Samuel H. Kress and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation made a major gift of European Renaissance art to the Allentown Art Museum in 1960 and 1961. This tour presents a survey of Italian Renaissance art from the Kress gift. These paintings from the mid-1300s to the mid 1500s show a shift from religious to human subjects. Renaissance artists made significant advances in painting techniques including the development of linear perspective and the illusion of atmosphere created by newly developed oil paints.

Classroom Activities
Have students arrange the works of art in this theme on a timeline. What does the timeline view contribute to students' understanding of the history of the Renaissance?

Renaissance artists made significant advances in painting techniques including the development of linear perspective and the illusion of atmosphere. Have students identify these advances in the works of art in this theme.

Have students imagine a conversation between the artists who made two of these works of art. What would they talk about?

Have students choose one work of art in this theme to begin a story, and a second work of art to end it. What happens in the middle?

Have students pretend that one of these works of art belongs to them, and they would like to donate it to a museum. How will they convince the museum to accept it?

Have students make egg tempera paint, the paint used during in Medieval Europe and the early Renaissance. Directions can be found in the lesson plan section of Allentown Art Museum's Renaissance Connection, http://www.renaissanceconnection.org