How Did The Renaissance Change Over Time

The Artistic Renaissance Shift: Looking Around instead of Looking Up Although relatively short in duration, the Renaissance represented a drastic change in culture and values from the Middle Ages. While the Middle Ages was a period of stagnation, the Renaissance was a revival in art, literature, and self expression. A shift in philosophical thought brought about the resurgence as people began to study the world around them instead of constantly looking upwards for answers to life’s most important questions. As people started to appreciate the beauty of the outside world instead of spurning it for the sake of being religious, artists began to focus on context, proportions, and linear perspective. Just as Thomas Aquinas sought to combine the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle in the church doctrine, artists enhanced their perception of the natural world while still conveying the …show more content…
“Perseus Armed by Mercury and Minerva” was a 16th century Italian painting that reflects the new attention to detail and accuracy. Mercury in the painting has defined muscles and is in an active stance. The face of Minerva is well defined and the Perseus’s armor is gleaming. There is also a background, which isn’t very well defined but gives a sense of context to the artistic figures. All of these details come from observation and careful training that developed over the time period. Artists incorporated linear perspective into their paintings as they recognized the value of depth and distance. The subjects of paintings also varied from religious to secular as the period shifted, with more appearances of Greek mythology, Roman and European battles, and natural scenery. As compared to the Middle Ages art, the characters aren’t necessarily the focal point of the entire painting as they are shown interacting with other people and the world around