Tuscan 15th-century Master

Tuscany is considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, as brilliant painting, architecture and sculpture emerged throughout the Region. Florence, the capital of Tuscany, was of course the center of the Renaissance in the 15th Century. The Uffizi Gallery houses a great deal of this rich history of art from the Renaissance.

The greater region of Tuscany, including the city of Siena, was the birthplace and home to many great artists of the Renaissance in the 15th Century, including Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519), Michelangelo (1475 – 1564), Fra Bartolomeo (1472 – 1517) among others. Tuscany was also greatly influenced by the Medici Family and their patronage of the arts.

Some of the most important Sienese artists of the 15th Century include Il Sassetta (1392 – 1450), Vecchietta (1412 – 1480) and his apprentice, Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439 – 1502), all forming the Sienese School of Painting. Other well known Tuscan painters of the 15th Century include, Fra Angelico (1395 – 1455), Piero di Cosimo (1462 – 1522), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 – 1494), and Filippo Lippi (1406 – 1469).

The painting, Marsyas, is an un-attributed work in the Antonio Pollaiolo Room of the Uffizi Gallery. Pollaiolo (1429 – 1498), was a Tuscan painter, sculptor, engraver and goldsmith. He and his brother Piero del Pollaiolo (1441 – 1496), also an artist, were born in Florence, and collaborated on many works.