The murals of Etruscan tombs, such as the Tomb of the Lionesses in Tarquinia, give a lively glimpse of an earlier tradition in Greek art

The Christians of Rome use the catacombs as tomb chambers, and decorate the walls with murals on New Testament themes

Enrico degli Scrovegni employs Giotto to paint the cycle of frescoes in his chapel in Padua

The cathedral authorities in Siena commission from Duccio the great altarpiece which becomes known as the Maestà

Masaccio paints some of the frescoes in the chapel of a Florentine silk merchant, Felice Brancacci, in Santa Maria del Carmine

Perspective fascinates Italian Renaissance painters after the publication of Alberti's treatise on the subject, De Pictura

The Dominican convent of San Marco, in Florence, is provided with a serenely beautiful series of frescoes by Fra Angelico and his assistants

Piero della Francesca paints masterpieces in his small home town of San Sepolcro

Paolo Uccello is interested in the laws of perspective, in works such as The Battle of San Romano

Oil paints, long familiar in the Netherlands, begin to be adopted in Italy in place of tempera

Andrea Mantegna combines an interest in classical detail and recently discovered perspective

The Sicilian artist Antonello da Messina adopts the Flemish technique of painting in oils

Sandro Botticelli is established as one of the leading painters of Florence, working in particular for the Medici

Leonardo da Vinci joins the painters' guild in Florence, probably after training with Verrocchio

Giovanni Bellini becomes the key figure in the development of the Renaissance style in Venice

Botticelli paints the Birth of Venus and Spring for the villa of a Medici cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent

Leonardo da Vinci begins an unprecedented series of detailed anatomical drawings, based on corpses dissected in Rome

Leonardo captures the enigmatic smile of Lisa Gherardini, known now as the Mona Lisa

Michelangelo begins work in Rome on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel

Raphael is summoned to Rome by Julius II and is given a major commission for frescoes

Raphael begins work on the frescoes in the pope's apartment in the Vatican, known as the Stanze ('Rooms')

Giorgione and Titian introduce the richness of colour which characterizes the high Renaissance style in Venice

The startling colour contrasts in Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling anticipate one of the main characteristics of Italian mannerism

The painter Giorgione dies after a short but extremely influential life in Venice

Leonardo da Vinci moves to France, on the invitation of Francis I