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High Renaissance

American  

noun

  1. a style of art developed in Italy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, chiefly characterized by an emphasis on draftsmanship, schematized, often centralized compositions, and the illusion of sculptural volume in painting.


High Renaissance British  

noun

    1. the period from about the 1490s to the 1520s in painting, sculpture, and architecture in Europe, esp in Italy, when the Renaissance ideals were considered to have been attained through the mastery of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael

    2. ( as modifier )

      High Renaissance art

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of High Renaissance

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Even for the greatest High Renaissance sculptor, not every effort became a David.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

The pair’s combined patronage extended the length of the High Renaissance, from Donatello and Brunelleschi to Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2021

Bottom line this was the aftermath of the beginings of the Renaissance started by the High Renaissance masters Michaelangelo, Raphael and DaVinci.

From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2018

In his lifetime Barocci was the most celebrated artist of the generation that immediately followed the High Renaissance deities of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Titian and Raphael.

From The Guardian • Feb. 16, 2013

THE MANNERISTS: Immediately after the High Renaissance leaders of Florence and Rome came the imitators and exaggerators of their styles.

From A Text-Book of the History of Painting by Van Dyke, John Charles

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