Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario is teaming up with the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for an exhibit of early Renaissance art next spring.

The exhibit will look at how the artists of Florence, Italy — including Giotto di Bondone, Bernardo Daddi and Pacino di Bonaguida — helped give rise to the Renaissance.

Panel paintings and manuscript illuminations are among the works to be shown in Revealing the Renaissance: Art in Early Florence, including:

• Giotto di Bondone’s panel Pentecost from The National Gallery in London.
• Giotto di Bondone’s panel Madonna of San Giorgio alla Costa, from Museo Diocesano di Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence.
• Bernardo Daddi’s panel The Virgin Mary with Saints Thomas Aquinas and Paul from the Getty in Los Angeles.
• Pacino di Bonaguida’s multiple-panel work, Polyptych: The Crucifixion, Saint Nicholas, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Florentius, and Saint Luke, from the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.
• Pacino di Bonaguida’s manuscript Carmina regia: The Appeal of Prato to Robert of Anjou from The British Library in London.
• Specchio Umano, a Master of the Dominican Effigies manuscript from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence.

Many of the works have never travelled before.

The Appeal of Prato to Robert of Anjou, illustrated by Pacino di Bonaguida. (Art Gallery of Ontario/British Museum )

According to Getty co-curator Christine Sciacca, Florence’s prosperity in the 14th century prompted demand for both religious and civic art. The show will tell the stories of how works were commissioned and reveal the techniques pioneered by early Renaissance artists.

"The exhibition features artists who were masters in both panel painting and manuscript illumination in the vibrant cultural climate of 14th-century Florence," Sciacca said in a press statement.

"With new findings about artistic techniques and artists' workshops based on conservation research and scientific analysis, we are able to present a rich, nuanced picture of the beauty and creativity of artistic production in Florence."

The exhibition will show at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles from Nov. 13 to Feb. 10, 2013 before moving to Toronto. It runs at the AGO March 16 to June 16, 2013.