The Renaissance was a great cultural movement that started in Italy in the late 1200’s and spread through Europe. By 1600, the Renaissance had affected nearly all of Europe. Florence, Italy and the European region of Flanders were the centers of the Renaissance art movement.
The word renaissance comes from the Latin word nascere, which means reborn, or rebirth. During the Renaissance, artists tried to recapture the spirit of ancient Greece and Rome art in their own artistic work. Like ancient Greek , Arabic and Roman art, Renaissance art often focused on religious subject matters. Renaissance painters used aspects of Roman statues and architecture in their paintings.
The beginning of the Renaissance overlapped with a period of time in European history called the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, people believed their biggest responsibility was to serve God and save their souls. Renaissance thinkers and artists rebelled against this idea, turning their attention to issues of people’s responsibilities and duties to society. While artists in the Middle Ages painted human figures that looked stiff and unrealistic for religious purposes, renaissance painters stressed the beauty and majesty of the human body.
In the late 1200’s, Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone considered as the first artist to depict people and nature realistically. He was also the first artist to create frescoes, or paintings on damp plaster. Giotto’s work portrayed great emotion, and his paintings were set in realistic settings. His masterwork is the the decoration of the Sovereign Chapel in Padua, widely called the Arena Chapel, where his fresco cycle depicts the life of the Virgin and the life Christ.
Giotto’s paintings where the stepping stone for the creation of other famous pieces of art. One of these unique masterpieces was done by Michelangelo, an Italian sculptor and painter. Although he is widely known for his sculptures such as the Statue of David and the Pietà, Michelangelo made one of the two most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
Another great painting that is still present today is The Mona Lisa which is hung in the Musée du Lourve in Parin, France. The painting is a half-length portrait of a woman whose expression has been usually described as enigmatic. We also have The Last Supper which portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Christ said that one of them would betray him These painting were created by Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian painter who excelled in various fields such as sculpting, architecture, anatomy, math, science and many more.
These are but few paintings that were created during the Renaissance Era. Although many of them were lost along the years, the grandeur of those that remain today testify to the magnificent paintings of the revolution of art.