Renaissance ArtThe term renaissance, describing the period in European history from the beginning of the 14th to the end of the 16th century, comes from the French word "rebirth". This period is described as the revival of classical forms originally developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and an intensified concern with secular life: interest in humanism and affirmation of the importance of the individual. The Renaissance period in art history corresponds to the beginning of the great Western era of discovery and exploration, when a general desire developed to examine all aspects of nature and the world. Art, during this period, was appreciated not only as a vehicle of religious and social identity, but even more as a mode of personal and aesthetic expression. The term early Renaissance characterizes virtually all 15th-century art. Early Renaissance artists sought to create art forms consistent with the appearance of the natural world and with their experience of human personality and behavior. These artists strove to go beyond the simple transcription of nature, to infuse the work of art with ideal and intangible qualities, endowing it with a beauty and meaning greater and more permanent than those actually found in nature. Artists such as Donatello in sculpture, Masaccio in painting and Filippo Brunelleschi in architecture are part of this period. Masaccio, for example, gave numbers the ?illusion? of living beings when characters and kings...