Evolution of Art during the Renaissance

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures relating to the topic i.e. Evolution of Art during the Renaissance. If the key term "Renaissance" is used in its widest, general sense as no more than a historical label for the two centuries of European history between about 1400 and 1600, then all paintings produced in this area and period may be described as "Renaissance" artefacts. However, in the context of the visual arts, this key term has a very specific meaning which, if analysed, permits the categorization of two hundred years of European painting into a series of sub-groups, more or less closely identified with "Renaissance" values. Like its sister arts, painting and architecture, sculpture was a medium that gave tangible form to Renaissance ideals, reflecting the progress of cultural and intellectual currents. Accordingly, the origins of Renaissance sculpture are to be found in those of the period itself. The newly matured humanist movement stimulated a historical self-consciousness which prompted comparisons of contemporary culture with that of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Ancient texts about art became a source of inspiration and a touchstone against which to measure artistic achievements. Verisimilitude, the imitation of nature, gained signal importance in the artists' vocabulary. Contemporaneously, the lay spirituality of the Franciscan movement gave force to the renewed interest in nature and man.

Thesis Statement

During the Renaissance, there was a shift in the focus of art from Medical religion-based article style towards a humanistic art interpretation because of the emphasis on individuality as opposed to powerful figures such as the gods and political Leaders

Discussion & Analysis

The Renaissance is the overall heading usually given to non-Italian Western European art of the period (ca. 1420)-(ca. 1600). It therefore parallels the Italian Renaissance and, like it, overlaps the so-called International Gothic at the beginning of its development and the Baroque at its end. As in Italy, the later stages of this period tend to be absorbed by the so-called Mannerist style. The concept of "Renaissance" is based upon the idea of a rebirth of interest in the forms and content of Classical art, and was originally formulated with specific reference to Italian culture of the 15th and 16th centuries. However, Northern art of this period developed in a very different way (Panofsky, pp. 12-42). During the 15th century, the Northerners remained totally uninterested in the rediscoveries of the Italians. In the early years of the 16th century, their outlook altered dramatically: the Italian manner, previously shunned, was enthusiastically accepted almost overnight. So whereas Italian art of ca. 1420-ca. 1600 reveals a comparatively unbroken continuity of stylistic development, that of the North may be divided into two distinct phases. Many historians prefer to term 15th-century Northern art "Late Gothic", in distinction from a 16th century "Northern Renaissance" (McHam, pp. 105-201).

The International Gothic

The International Gothic may be characterized as a tendency towards extreme elegance of form, combined with an often acute attention to ...