St. John The Baptist

The Renaissance spread from Italy to western and northern Europe. A movement called humanism developed, which praised the beauty and intelligence of the individual. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the Renaissance changed view of the world with the blossoming of art, literature, and science.

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

    Michelangelo's plays a huge role in the way that art was created during the Renaissance and well into today's society. His painting allow historians to grasp on to many more ideas that were expressed during the Renaissance. He is still one of the most talented human beings to walk this earth. There has been very few that have accomplished what Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni has accomplished in the short life of a human

There were many important people during the Renaissance Period, and one of the most important was Michelangelo.

Humanism is derived from the movement that happened from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The start point of Humanism is in Italy. It is an important development during the Renaissance. Because of the terrible Black Death in 14th century. The population of Europeans decreased extremely. A lot of people died of the Black Death. At the beginning of that time, people thought the Black Death is God’s punishment for living life in sin. People went to Church and hope the forgiveness of God. However, the wide spread of the Black Death didn’t stop. The dead body forced the people started finding the other new way. Instead of believing in God, people started to think about science. The scientists did the research and treated the Black Death by more scientific way. People started thinking about the man himself and explored natural environment by more scientific method. The new ways of thinking influenced the development of Humanism in art during the Renaissance. The Renaissance artworks are about the re-discovery of ancient Greek and Roman artworks and their way of life. Humanists rejected the religion concept and not believe in the supernaturalism. They tried to discover the natural creatures and destiny of man. Artists learned the human beauty from the ancient Greek and Roman artworks and architectures. They began to find out more ideas about the human experience, personal independence and social community. They brought the Humanism ideas into their artworks.

Before the early thirteen hundreds, there was a time called the Midieval era, where life was devoted and owned by the church. People were lied to by the thought of paying and working to go to heaven. When the thirteen hundreds came, alongwith it cam the renaissance that lasted until the late sixteen hundreds. The renaissance had a very important movement that changed all of Europe. Many new cultures and ways of life had changed because of this era, and one of the bigger ones is called Humanism. Humanism caused a very large impact on a person’s thoughts, actions, and art.

Man has been creating art for over 30,000 years. There are cave drawings, sculptures, Egyptian art, Greek Art, Modern Art and plenty more but to many, the Renaissance Art period is considered to be most important. Never had so many geniuses in art lived at one time and never had so many pieces of cherished art been produced. Two examples of Renaissance paintings are Cigoli’s Adoration of the Shepherds and Moretto da Brescia’s Entombment. Both paintings posses the attributes that were popular during the Renaissance period which I will now contrast and compare.

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

In the renaissance there were many famous artists and masterpieces. One of the most famous works of art is known as the statue of David, sculpted by Michelangelo. The statue of David is one of the greatest works of art from the high renaissance for so many reasons, including the fact that it is one of Michelangelo’s most well-known works of art. Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists from the high renaissance, along with many others. He created many masterpieces in his time and the statue of David may only be one of them but it is considerably the best.

The painting The Holy Family with Saints Anne and John the Baptist, 1592 (oil on canvas) was created by Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola (c.1532-1625). It is currently held at the Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, as a gift from Mrs. Forbes Hawkes and Bridgeman Images. This painting is among the unique pious narrative paintings by Anguissola. “The Holy Family” is the last dated painting by the artist. It was executed when she had just returned to Italy after spending 14 years working for King Philip II at the Spanish court. By this time, she had already married to a Genoese ship captain. Her various visits to court and her personal contacts with great painter at that time largely inspired herself. Through these contacts, she successfully stayed in touch with current developments in art. By closely observing this masterpiece, I argue that the artist perfectly sustain the beauty of counter-reformation arts in her work by use of light and shadow, delicate brushwork and accurate proportions of each subjects.

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

Art in the Medieval Times was dreary and bland. Many works of art were solely about God or holy figures. The most obvious change from the Renaissance to Medieval Times was the arts, according to Document A and also that “One begins to know the names of the artists ... feel stronger emotions in the subjects”. This shows that Renaissance art not only changed in style, in changed in how it made the viewer feel when seeing the art. Similarly, in Document A, Renaissance art is described as “new artistic styles would echo the broader movements and interests of the new age.…”. As compared to Medieval Times, the style of art became something similar to the time that people could relate to. In the Medieval Times, art was just meant to extol God’s many feats. People who viewed the painting were supposed to put that style of art on a pedestal. Medieval art was supposed to be worshipped, not so much understood. The individual in the Medieval Times was supposed to take away from the painting that the only thing that mattered in their life was the Roman Catholic church and God already had a plan for their lives. But in comparison, Renaissance art was supposed to empower and help people of the time to understand themselves and the fact that they can change their own lives.

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.

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.