Florence is best known for its contribution to the visual arts. It was the birthplace of the Renaissance.

• Masolino (also known as Masolino da Panicale) (Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini) (ca 1383–1447), whose nickname means “little tom” is best remembered for his collaboration with his assistant Masaccio. His work can be found at the Brancacci Chapel, at the Carmine Church, in Florence though born in Umbria, Masolino spent a considerable part of his life in Florence, where he paintred several devotional works for Florentine churches, such as the The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, for Santo Ambrogio. He was responsible, together with his assistant Masaccio, for the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine.

• Perugino (Pietro Vannucci) (1446–1524), like Raphael, he was also born in Umbria. He worked extensively in Florence. There is a particularly fine Crucifixion in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi.

• Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (1444/45–1510).  His nickname means little barrels. He was born in the Oltrarno district of Florence and it is usually assumed he never left his native city. He has left us numerous paintings, many with mystical connotations, either Christian or pagan, notably the Birth of Venus and La Primavera.

• Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi) (1449–1494), the head of one of the largest workshops in Florence, is noted for many of the frescoes he has left us in Florentine churches: the Sassetti Chapel at Santa Trinita, the Tornabuoni chapel in Santa Maria Novella, which are among some of the most magnificient and best-preserved of all freso cycles. His nickname means garland-maker, a reference to his father’s abilities as a goldsmith. He also left two cenacoli: one at Ognissanti and at Marco.

• Fra' Filippo Lippi (also known as Fra’ Lippo Lippi) (Filippo di Tommaso Lippi) 1406–1469), the son of a butcher, and mistakenly directed towards a monastic life for which he was little inclined. According to Vasari, who was not one to discard a good story in favour of prosaic truth, Filippo Lippi led an adventurous life, drawing instead of studying, being captured by pirates, having various mistresses and even abducting a nun, who eventually became the mother of Filippino Lippi. This latter story seems to bear some truth, though there are some who think the latter was an adopted child. He painted an important fresco cycle in the Cathedral of Prato, near Florence, as well as another in the Cathedral in Spoleto.

• Filippino Lippi (c. 1457–1504), the son of Filippo Lippi, finished the Fresco cycle his father had started at the Cathedral of Prato. He was also called to finish the paintings that Masaccio and Masolino had started at the Cappella Brancacci in the Church of the Carmine, in Florence. He was a pupil of Botticelli, by whom he was much influenced.

• Masaccio (Tommaso Cassai or maybe Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Mone) (1401–1428) his nickname means Big Tom, was, as his nickname might imply, too big for his native city, the modern San Giovanni Valdarno. He was soon in Florence, where he could study the new art that was developing in the city. He collaborated extensively with Masolino, the most famous of their works (finished however by Filippino Lippi) is the Brancacci Chapel, at Santa Maria del Carmine. Alone, he used to great effect and for the first time perspective, at Santa Maria Novella, in a fresco of the Holy Trinity.

• Piero della Francesca (ca 1412–1492), born in Borgo San Sepolcro (present day Sansepolcro), was active mainly in Arezzo, where he left an important fresco cycle at the Basilica of St Francis, the Legend of the True Cross, where his love of perspective is evident.

• Benozzo Gozzoli (c. 1421 – 1497) (Benozzo di Lese), an apprentice of Fra Angelico, left us an important fresco at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, in Florence: Procession of the Magi. He was also active in Pisa and in San Gimignano.

• Andrea del Sarto (1486–1531) His nickname refers to his father’s profession, a tailor. He and Franciabigio opened a studio together in Florence. He left some frescoes at the Church of Santissima Anninziata as well as painting a fresco in monochrome at the Chiostro dello Scalzo for a religious order that could not afford to purchase colours. There is just off Florence city centre a museum dedicated to Andrea del Sarto’s Work: the Museum of San Salvi, where there is a last supper painted by him and a collection of his work.

• Franciabigio (also known as Marcantonio Franciabigio) (real name maybe Francesco di Cristofano) (1482–1525). He has left us a Last Supper at the Convent of the Calza, in Florence, besides some paintings at the Museum of San Salvi and at the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano.

• Andrea del Castagno (c. 1421-1457), was born near Florence and was active there for most of his life, painting works for the Church of Santissima Annunziata as well as a fine Last Supper at the Convent of Santa Appolonia.

• Mariotto di Bigio di Bindo Albertinelli (1474-1515) was a friend of Fra Bartolomeo and influenced by Raphael and Perugino.

• Fra Bartolomeo (di Pagolo) (Baccio della Porta) (1472 –1517) painted a fresco for the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova as well as a famous portrait of Savanarola.

• Cosimo Rosselli (1439–after 1506) was a Pupil of Neri di Bicci and left some frescoes in the Church of Sant’Ambrogio.

• Piero di Cosimo (also known as Piero di Lorenzo) (1462–1522) was considered to be an eccentric, a reputation largely deriving from Vasari’s Lives. He excelled as a portrait painter and left an interesting a half-bust portrait of Simonetta Vespucci, a noblewoman, with a snake and bare breasts.

• Raffaellino del Garbo (Raffaello Capponi) (1466/1476-1524) Garbo was his nickname, garbo meaning in Italian something like elegance, grace. He was a pupil of Filippino Lippi and the teacher of Bronzino. There are some fine examples of his paintings at the Church of Santo Spirito, in Florence.

• Antonio del Pollaiolo (also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo or Antonio Pollaiolo) (Antonio Benci) (1429/33–1498) painted many works based on subjects of Classical mythology. He left us only one engraving, but a masterpiece: the Battle of the Ten Naked Men, where his interest for anatomy is evident. His nickname derives from his father’s trade, a dealer in poultry (pollaio in Italian being a chicken coop, pollaiolo is someone who has traffic with fowl).

• Piero del Pollaiolo (Ca 1441-1496), brother of Antonio del Pollaiolo, with whom he often worked.

• Paolo Uccello (Paolo di Dono) (1397–1475). His surname derives from his fascination with birds (uccello = bird in Italian). He worked much more in the Gothic tradition, with knights and damsels in distress, than in the new style then in vogue. He painted two versions of the story of St. George and three panels with the battle of San Romano, for one of the Medici Villas. These have been dispersed, one of them is now at the Uffizi, another at the National Gallery in London and the third at the Louvre, in Paris.