What is the earliest type of art that can be considered "modern"?

by Hamzaboy
johnfalkes

Well it really depends what you mean by 'modern'. Abstract art? Conceptual art? In its day every type of art was of course new and in a sense modern.

There are some individual artworks that look strangely out of place in their time-frame. But that has more to do with our expectations of what a certain work should look like in a certain period. E.g. Jean Fouquet's Madonna might look somewhat quaint to us. Same goes for Piero di Cosimo's Hunting scene. It might not match our expectations of a typical renaissance painting, but when you delve into late 15th century art, you realize it's not as out of place as it looks.