Marche Breaks

The Renaissance reached its apotheosis in the early decades of the 16th century with the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Marche's own Raphael, who was born in Urbino - his famous portrait of a Gentlewoman, known as La Muta, can be seen at the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.

The High Renaissance also heralded a new style called Mannerism, characterised by dramatic use of colour, distorted figures, violent compositions and a move towards the grotesque and outrageous.

For some it marked the triumph of style over content, a vacuous virtuosity for its own sake; for others, it was an assertive and intellectual breaking-free from the, by now, suffocating restrictions of Classical Renaissance art.

Leading central Italian exponents include the painters Rosso Fiorentino, Pontormo and Bronzino, while in the Marche the greatest painter of this period was the Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto, who lived and worked here until his death in 1556. His many masterpieces in the region include his Crucifixion in the small town of Monte San Giusto and his Annunciation at Recanati.

While the rising merchant classes were busy building their palaces in towns and cities throughout the region, the great architectural project of the period was the construction of the Basilica of the Holy House at Loreto, which brought together many of the great architects of the time, including the Marche-born Vatican architect Bramante.