broad sense,the father of the modern mode of painting.His painting da Vinci. is acknowledged to have established oil colour on canvas as the typical One after another the cradles of Italian Renaissance,Florence, medium of the pictorial tradition in western art. Venice,Naples,Milan were pillaged and devastated in the Italian Major Works: Wars,in which Spain,France and England fought for the control of The Venus of Urbino,an official version for paintings of its resources.The wars,lasting for 60 years which ended with the popular theme:the reclining nude. Spanish supremacy was to leave Italy under foreign control for more Sacred and Profane Love,an oil painting with figures firmly than three centuries thereafter. drawn and boldly and brilliantly colored. Madonna of the Pesaro Family,this is the great work which established the reputation and personal style of Titian. Man with the Glove,a proof that Titian was not only a prolific IlI.Reformation and Counter-Reformation painter of mythological and religious subjects but also highly skilled portrait painter. The Reformation was a 16th century religious movement as well as a socio-political movement.It began as Martin Luther posted on 5.Decline of the Italian Renaissance the door of the castle church at the University of Wittenberg his 95 The feuds of families,the conflicts of classes and the rivalry theses,inviting to debating on matters of practice and doctrine in the between the city-states kept the economic structure of Italy in the Church in 1517.This movement which swept over the whole of traditional local order,making it impossible for Italy to compete with Europe was aimed at opposing the absolute authority of the Roman the countries in Northern Europe that were uniting themselves and Catholic Church and replacing it with the absolute authority of the expanding their economy. Bible.The reformers,priests,humanists and others denied that the In world trade Italy had lost its supremacy because of the church authorities and priests were the only authority in the discovery of America in 1492 and therounding of the Cape of Good interpretation of the Bible and believed in direct communication Hope in 1488,the opening of an all-water route to India which between the individual and God.To enable this direct provided a cheaper means of transport. communication,the reformists engaged themselves in translating the The Protestant reformation forced the Roman Catholic Church to tighten its control over thought,speech and publication. Bible into their mother tongues.The demands of the reformists also included that of simplifying rituals,abolishing heavy taxes levied on Consequently,the joyous spirit that was once prevalent among the their countrymen and abolishing the indulgences,the centuries-old intellectuals had given place to a spirit of pessimism.No longer could Italy produce literary and artistic giants like Dante and Leonardo practice of paying money to replace the performance of the deed of penance. 142 143