Renaissance art involved paintings.
Renaissance art is the painting , sculpture and decorative arts of that period of European history known as the Renaissance , emerging as a distinct style in Italy in about 1400 , in parallel with developments which occurred in philosophy , literature , music and science . The revival of a style of architecture based on classical precedents inspired a corresponding classicism in painting and sculpture , which manifested itself as early as the 1420s in the paintings of Masaccio and Uccello . The improvement of oil paint and developments in oil-painting technique by Dutch artists such as Jan van Eyck , Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes led to its adoption in Italy from about 1475 and had ultimately lasting effects on painting practices , worldwide .