Renaissance Values Essay

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In the Middle ages, most paintings had a religious subject and message. However throughout the renaissance period, this changed. Artists introduced new techniques and the message and meaning behind paintings completely changed. As people started to question the Church, their world views were affected. The effects specifically were the new values: humanism, classicism, neo-Platonism, paganism, sprezzatura, and virtu. These values are represented through various works of art in this time period. The Renaissance value of Humanism is the belief that God has made the universe and all of his creations are beautiful. Humanists believe that through better understanding of God’s creations, we can understand God better. so focus was put on human achievements. In pieces of art where humanism is evident, emphasis is put on details either of an individual or of the background. Also, the main idea of humanism is based on realism so the artwork is not godlike or over exaggerated. For example, in his sculpture, Michelangelo shows David as strong and beautiful yet still human. Although he is glorified through the detail and nudeness of his body, he does not look godly. Through the perfect portrayal of David, Michelangelo is celebrating and appreciating the human body. Leonardo da Vinci was also influenced by humanism in his painting, The Last Supper. Although the focus in this painting is the people if you look beyond them and to the background, you see through the windows that da Vinci captured the hills and other landscape. This shows the depth of the painting and makes it seem more like real life. Also another humanistic characteristic in this painting is the symmetry. There are 6 people on either side of Jesus. None of these 12 people are smiling which exemplifies humanism because it shows real emotions. These people seem either anxious or distressed which is much more realistic

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