Introduction to the Humanities IV: Fine Arts and Architecture

Introduction to the Humanities IV: Fine Arts and Architecture

Introduction

The expanse and scope of art world has been categories into three main defined movement and periods by arts historians. In these movement and period, artists experienced the common techniques and usually found by portraying the common subjects of themes. The history of western arts has basically three main periods such Renaissance, Baroque and Impressionist Period. All these arts movement left the everlasting impact on the world of arts and most important on artistic (Rawson, 2005).

The Renaissance Period

Renaissance is the name given to the broad cultural revitalization movement that took place in Western Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its main exponents are in the field of the arts but also the restoration arise in literature and the sciences, both natural and human. The Renaissance is the outcome of the distribution of ideas of humanism, which produced a new beginning of man and the world.

The name Renaissance was used because it took up elements of classical culture. Also this term represent the revitalization of knowledge and development after centuries of stagnation caused by rigid mentality set in the Europe of the middle Ages. The Renaissance lift a new way of considering the world and the human being, the awareness in the arts, politics and science, changing the medieval centrism, a Renaissance by anthropocentrism.

However, Vasari had formulated a determinant idea, the new birth of ancient art, which presupposed a strong historical individual consciousness, completely new phenomenon in the spiritual attitude of the artist. In fact the Renaissance breaks, consciously, with the artistic tradition of the middle Ages, which describes, full contempt, a way of barbarians, who later receive the Gothic adjective. For the same consciousness, the Renaissance movement is opposed to contemporary art from Northern Europe.

Italy was the origin of the renaissance art that was began in 1300s and was dominated in middle ages. It was the duration in which interest rebirth in the art forms in Roman and Greek. This art was focusing on individuality. Sculptures were very renowned at that era. It was the time when higher level of living standards expanded and learning was flourishing by increasing in numbers of libraries, universities and academies.

In the mean time the artists were focusing and adopting the techniques by which the accuracy came into being not at that time period but the mathematical approach which we are applying today that was also origin from this art period. Anatomical knowledge was used by portrait artists for painting figures so that they found authentic. Famous artists of that period include Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael (Woods, 2007).

The term Early Renaissance can be used to study all of the art developed or grown during 15th century. There is no doubt about the fact that many new artists came to the fore in Florence, Italy during 15th century including Pollaiuolo and Sandro Botticelli who were recognized as masters. In addition, paintings of Alberti, Mantua and Mantegna ...