50 Times People Took Pictures, Only To Realize It Was ‘Accidental Renaissance’ (New Pics)

“Mostly, Renaissance art is about balance and perfection, and the scenes are imagined as complete within the frame. Not bursting out all over, which happens in the Baroque,” the professor summarized.

However, if you’re browsing these pictures on your way to an exhibition and then misattribute a painting, don’t beat yourself up over it.

“I have a lot of students who can’t tell Renaissance art from later Neo-classical art, but that’s not surprising,” Hickson said. “It’s all about order, balance, perfection. I mean, there are variations in the later Renaissance — a painter like Titian is really different from an artist like Botticelli — so there’s a progression within the Renaissance that can kind of freak people out.”

“The Renaissance is not just one thing in terms of visual language. It’s about an evolution of visual language centered on the full range of human experience,” the art historian added.