The Revival of Learning

The Revival of Learning was like a storm on the fine day. It was an "arousal" after Dark Barbaric Ages and the awakening started with art, to be more exact with painting and literature. The Revival of Learning is confirmed to be the golden age of pictorial art.
All Renaissance painters elevated painting to a much higher level presenting the best example for future generations. The names of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Titian and many, many others will never be committed to oblivion. Italian artists are regarded as the Southern representatives of the Renaissance period.
Dutch and German painters, including Albrecht Dürer, Hieronymous Bosch, Pieter Brueghei, etc present a different approach that seems to be more realistic and less idealized. If Italian artists turned to the art of Ancient Greece and Rome, the Northern creators preferred the style of Medieval sculpture.
The Revival of Learning reveals a real revolution of ideas and opinions. The Church doesn't have that enormous affluence as before, the region isn't that important and the most essential place in all European art (painting is no exception) is taken by human. Artists become free to include visions of the surrounding world, and products of their own imaginations as well.
The 16th century witnesses the blossom of panel painting. It becomes increasingly popular both for churches and private estates. Panel paintings become integrated into walls as permanent structures.
The logical end of the Revival of Learning was the High Renaissance or the so-called Mannerism. The Mannerists looked for instability, doubt and impermanence.