Importance of the Renaissance

The Renaissance, to me, was what art was supposed to be. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages introduced surrealism or a more symbolic way of representing an image. Although it is good to go away from the norm, one must always come back to what one can see in reality. During the Renaissance, many stopped following the teachings of the church and started to find explanation for the physical world through logic and science. Many of the discoveries introduced in the Renaissance hold prevalence today, such as, astronomy, physics, geology, and art.

Our culture heavily focuses on the 15^th and 16^th century art because it utilized math such as geometry and portrayed a more realistic sense of things. Proportion, anatomy, scale, shading, angles, and many other elements of art were reintroduced and founded during the Renaissance. Many feel that Renaissance art was the epiphany of art because of how realistic the art was. Human anatomy was perfected; color was used to emphasize reality by using the exact or near exact pigmentation of color to create a realistic effect. The use of shadows and contrast add a more three dimensional feel. Composition was well laid out so the placement of objects and people was proportionate to one another. Themes portrayed on paintings usually involved famous incidents in time or daily activities. This allowed many people to see how the Renaissance period was and how society was structured. Artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael were famous mainly because they worked closely with the Roman Church, so they were given the privileges of painting on churches, so their art was reached to a larger audience. All of these artists also expanded to other mediums such as painting, penciling, watercolor, oils, charcoal, sculpting, and architecture. By expanding upon mediums artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael could be more influential to a variety of viewers. All of them also looked to the real world for their inspirations, such as (secretly) ordering corpses to examine the muscle structure and bone structure of the human body and other animals. This allowed these artists to portray humans more realistically and give the viewer and more relatable theme. As well as studying the landscapes and incorporating the elements of perspective, scale, proportion, line, color, and light to make the scene look as if one can jump into the portrait.

No other artist has reached the level of technique and skill that Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael attained. This is why many classes and cultures revere them so, because they are the trinity (not in a religious sense) of humanism. They started a revolution in art, instead of heavily depending on symbolism and disregarding the human form; Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael perfected the human form and although adding symbolism to their art at times, it did not deter them from creating a realistic scene. This is why I believe the Renaissance was viewed as one of the most influential times in human history. The incorporation of art and science pushed the boundaries of what art could be.