It was the great Florentine painter Giotto (1267?-1337) who actually broke with the Byzantine tradition. His fresco series in the Arena Chapel in Padua leaves Byzantine art far behind. In these scenes from the lives of Mary and Christ, there is genuine emotion, tension, and naturalism. All the qualities of human warmth and sympathy are present. The people do not seem at all unreal or heavenly. Giotto shaded the contours of the figures, and he put deep shadows into the folds of their clothing to give a sense of roundness and solidity.

For his smaller panels, Giotto used pure egg tempera, a medium that was perfected by the 14th-century Florentines. The clearness and brightness of his colors must have greatly affected people accustomed to the darker colors of Byzantine panels. Tempera paintings give the impression that soft daylight is falling over the scene. They have an almost flat appearance in contrast to the glossiness of oil paintings. Egg tempera remained the chief painting medium until oil almost completely replaced it in the 16th century.
 
Giotto’s accomplishments in the early 14th century laid the foundation of the Renaissance. Fifteenth-century Italian artists continued the movement. Masaccio (1401-28) was one of the leaders of the first generation of Renaissance artists. He lived in Florence, the wealthy merchant city where Renaissance art began.

By the time of his death in his late twenties, he had revolutionized painting. In his famous fresco The Tribute Money, he puts solid sculptural figures into a landscape that seems to  go far bak into the distance. Masaccio may have learned perspective from the Florentine architect and sculptor Brunelleschi (1377-1446).
 
The fresco technique was very popular during the Renaissance. It was particularly suitable for large mural paintings because the colors dry perfectly flat. The picture can be viewed from any angle without glare or reflections. Frescoes are also available. Usually the artist had several assistants to help him. Work was completed by sections because it had to be finished while the plaster was still wet.
 
Masaccio’s full three-dimensional style was typical of the new progressive trend of the 15th century. The style of Fran Angelico (1400?-1455) represents the more traditional approach used by a number of early Renaissance painters. He was lesss concerned with perspective and more interested in decorative pattern. His Coronation of the Virgin is an example of tempera painting at its most beautiful.

The gay, intense colors are set against a gold background and accented with touches of gold. The picture looks like a greatly enlarged miniature painting. The long, narrow figures have little in common with Masaccio’s. The composition is organized in sweeping lines of movement circling about the central figures of Christ and Mary.