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The Renaissance And The Renaissance

Decent Essays

Medieval times lacked individuality, and lifestyle was bland and quite dreadful. Spaw from the 5th until the 15th century, Europe suffered through a significant dark period where human creativity and societal diversity was lackluster. This mindset changed at the beginning of the 15th century as revolutionaries and humanist ideas began to flourish. The common man began to express oneself, religious power began to dwindle, individuality increased, and the glorification of man and the shift of religious to secular ideas became present. In many aspects, the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century in Europe was the e spawn of the Renaissance humanist way of thought which followed in preceding centuries. In other words, it owes a lot of its development, to the previously established ideas and methods of humanists. With the influence of humanist ideas and the development of its own, the Protestant Reformation was able to take place and forever change the spiritual world of Europe. First and foremost humanists wanted to be proud of their self images. Humans were created in an image and likeness of God and Renaissance art began to reflect this belief. Before the Renaissance, sculptures and paintings revolved around religion with God or Jesus is the focal point of the art piece. During the course of the Renaissance, artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello created masterpieces that showed the human importance as well as modern artistic techniques.. Arguably one of the most famous paintings ever created “Mona Lisa” contains many aspects of a Renaissance painting. Perspective was used in Da Vinci’s portrait in order to create a sense of distance from the foreground to the countryside in the background. “Mona Lisa” was more than just a painting it sets a societal standard that a common man or woman deserved attention and their opinion mattered. In the same way artists used paintings to show humane importance Martin Luther used his words. Martin Luther believed the notion that a man’s vocation was discovered through his own interactions with God. Luther preached, “ All vocations have equal merit” which inspired man to be their own master and make a reasonable living for

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