Renaissance Art

The time period in which the Renaissance art was created was during the Renaissance period. The Renaissance art is distinctive in many ways. The Renaissance was the revival of the learning and cultural awareness that occurred in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. They occurred mainly in Italy, but also took place in Germany and other European countries. This time period was focused on the revival of the ancient Greek and Roman art, which included a focus on science, philosophy, human beings, and their environment. (Book Internet)

The main reason for the Renaissance began in Italy is because of its location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Also, Italy was home to many wealthy families, willing to finance education. The Italian Renaissance was divided into three major parts: the Early, High, and late Renaissance.

The Renaissance also marks the part of European history where the Middle Ages were coming to a close and the Modern World was beginning. The main idea of the revival of the roman and Greek was through the belief that the study of the intellectual and artistic treasures of the Greco-Roman antiquity can be reached by artistic greatness, wisdom and enlightenment. This was inspired by Humanism.

During the Renaissance period many changes occurred in the area of art. One change that occurred was the spiritual content of painting. Some of the ideas from Roman history and mythology were borrowed. Some other changes were: devotional art of Christian orientation became classically humanized and classical artistic principles, including harmonious proportion, realistic expression, and rational postures were emulated. These are a few of the many ways in which Renaissance art is distinctive.

Compared to the art of the Middle Ages, Renaissance art is more life-like. This is one way inwhich Renassiance art is distinctive. "Renaissance artists studied perspective, or the differences in the way things look when they are close to something or far away. The artists painted in a way that showed these differences. As a result, their paintings seem to have depth."

One of the artist that was the first to paint with this new style was an artist from Florence named Giotto. Even though he lived more than a century before the beginning of the Renaissance, his his paintings show real emotion. The art produced during the Renaissance would build upon Giotto’s style. (Book Internet)

More ways inwhich Renaissance art was distinctive was that there was mannerism, which was characterized by odd poses and distortions. In a sense, the individual became the subject of art. The church mainly used art to portray passion, emotion, and drama in order to bring people back to the faith.