Andrea del Sarto was the leading painter in Florence in the 1520s. His harmonious compositions reflect Renaissance ideals, yet his later work also anticipates the elongated figures and discordant colouring associated with mannerism. He was an outstanding draughtsman and made many studies from life. He specialised in altarpieces and other religious works, but also painted some fresco cycles and portraits. The French King Francoise I invited him to be his court painter, a post he held for a year (1518-19) before returning to Florence for good.
A period in European culture from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries in which the visual arts flourished with advances in the treatment of anatomy and the use of perspective. It is particularly associated with Italy, where it began, though the term applies elsewhere. It is noted for a revival of interest in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.