Using the database of the National Gallery of Art to estimate the frequecy of oil as a medium in Italian art before the High Renaissance.

•    The National Gallery Of Art , Washington, DC. has 145 Italian paintings made between 1400 and 1500.
•    None were made in Rome.
•    Omitting the 15 that were made between 1495 and 1500,  leaves 130 made before the High Renaissance.  
•    Only 28 paintings of the 130 paintings made before the 1595 used oil. It was in combination with tempera (14 Paintings) and oil alone (14 paintings).
•    15 paintings were made from 1495 -1500. 14 were oil and 1 was tempera. The one tempera piece was done in 1495.
•    Considering that the National Galley probably has a representative collection and that 130 paintings is an adequate sampling size, 1495 can be used as a watershed year when oil replaced tempra in Italian Renaissance art.

Bellini, Giovanni, Venetian, c. 1430/1435 - 1516

Madonna and Child in a Landscape 

c. 1480/1485 

oil on panel 

Lippi, Filippino,  Florentine, 1457 - 1504

The Adoration of the Child 

c. 1475/1480 

oil on poplar panel