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At the age of 26, Michelangelo took on a huge slab of marble, nicknamed “the Giant” by the sculptors of the day, and turned it into David (1501–4), an intense young man contemplating his task as a proper Renaissance humanist would. Intended for Florence’s Duomo, it first stood in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, was damaged during an anti-Medici riot, and eventually wheeled to the Accademia for safekeeping.

Botticelli’s beauty strikes a Classical, modest pose, covering her nakedness with her hands while an Hour rushes to clothe her and the west wind, Zephyr, blows her gracefully to shore in a swirl of pink roses (1485).

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s first paintings, produced between 1472 and 1475 apparently while still a student in Verrocchio’s workshop. It displays his early mastery of sfumato technique and Renaissance penchant for the Classical.

It took Ghiberti many years (1425–52) to complete 10 gilded bronze panels of Old Testament scenes on the Baptistry’s east doors (now copies; originals in the Museo dell’Opera).

Masaccio’s Trinità is the first painting to use mathematical single point perspective (1428). The triangular composition draws lines from the kneeling donors through the halos of Mary and St John to God the Father.

Giotto’s masterful altarpiece (1310) broke conventions by dressing the Virgin in normal clothes rather than stylized robes, with the Child perched on an actual lap rather than hovering.

This version of the Annunciation was painted in 1442 by Fra Angelico for his own monastery. The sense of space is emphasized by showing the room behind the loggia, and the lush woods in the distance beyond.

The first undisputed masterpiece of the Sienese School was this Maestà (1311) by Duccio. It was paraded through the streets, and painting a Maestà became a rite of passage for Sienese artists.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s fresco of 1338 wraps around the medieval ruling Council of Nine’s inner chamber. Ruled by the allegorical figures of Good Government, medieval Siena prospers. Under Bad Government, it crumbles.

As Piero della Francesca’s heavy-lidded, heavily muscled Jesus rises from his sarcophagus, the dreary, dead landscape flowers into life (1463). The sleeping Roman soldier slumped in brown armour is said to be a self-portrait.