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.

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High Renaissance British  

noun

1. 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

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Etymology

Origin of High Renaissance

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

High Renaissance

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

It’s hard to imagine Florence, cradle of the High Renaissance of early modern Europe, without its avaricious, venal, culture-conscious first family, the Medici.

From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2021

They are also a quick way to grasp the achievement of the High Renaissance, for tapestries – you can compare examples in the V&A collection – were usually even more cluttered than other narrative art.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 6, 2010

The "Early Renaissance" was followed by the "High Renaissance" in architecture, a subject which has little to do with this essay, but which has much to do with Williamsburg.

From Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century by Forman, Henry Chandlee