I saw this http://www.cnn.com/style/article/record-breaking-da-vinci-painting-abu-dhabi-louvre/index.html and then this recently http://www.cnn.com/style/article/raphael-paintings-vatican/index.html and it got me thinking the greatest works of art were created by Italians at the Vatican or Florence (just in Italy) just gorgeous, lively paintings but when it comes to other cultures it looks more distressed or flat. I was just wondering how the art movement was so advanced there when compared to Britain, India, China or Japan?
Italy was among the wealthiest places in Europe in the 1400s due its many profitable ports (Venice and Genoa) and naval infrastructure, and traded with much of the Eastern world when the rest of Europe did not yet. Much of Renaissance art was made in this period.
Italy's golden age did not last forever as it was slow to progress technologically aa other countries did in the 16th and 17th century.