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Sfumato is the 'smoky' quality which blurs contours so that figures emerge from a dark background by means of gradual tonal modulations without any harsh outlines. Leonardo da Vinci advised painting 'without lines' in his uncompleted treatise on p...

Find out about the entire collection of National Gallery paintings and sculptures, including Dutch Masters, Renaissance and Impressionist paintings, from Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci to Van Gogh.

about 1513

The Italian architect Donato Bramante was born in Urbino in about 1444. He moved to Milan shortly after 1480, where he was in the circle of artists in the court of Ludovico il Moro Sforza which included Leonardo da Vinci. After the French invasio...

probably about 1495-9

Isabella (1474 - 1539) was born and educated in the court of Ferrara, where she received an education in the classics. In 1490 she married Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua, and moved from one important centre of Renaissance culture to another. She was...

about 1476-78

What you need to know about Leonardo and The Virgin of the Rocks, in 30 seconds

Launch of a website dedicated to oil paintings across UK collections, including all of the works from the National Gallery, in a partnership between the BBC and PCF.