Without denying the revolutionary aspects of the Renaissance, it must be said that the division of history into periods can lead to misunderstanding. Human history has no sharp breaks, only more or less gradual evolvement, and there is no sharp line to be drawn between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Moreover, since the Renaissance is associated with a classical revival, forms of art that do not conform to the model tend to be disregarded. It would be easy to suppose, from the evidence of books, that artistically Florence was worth the rest of Europe put together during the 15th and early 16th centuries, but extraordinary though the Florentine output was, that is of course untrue. Nor were Florentine artists in the early 15th century setting out simply to revive the classical style. The truth is more complex