Renaissance art (roughly 1350–1620) marked Europe's cultural transition from the medieval period to the Early Modern age, emerging as a distinct style in Italy around 1400 by reviving the principles of Classical antiquity while absorbing new scientific knowledge and Northern European techniques. Its development was fueled by humanist philosophy that emphasized present life and individual potential, the rediscovery of long-lost classical texts, and the advent of movable-type printing, which helped spread new ideas to a broader public. The immense wealth generated by the Medici Bank in Florence, combined with Cosimo de' Medici's unprecedented secular patronage, created a fertile ground for artistic innovation outside the church and monarchy. Architects and sculptors like Brunelleschi and Donatello led a revival of classical forms through early archaeological studies, inspiring a corresponding classicism in the paintings of Masaccio and Uccello as early as the 1420s. A pivotal technical breakthrough came with the improvement of oil paint by Flemish masters such as Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, whose methods were adopted in Italy from about 1475, forever enriching the colour and texture of Renaissance works. Ultimately, scholars today recognize that this "rebirth" was not an abrupt break with medieval values, but rather a gradual and transformative evolution that reshaped European art and thought.