2 Analysis of Renaissance Painting essays

2 Analysis of Renaissance Painting essays Looking In the mid to late 15th century in Europe, a period known as the Renaissance flowered during times of great political and social turmoil and various cities, such as Florence and Venice in Italy became the centers of humanistic philosophy which was highly influenced by classical forms and motifs dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Artistically, the Renaissance created an entirely new way to express human emotions and ideals via architecture, sculpture and especially painting. Historically, the painters of the Renaissance, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Brunelleschi and many others, were forced to fully evaluate not only the achievements of their numerous predecessors but also the new scientific theories of the time related to perspective construction, meaning that these painters "created paintings that reflected realistic yet often idealized figures and scenes based on humanistic tents and principles, whereby man was separate from God and viewed his environment as naturally occurring and not the product of a higher power" (Freedburg, 167). During the Renaissance period, many different styles of painting arose, some of which reflected the political and social events of the time and incorporated various techniques used to express humanistic ideals. According to Arthur Blunt, "a new vocabulary of styles and techniques affected every aspect of Renaissance painting. . . figures were placed more carefully within the frame with relation to one another and all architectural effects within the painting were more carefully sized to the figures" (245). Thus, many Renaissance paintings contained a considerable array of different human types supported by well-controlled emotional content, yet the largest majority of these paintings as compared to earlier styles such as during the Gothic period, contained true realism via facial and figural expressions that reflected the real world. During the early years of t...