This book gives the necessary background for the study and appreciation of Italian painting and sculpture from about 1250 to 1550. It tells how the artists learned their craft, the organization of their workshops, and the guilds they belonged to; how their customers or patrons treated them and where their work was displayed--churches, civic buildings, or private homes. The book discusses how art was made--tempera, oil, panel, canvas, fresco; it surveys the characteristic types of Renaissance art--altarpieces, portraits, tombs, busts, doors fountains, medals, etc.