Renaissance Art : Ideas And Methods Of The Renaissance

The Renaissance occurred in Europe between 1400 and 1600. This event began in Italy during the Medieval period and then expanded to the rest of Europe, marking the start of the Modern age. The Renaissance began in Florence Italy in the 14th century. It was a cultural movement that had an enormous impact in Europe during the early modern period. The Renaissance’s influenced politics, science, literature, art, philosophy, religion, music, and other aspects. Around the 13th century in Italy started the Renaissance’s art influence. Leonardo da Vinci, was known as the "Renaissance man," because of his art masterpieces and his studies in other fields during this time. Italy wasn’t a political concept in the

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.

Humanism became the dominant ideology in the Renaissance where artists looked on themselves. They started illustrate human emotions through their paintings and sculptures. They emphasized on human feelings and made many statues which portrayed anger, love, hate, etc. Goldstein, a professor in art history, describes about the secular ideas of humanism. Several artists wrote about humanism which includes broad moral ideas as well as visual art (641). Humanism helped people to realize the moral values and its use in art People happened to think about morality which

The political stability and prosperity of the Renaissance Period created an atmosphere where people’s interests returned to the ancient teachings of Rome and Greece. This resulted in an increased interest in art, especially art that highlighted an individual’s experience. During this time there was little turmoil and the economy was flourishing, so people could live more extravagantly. The art of the Renaissance Period reflected this extravagance as well as the time period’s return to an interest in humanism. Humanism arose out of classical thinking in Rome and Greece and was based on the importance of the overall human experience.

From 1450 to 1750 C.E., the Europeans were beginning to settle in the Western part of Europe in places such as: France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and many more. Like many other of the surrounding countries and empires, the Europeans began to question many of the hierarchies in Europe at the time such as the Catholic Church by asking “Should we trust their process or attempt to reform?” or even “Should we ignore the intentions of the church and start something completely new that we believe is better for the people?” The development of both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment began to answer these questions and enforce their beliefs in European society. Through the inspiration of the “needed” change of tradition in European society the Protestant Reformation sought to bring back the early versions of Christianity, while the Age of Enlightenment sought to abandon Christianity and move forward. But both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment sought to focus on similar moral tenants such as the belief of individualism and the use of reason to analyze text. Overall, both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment in Europe desired to move away from the selfish, incompetent, and lazy Catholic Church of that time, and either move forward or reform to stabilize European thinking for centuries to come.

The Renaissance was the entrance to a change in the overall worldview of man. Humanistic thought began to grow more and more prevalent, and showed itself through art, architecture, and manuscripts. Humanists believe that man is autonomous, that humans are powerful enough to survive, thrive, and conquer without any spiritual help. It is a very self-centered way of thinking, destined to fail. One example of an artist who portrayed this through his work, was Michelangelo. His sculptures “men tearing themselves out of rock” give a bold humanistic statement. Man, as man, with no help is tearing himself out of rock. Man will free himself. Man is great. Leonardo da Vinci, the brilliant chemist, mathematician, musician, architect, anatomist, botanist, mechanical engineer, and artist, understood the end to which humanistic thought would lead.

Before the start of the Renaissance, the Catholic Church influenced every aspect of society. The Renaissance and it’s ideals changed this. The Humanist movement opposed the Catholic Church’s involvement in the lives of the citizens. Humanists advocated for personal independence and individual expression, an idea that directly opposed the Catholic Church’s ideals. The Church believed that citizens should dedicate their lives to the service of God and by extension, the Church. The introduction of the idea that the Church does not control every aspect of society was revolutionary to Early Modern Western Civilization because it allowed people to pursue things that they had not been previously able to pursue because of the limitations the Catholic Church placed upon them. Although only the wealthy were able to dedicate all of their time to these pursuits, there were still significant advancements in art, literature, and science, all of which impacted Early Modern Western Civilization.

During the Renaissance, ideas and beliefs were dramatically changed. Life went from circling around religion to the philosophical concept of humanism becoming the center of society. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings rather than supernatural and divine matters. The ignorant beliefs of the Middle Ages began fading away and the Church began declining in power because they were losing followers due to humanism becoming more prevalent. People began thinking for themselves and believing in their own ideas rather than blindly listening to the Church because they were told to.

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.

After the Black Plague crippled Europe, a new period of time erupted known as the Renaissance slowly developed. The Renaissance is known as the “rebirth” for Humans. The reason for this meaning during the 14th century was because of the radical changes in the culture of Europe. The Middle Ages was surrounded by religion in many aspects. The Black Plague helps stimulate the idea that religion is through the individual. Religion in Europe was starting to becoming not so literal, but more of a personal connection with God, instead of a strict public connection. The starts of the renaissance, commoners or nobility were not focused on taking over the family business, but focusing on other career options of interest. The ideas and the development of Humanism were established during the renaissance through the idea of religion being more personal.

The Renaissance time period was home to many new ideas in art. This includes new artists bringing forth ideas that had yet to be discovered and made popular. New themes and types of art were also being brought forward during this period.

Humanism instilled in people an instinct for curiosity. This inquisitiveness, in combination with their translations of classical scholars, lead to a transformation in art. Just like with science, art was greatly influenced by classical craftsmen15, however, they too went above and beyond the creations of the ancients. Artists of the renaissance period had a passion for representing humans in the most natural and realistic states they could. In order to do this, artists had to have a better understanding of human anatomy.

During the shift from the middle ages into the Renaissance period new conceptions of the individual and the human mind quickly came to light. Although art in the Middle Ages was centered predominantly on religion and faith, the incoming art of the Renaissance underwent a drastic change. A vast amount of these changes mainly focused on individualism, secularism, and humanism. Following the collapse of the feudal system, thoughts of individualism quickly rose when people realized that they didn’t have to adhere to a specific group.Throughout the beginning of the Renaissance, religious figures and the Catholic Church began to lose authority which conducted in new ideas of secularism. Comparably, humanistic art and notions became preeminent when individuals focused on glorifying the human body, learning more about it and inclined more towards realistic art.

As mentioned above, art was seen more and more important from the start of the Renaissance humanism period. This shift from the divine, and onto a more humanistic perspective was seen dramatically through illustrations. Most notably Michelangelo’s,

As for art, it was based off of humanism and was supposed to imitate nature. There were many art and architectural masters during the renaissance, some of which based their art on a perfect human form. One of these masters was Raphael, who designed the school of Athens and painted with harmony and order by the age of 25.