Reference sources include encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries. They are a great place to begin your research, since they can help with the following:
Renaissance Art and Architecture by 
Renaissance Art : A Topical Dictionary by
This dictionary is a quick and useful reference source for identifying and understanding the Renaissance art of Italy and northern Europe. Arranged in alphabetical sequence, the more than eight hundred entries provide basic information about topics that were common subjects in painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period. Additionally, entries on characteristic schools, techniques, media, and other terminology have been included as background information as well as to provide an art history vocabulary necessary for comprehending or clarifying certain topics. Supplemental information on various related topics is cross-referenced for easy access, and the reader is provided with an even more complete location of topics and other entries with see references and a subject index. As an aid to further study, a list of northern and Italian Renaissance artists, which includes life dates and nationalities, has been included. A bibliography is also provided for further reference.
The Grove Encyclopedia of Northern Renaissance Art by 
The World of Renaissance Italy by 
Encyclopedia of the Renaissance
A Concise Encyclopedia of the Italian Renaissance by 
Renaissance and Reformation, 1500-1620 by 
The Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art by
These two alphabetically arranged volumes cover the major artistic developments in Italy from circa 1300 to circa 1600, a period that marks the Renaissance (or rebirth) of the humanistic spirit of classical antiquity. It is the period in which some of the most famous artists of all time were active, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. Beginning with transitional Late Gothic artists such as Giotto, the biographies trace the evolution of new modes of artistic expression, from scientific naturalism and the development of linear perspective to the exploration of new secular themes derived from Classical literature and mythology. All three phases of Renaissance art are covered, early, high and late (the latter period also known as Mannerist). Besides biographies on all types of artists, from painters, illuminators, sculptors and architects to printmakers and maiolica designers, patrons and collectors, there are entries on styles such as "all'antica", important art forms such as "cassone", cities such as Siena, Florence, Perugia, Venice and in-depth surveys of all the fine and decorative art forms in Italy during the Renaissance and Mannerist periods.
Encyclopedia of the Vatican and Papacy by  |
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