Pico Della Mirandola's Oration On The Dignity Of Man

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.

Through art, man started to change their view on themselves. Paintings during The Middle Ages focused a lot on God and religious views, but not a lot on man itself. During The Renaissance, however, paintings shifted to being much more realistic with humanistic features. Berlinghiero’s Madonna and Child from 1228 shows a woman holding a small child (Doc. A). There are a few facial and body features added such as on the nose and the hands. It shows Mary holding her child, showing that he is “the way to salvation” (Doc. A).

The Renaissance began in the 1300’s and brought with it many new ideas and ways of thinking. The main one of these ideas being humanism, or that the best that a man can be is greater than the idea of theology. The Italians began to spread this idea and it began to grow. The Italians decided that the best way to express and spread the idea of humanism during the Renaissance was through their sculptures and paintings. This can be seen in many works of art from this time period such as the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, The School of Athens by Raphael, and Michelangelo's David.

The transition from Middle ages to Renaissance for art changed dramatically. The Art in the Middle ages was usually 2 dimensional and had a religious subject. When the renaissance came around art changed a lot. New artistic styles would echo the broader movements and interest of the new age. The art produced in the renaissance was more 3d and focused more on individuals and landscapes (Doc A). Paintings such as the Mona Lisa are what the Renaissance focused on, as well as landscapes such as the wedding at Cana. The works of art changed man’s view of the world

During this painting, Michelangelo didn’t have the drive he usually did, but when his greatest enemy, Perugino started to work on it with him, that drove him to another level. Michelangelo’s interest in portraying the human body, reflected how the people in this time period felt, and that made the people who viewed his art interested in his work. Also, his sculptures reflect how dramatic of a shift it was to the Renaissance Period from the Middle Ages, and shows how the

In conclusion, Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most famous from the Renaissance period and is the example of the Renaissance man because he was a master of both the world of arts as well as the world of science. Isabella d’Este during her rule set an example for women to break away from the traditional role of what women were supposed to be like during the Renaissance period. By doing this and many other things she was known as the ‘’First Lady of the Renaissance’’. Catherine was a great patron of arts and being this,

The Renaissance changed people’s view of the world by providing them with a new understanding of individualism, how they perceived themselves, and their place in the world. The Renaissance changed people’s view of the world around them by causing people to value individuality. Humans began to appreciate that each person mattered in his or her own way. Previous to the Renaissance, everyone in art was depicted very similarly to everyone else.

The Renaissance did the contrary. An ideal person in the time of the Renaissance was someone with many talents in different areas. Human achievement was also reflected in the arts. Artists affirmed the greatness and perfection of the person who is the subject of the work, and the artist who created it. They created realistic paintings that showed distinct characteristics of the subject. Michelangelo praised the human body in his art. “Mona Lisa”, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, was constructed to accentuate the precise talent of Da Vinci. Renaissance ideals greatly praised an individual and his achievements. This is why amazing art was created during the time of the

The Renaissance was a period in Europe civilisation that immediately followed the Middle Ages. It was an era of cultural growth that was introduced in Italy and was carried on throughout northern Europe lasting the 14th to 17th century. Many artists and scholars of that time period believed that they were contributing in a revival of the ideals and worth of the periods that arrive before them. The Renaissance period open doors for individuals to rediscover one’s will and obligations of observing the environment. It was an opening for them to express themselves in human terms. They shifted their interest from God centred to humans centred, known as Humanism. The Renaissance had expanded into four periods which were classified as Early Renaissance,

Humanism affected the art of the Renaissance because of how Renaissance artists became increasingly interested with humanist concepts, and because of how they tried to incorporate humanist beliefs into their art. Artists conveyed their humanist beliefs by using new techniques such as perspective, and by painting more realistic figures. In addition, humanism encouraged artists to paint using new secular themes that were rediscovered along with classical art and texts. The artists of the Italian Renaissance expressed the ideals of their time period by painting more secular scenes rather than religious ones, and by using new techniques taken from the art and texts that were discovered during that period.

"The Renaissance was a rebirth that led to new ways of thinking in the sciences, philosophy, and architecture, as well as painting and sculpture" (Spence 6). This period of European history, beginning in the fourteenth-century, saw a renewed interest in the arts. It has been characterized by

From Pollaiuolo creator of the engraving Battle of the Nudes to Michelangelo's David the human form was not about reality but idealism the ultimate portrayal of God's ultimate creation. This perfected view of the human form can also be seen later in Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Michelangelo's muscular figures whether male or female. Humanism’s affects did not stop there. The topics of paintings also began to change. Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus depict this change clearly. Both show mythological themes. The focus on these themes inspired Raphael and Titan to develop their famous pieces as the early Renaissance became the High Renaissance. From here interesting occurrences began to evolve. Humanism itself develops a new school of thought known as Neo-Platonism; an idea that mixes ancient philosophy and Christian truth. For example, the reaction to Botticelli's creations was that of others trying to find a religious meaning within the mythological topic. Slowly however, even this will fade as the Mannerist style develops. Along with the movement toward secular and eventually erotic portrayals of art the artist began to enjoy a new status. Duke explains that they became “practitioners of the high-status liberal arts” someone to be sought after, someone to study and someone to stand in awe of. Humanism’s affect spread north but there

Every painting is a unique experience for each individual person, therefore two of the artists that offered some of the most unique experiences where Leonardo da vinci and Michelangelo. While both of these painters are today well regarded and remembered, during their time they both had achieved such status in vastly different ways. Therefore even though these two artists lived during the same time these two are nothing alike. With their unique take on the world and events around them they were able to shape how the average person thought about the world around them.

Individualism in the Renaissance produced many new types of people and new creative pieces. Thoughts of individualism quickly magnified after the feudal systems of the Middle Ages decayed. People didn’t have to stay in specific groups and could branch out and try multiple varying things. The ideas of doing a variety of trying crafts soon became recognized as being a “Renaissance Man”. One prime example of a Renaissance man is Leonardo Da Vinci. He was a painter, sculptor, humanist, philosopher, engineer, inventor and much more. These “Renaissance Men” and preponderance of other creators used individualism to their

The new evaluation of the individual’s worth and the new conception of the individual’s relation to nature, which were to become the central motifs of the Renaissance, can be seen graphically in the paintings of artists like Piero della Francesca, Donatello, and Michelangelo. The individuals in their portraits and sculptures were the center of attention and were portrayed realistically, thereby glorifying man. More specifically, Michelangelo’s statue of David portrays man’s power and beauty (David, Spielvogel, 324). Linguists and philosophers also expressed this idolization of man. Pico della Mirandola, author of the “Oration on the Dignity of Man,” wrote that God addressed man saying, “‘Though shalt have the power to degenerate into the lower forms of life, which are brutish. Thou shalt have the power, out of thy soul’s judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine’” (Mirandola, 411). Therefore, man’s understanding of his potential as an individual led to an increased emphasis on humanism in all aspects of Renaissance society.