Renaissance Art: A Humanist Revolution in Italy
The Renaissance: A Rebirth of Art and Philosophy
The Renaissance began as a movement driven by artists and intellectuals in Italy, under the banner of humanism. It was a revival of the arts where the subjects represented, from the standpoint of ethics and aesthetics, were released from the bonds of the Christian concept of life. For them, art was not an anonymous service offered to God and the church, but a personal anthem in praise of beauty. Therefore, drawing was refined and used as the basis of painting. The cradle of the Renaissance was Florence. Of course, the paint was not immediately released from the Gothic influence, but gradually evolved into a new concept of beauty.
In drawing, the bodies adopted natural forms and became plastic. Artists tried to highlight facial expressions, which sometimes revealed the great conflicts of the soul. An example is the expression of despair that Masaccio gave Eve in his painting Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. In the 15th century, the portrait took precedence. Wealthy people liked to be portrayed in busts or medallions, and thus arose a multitude of people whose features were carved in wood. Rarely was a nude seen among the profusion of virgins and saints. Worldly sensuality was only hinted at with discretion in certain representations of ecclesiastical art, for example, those dealing with martyrs and sinners. At first, most images alluding to the sinful flesh were at the periphery of large decorative scenes, where the artist had more freedom of expression. In the 14th century, artists preferred to interpret these issues through the female nude.
Among the most significant representatives of the Renaissance, we can highlight Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Durer, Tintoretto, El Greco, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael. Some, like Leonardo da Vinci, for example, were noted more as artists through drawing. He performed his famous anatomical drawings, which are full of fine but firm features, highlighting human expressions. They are also wrapped in a subtle and delicate halo of diffused light.
The Renaissance is the name given to the great artistic and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe, primarily in Italy, in the late 15th century. Its main feature, particularly manifested in the arts, was its admiration for classical antiquity, which it modeled. The name “Renaissance” refers to what the movement represented: a revival or rebirth of Greco-Roman culture.
Main Causes of the Renaissance
- Conservation of valuable manuscripts of Greek and Roman authors in medieval monasteries and universities.
- Use of Latin as the language of scholars, which made it possible to read the classics.
- The presence of Roman ruins on Italian soil, which awakened a desire to know the civilization that had built such monuments.
- The invention of the printing press, which helped disseminate the writings of poets, philosophers, and scholars of ancient and modern times.
- Geographical discoveries, the advance of natural science, and technical progress inspired unlimited confidence in the power of human intelligence and stimulated action.