Essay about Major Changes: Humanism and The Renaissance

The Renaissance, which is French for the word “rebirth” or “revival”, was the cultural bloom for Europe. Before this era, life was an everyday battle, facing warfare, poverty, and disease. Starting in around 1400 C.E and lasting until about 1700 C.E, the Renaissance brought about new philosophies, lifestyles, and ideas that changed the world forever. The Renaissance changed the way people saw the world and their place in it by focusing more on education and decreasing religion’s importance.

It is said that van Eyck may have included himself in this painting. If you take a look into the far background reflected in the mirror there is a mysterious man on a turban. This easter egg inside the painting may have been deliberately placed there for several reasons. Van Eyck may have wanted the viewer to feel like they were standing with him while he was painting this image if it was indeed painted on the spot. Or it could simply have been inserted into the scene of the painting that could be completely fictional.

Arguably the greatest and longest impacting movement brought about by the forward thinkers of the Renaissance was humanism. Humanism was a cultural and intellectual movement that emphasized the human potential to attain excellence through direct study of the literature, art, and civilization of the classical Greek and Roman societies (Merriam-Webster). The scholars and believers in humanism sought to change the course of society away from the narrow pedantry of medieval scholasticism and utilitarianism. Humanism was a basic desire for every citizen to be able to speak with eloquence and read and write with clarity, so that common citizens were capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities (Gray). The movement also emphasized the value of a human being as well as the importance of rational thought rather than blind faith in spiritualism or superstition. It also pushed people to explore human desires and pleasures while also enriching their minds. The influential nature of humanism was far reaching and most notable for its effects on Renaissance art, literature, and philosophy.

The quality and quantity of details in Adoration of the Mystic Lamb are embodied by van Eyck’s mastery of oil, which suggests that his altarpiece is the greatest representation of Christianity in a piece of art.

The Moneylender and his Wife (also called The Money-Changer and His Wife) is a Flemish painting created in 1514 but Quentin Massys. It is Oil on Panel and is located at Musée du Louvre, Paris. This piece of artwork is Massys most famous painting and can be interpreted as a genre painting or a religious allegory. Seated behind the table, is the banker and wife in a tightly frame, focusing all the attention of them. The banker seems to be busy weighing pearls, pieces of gold, and some other jewels. Next to him is his wife who appears be to be distracted from reading her book and I think the book is a work of devotion because you can see an illustration of the Virgin and child.

Jan van Eyck painted portraits and religious paintings during the Northern Renaissance. He painted portraits of royalty and other wealthy people. Van Eyck also painted religious paintings for the church. Van Eyck was one of the only Northern Renaissance painters who could read and write. He signed his own paintings with a clever signature. He also wrote lengthy inscriptions on his paintings. Van Eyck’s work is still copied today.

In the book by Timothy Brook, Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, the author analysis several paintings of the Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer. In these several paintings, Vermeer, beautifully depicts scenes from daily life. His paintings are from the Dutch Golden Age and are incredibly realistic and the way he shows light and color are strikingly gorgeous. Although Vermeer’s painting skills are developed the subject of his paintings illustrate quite simple subjects, showing middle class daily life and tasks. However, Brooks takes readers past the beautiful colors we see on the surface and digs a little deeper into each one, going in and unraveling the scene to analysis things like globalization and world trade in the 1600s.

One of the main ways that the art of the Renaissance was affected by humanism was that many artists of the Renaissance began to turn away from religious themes, unlike their predecessors from the Middle Ages. Humanism was embraced by artists of the Renaissance without hesitation. When humanism spread throughout Italy and Northern Europe, there was an eager audience for the new findings of classical traditions and art. In the beginning of the Renaissance, artists used themes that were taken from Renaissance humanist beliefs and philosophies. These themes were mostly secular, and sometimes involved a slight religious aspect, but usually depicted a scene of an ordinary place. This is different from the Religious scenes that were widely used during the Middle Ages because almost

The couple's outfits are thick and even have fur, although the painting suggests that it is spring or summer, due to the amount of sunlight entering from the window and the fresh oranges (most oranges are harvest during the spring). The furniture and the drapery is impressive, and the oranges themselves are rare and are therefore a symbol of wealth. The painting also illustrates the relationship between the two subjects through various objects. The painting suggests that the subjects are married. There is a dog in between the couple, which represents loyalty. Both characters have rings on their ring fingers, which suggests that they are both married. Also, the painting shows that both characters have removed their shoes, which implies that they are standing on holy ground, such as Moses was when speaking to god through a burning bush in the bible. The reason they are on holy ground is because a holy ceremony has taken place, that is, a wedding. Notice the characters' body language is composed of the dominant husband and the submissive wife. There is also various references to the newlywed couple's intentions of starting a family. Not only does the wife's attire exaggerate her belly, making her seem as if she were pregnant, but behind here there is a statue of Saint Margaret, the saint of childbirth and fertility. When the individual objects of this painting are viewed as a whole, the message becomes clear. Jan van

Beginning roughly around the year 1400 an era in Europe began; one that would shape the ideas and the lives of men. This era of rebirth or renaissance came within the fifteenth century through the revival of classical texts. One central effect of the Renaissance was the production of a new intellectual idea: humanism. Humanism being defined as a, “[t]erm invented in the 19th century. . . [regarding] developments relating to the revival of Classical literature and learning in European culture from roughly 1300 to 1600” left its mark on all of Europe leaving nothing untouched not even the artist. Both northern and southern art would be affected by humanism but in different ways ranging from changes in the human form, new choices of

Many of this pictures contributed to studies of various emotions, which were later used in his religious and historical paintings. The may have also been used to illustrate his command of chiaroscuro, or the use of light and shade without color. In one painting deep shadows cover his face, leaving his features almost unrecognizable. In Protestant Holland during this time, religious art was valued as not being important. Even so, biblical and religious subjects accounted for about one-third of his work. Drama, as part of the Baroque period, was fully accentuated.

The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy around the 1500’s to about the 1700’s. Florence, Italy was the mecca of this rebirth because at the time Florence was extremely wealthy and the people of the city had political freedom and those new ideals of the Renaissance were not being condemned in Florence as they were other cities. This was a time where the arts and the logic of one’s own mind was valued rather than criticized, the antiquated medieval ideals no longer matched the needs of those who were living during the early Renaissance. Eventually, a term for this way of thinking arose and was called Humanism, and what humanism is, is an ideology where humans can lead themselves to create a prosperous life and instead of leaning on supernatural forces for answers. Humanists believe that humans have enough logic to create conclusions themselves. This brand-new way of thinking caused a lot of controversy because it did question God’s ability and the church’s power, but the ideas behind it are still heavily used today, even in the 21st century. Humanism in the early Renaissance is important because it called for thinking with reason, it allowed an appreciation for human body and mind, inspired authors and caused a shift in power.

Meant to impress and awe its observers, it again in bodies the image of the beauty of the human body. Its large size, exaggeration of the length of the arms and hands, along with the contraposto pose, shows how quickly humanism ideas had spread with the Renaissance.

Jan Van Eyck artistic style is very identifiable. Eyck's use of iconography, the use of symbolism in a work, occurred in a majority of his paintings. His creation of oil paint allowed him to create a detailed painting with varying textures. The use of natural lighting and vibrant colors, known as impasto, is very characteristic of Van Eyck painting.

You may wonder about, "The Renaissance" and its relationship to another term, "humanism" which fits into the same time period. If you check the dictionary, you will find that both terms can be used in a broad sense or more specifically. Humanism refers generally to a "devotion to the humanities: literary culture." (My definitions come from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). According to that definition we should all be humanists.