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Essay on Art Throughout History

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Introduction Any discussion of the role of texts and art works in changing the status of art and artists, wherever the location, has no option but to place art in an historical, sociopolitical and cultural context. Art cannot be taken as an entity in and of itself, or be placed outside of the above frameworks. The scope of this discussion cannot feasibly include a thorough history of European art from the decline of the Roman Empire to the rise of the artist in Renaissance Italy and beyond the Alps. It will, however, attempt to condense certain points which will allow some historical context to lead it into an understanding of the roles of texts and works of art in changing the status of art and the artist. Many questions arise, not least …show more content…

The discussion will focus upon the essential texts of Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) in the elevation of the artist from a lowly crafts member of the Guilds of St Luke via patronage by the Church and rich Italian city-states to celebrated innovator of cultural aesthetics and society figurehead such as Michelangelo Buenarroti, the mentor of Vasari whom he saw as the pinnacle of artistic practice, one whom it is ubiquitously claimed excelled even the art of the ancient Greeks. It will also briefly discuss other notable artists who wrote during the period of the Renaissance. Historical context Since the time of the Greeks (artists held in great reverence in the Renaissance such as Apelles and Zeuxis – 5th-4th Centuries BC) recorded via Pliny the Elder (23-79) in what has come to be known as Antiquity, through the Roman Empire, art became enshrined in the western Christian Church and in the

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