Compare and Contrast the Relationship Between the Artist and Society in the Renaissance/Reformation Period to the Relationship Between the Artist and Society in the Late 19th Century.

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Whilst artists of the Renaissance and Reformation were oftentimes commissioned by popes and aristocrats and thus sought to depict overt, beautiful pictures of glory, and artists of the late 19th century received money from their followers and thus sought to depict society in its bleak truth, both attempted to influence their audience through messages found solely in art. The Renaissance period was in many ways a golden age for art. With the rise of the nation-state, rulers began to see the value of art as a powerful means of persuasion. Most artists received their commissions from aristocrats and popes attempting to intimidate, impress, and enchant their visitors, and from such an influence arose the baroque style of art: highly overt, colorful, and glorious. Artists such as Michelangelo, who received generous commissions from Pope Julius II, created such splendid, ethereal, and religious works as David and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as a way to impress and captivate followers of the Catholic Church (and, undoubtedly, as a means to intimidate followers of the Protestant Reformation). At the same time, there was a sense of discovery in the Renaissance, and a newfound love of the classical writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The humanist program of study could typically only be afforded by aristocrats and the rising merchant class, and, as these people sought to boast of their might through the commission of art (the Medicis of Florence are well-known for this clever tactic), we have works such as School of Athens by Raphael, which depicts a beautiful blend of Christian subject and classical ideals. In the late 1800s, however, there was a sense of disillusionment with the increasingly industrialized world. Whilst Renaissance painters sought to create a "window into the world", artists of the late 19th century began to attempt to have their viewers

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