French word meaning rebirth, now used in English to describe the great revival of art that took place in Italy from about 1400 under the influence of the rediscovery of classical art and culture. In Italian, Rinascimento. Renaissance reached its peak (High Renaissance) in short period from about 1500-1530 in the work of Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael. The work of Raphael may be seen as representing the purest form of the Renaissance style and he was held up as prime model in the art academies until mid nineteenth century when revolt began with e. G. Pre-Raphaelites, Realism, Naturalism, Impressionism. Up to then the Renaissance style underwent myriad successive transformations as in Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classicism, Romantic movement.