level 2)

Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces around 1500
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Room 11 (Level 2)

Portraits of Women
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Room 12 (Level 2)

The Triumphs of Caesar
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Room 14 (Level 2)

Intellectual Pursuits: Painting at the Northern Italian Courts 1450–1550

Explore the Gallery by periods and styles

Medieval and Early Renaissance (1260–1550)

Made between 1260 and 1550, these are the earliest pictures in the collection. They are works of great ambition and emotion, by artists such as Botticelli, Raphael, Jan van Eyck and Leonardo da Vinci.
Renaissance (1500–1600)

Inspired by Classical Antiquity, Renaissance artists developed new subjects, poses, compositions and ways of painting. The 16th-century collection includes works by Titian, Hans Holbein the Younger and Bronzino.
Baroque (1600–1700)

Painting in Catholic Europe expressed a fresh sense of power, drama and deep spirituality, while new secular subjects were developed in the Protestant Netherlands. The 17th-century collection features artists including Rubens, Caravaggio, Velázquez, and Vermeer.
Roccoco to Romanticism (1700 – 1800)

The 18th and early 19th centuries were a remarkable period of revolution and change. Formal artistic training, public exhibitions and increased travel transformed European painting. These rooms include work by artists such as Canaletto, Turner, Ingres and Gainsborough.
Towards Modernism (After 1800)

Experimental movements developed in late-19th- and early 20th-century painting, including Impressionism. These rooms feature many of the Gallery’s best-known works by artists including Van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne and Monet.