Humanism Through Art
The Renaissance was a time of enlightenment and advances in technology, science, and art. What influenced this all to happen was the philosophy of Humanism. Humanism is a philosophy, which focused on people rather than gods or other such supernatural things. We could finally focus on the things that we actually had control of. You can see the transition of religion into secular humanism - secular meaning not religious - through the art made at that time.
Before humanism, the art reflected the people’s religious thought in the background, as well as on the people. The background of the religious art was supposed to be like heaven and its perfection, to do this, they simply made it gold. It wasn’t until humanism was introduced that people actually incorporated the real nature or scenery behind the people. You could also tell that the paintings were made before humanism if the saints or religious people had halos around their heads. As humanism was spreading the halos began to slowly fade away, and eventually disappear, as the artists tried this new form of thought.
This Clearly isn't Right
Another element of Middle Ages art was things just seeming a bit off. The artists would draw each part of the scene individually and looking at just one thing, like a tabletop, it looks fine, but when you look at it next to the tables’ legs, it just isn’t right. The angles seem to be different for each piece of the art. When the Renaissance came into play, artists began to use scales and mathematics to draw each painting the way it is. As a result, the art would look more real and like one large piece, rather than a bunch of awkward puzzle pieces forced together.
The next, and last, advancement in the art might've been the most important in the field of art. have you ever seen art from the middle ages that had everything you could think of to be a good piece of art, but still you thought it looked bad? Well that was because Middle Ages art had no depth. Everything seemed to be right up close and next to each other, and the background seemed right on top of everything. In the Renaissance, artists used contrast and shadows to create a feeling of the art actually going on behind it. As the art stretches backwards, the colors should fade into the sky to feel like it is so far away that you can't see it anymore.
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Humanism was based off of the teachings and ways of life in ancient Greek and Roman civilization. An italian scholar named Francesco Petrarch was studying the ancient Greek writings and teachings when he realized that they focused a lot on the individual people and their potential. He spread this around to other people who spread it along some more. Eventually, humanism was created around the early 1300’s.
See the transition between a Middle Ages portrait and a Renaissance portrait
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