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The optimism and confidence in human potential that characterized the Renaissance produced an extraordinary number of exceptional artists. The painters showcased here reveal key aspects of the development of Renaissance art. Each was informed by the Christian faith that undergirded their society, and each, in turn, shaped the Christian tradition for centuries to follow.

His name may not be known to most people today, yet little more than a century after the painter Masaccio's death, the 16th-century biographer Giorgio Vasari identified him as a key figure in the history of Renaissance art, writing that "he gave birth to that modern style which has been followed from those [Masaccio's] times down to our own day by all our artists."

Masaccio rejected the artistic conventions of grace and idealized beauty for sacred subjects in favor of representations that were, in the words of Vasari, "lifelike, true, and natural." He wanted to make the Christian faith more tangible and accessible to the common person. Like many Renaissance artists, he painted grand human dramas that emphasized the dignity of humankind. His skillful use of simple forms, colorful figures with emphatic gestures and expressive faces, three-dimensional perspective, and shadows made his subjects seem almost palpable. In his famous fresco depicting the Trinity in Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Masaccio employed many of these techniques to portray the central mystery of the Christian faith—the one God who is three persons.

Though Masaccio's rough, natural style went against prevailing tastes in his time, he had an enormous influence on later Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael. Not a shabby legacy for someone who died before his 28th birthday.

There is perhaps no Renaissance artist whose art so closely reflects his personal character as the painter known to us as Fra Angelico. Described as "simple and most holy," "humane and temperate, living chastely," he claimed "that anyone who created works involving Christ ought always to reside with Christ." Vasari tells us that "although he could have lived most comfortably in the secular world … and could have earned whatever he wanted from the arts … he nevertheless desired, for his own satisfaction and tranquility (being by nature calm and gentle) and, principally, for the salvation of his soul, to join the Order of the Preaching Friars," that is, the Dominicans. In 1449 he was elected prior of the Monastery of San Marco in Florence, which he had decorated with frescoes in service of the Order some years earlier.

From early on, recognition of his moral character and devotional piety rivaled his reputation as a painter. He even turned down an invitation by the pope to be archbishop of Florence, claiming that he did not feel well suited to such a leadership position. Long before his death, he was referred to simply as Fra Angelico, the Angelic Brother.

Fra Angelico saw his painting as a devotional exercise. It was said that he "never set his hand to a brush without first saying a prayer. He never painted a crucifix without the tears streaming down his cheeks." But more importantly, he also saw his paintings as being far more than mere representations of sacred subjects. Their primary purpose, to borrow the words of the 15th-century architect and art theorist Leon Battista Alberti, was "to move the soul of the beholder." Renaissance Christians viewed religious images not only as a valuable means of teaching biblical stories and doctrines (as advocated by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century), but as having a spiritually transformative power.

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