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The Influences on Renaissance Art

“The period of the Renaissance brought with it many important changes in the

social and cultural position of the artist”, as said by Professor Christopher L. C. E.

Witcombe, clarified on how things were starting to change little by little. The word

Renaissance means “to reborn” in French; therefore, the changes were happening

during the time, especially on cultures and arts. From the former generations, the arts

had been taking in different influences to enhance the artistry. The issues that greatly

influenced the arts are perspectives, society and religion.

The art during the Renaissance evolved from medieval art into a more realistic

representation of the world. The people during that time began to broaden their

perspectives and open up to a new style of art. The artists’ perception of the world

started to lean towards nature and the landscape of the real world, instead of a simple

gold background or just an imaginary scene. The Florentine artist, Giotto, was the first

to experiment on this new style (Buchel, 1998). Furthermore, the outlook of the

paintings became realistic with the brush strokes of the sky, mountains and a vast

view of green grass. In other words, the real landscape and scenery started to appear

more in paintings during the Renaissance period, a big change from the former era.

From the medieval period, which was full of religious-centric arts, the artists then

took up a new approach to reform the art.

It also relates to the view on dimensions that nature introduces through depth and

shadow. Through their observation on the landscapes, artists received the idea of the

depth of the subject and the direction of shadows to create realistic effects in their

paintings. They followed up with the concept of distance - further objects appeared

smaller while closer objects appeared larger. This also led to serious research on

anatomy. Leonardo Da Vinci was famous for his study on anatomy and the body
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fragments of living things. Sexton (2007) wrote, “Leonardo Da Vinci is famous as a

painter, sculptor and inventor, but he also plays a large role in the development of

knowledge about anatomy and the human body.” Leonardo’s sketch of Vitruvian Man

is another work that reflects on the real proportions of the human body.

This perspective influence also granted new techniques, like using different types of

colours to depict the images to be as realistic as possible. With the introduction of oil-

based paints, new techniques were brought, along with bright and vivid colours, as

well as textures. The paintings became sharper and even looked like photographs at

the first glance. Uccello was famous for his perspective arts with vibrant colours and

sophisticated touch of style; The Battle of San Romano is one of his best paintings

(Kren & Marx, n.d.). Furthermore, the sculptors also adapted to the roundness of the

object. Sculptures evolved to be completely three dimensional, instead of having flat

surfaces. The world famous sculpture David, which is located in the city of Florence,

is one of the most well-known works of Michelangelo. Sculptures then adapted the

idea of human body proportion combined with an abstract mind, as in the late works

of Donatello named Judith and Holofernes.

The society in Italy during the Renaissance began to flourish with the

existence of the artists and architects. Therefore, the daily phenomenon and people

also greatly influenced the arts especially in the paintings. The scenes from the cities

or the daily events began to emerge on the canvas. More artworks were related to the

daily life of people, be it in the cities or in the countryside. The artists then started to

look into the structure of the buildings, the dimensions and people. The paintings by

Lorenzo Costa and Pieter Bruegel during the Early Renaissance clearly illustrated the

society through the techniques used for the landscape paintings. The scenes of the city

and life created a clearer picture of what was happening then.

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In addition, women became a great subject and concept for both paintings and

sculptures (Austin, n.d). During the High Renaissance, there was a rising of talented

artists. People were paying more attention to the portrait paintings of human beings,

especially women. As an example, the most famous case of the woman that being told

to be the most beautiful, Mona Lisa, successfully appeared on the canvas by the

proficiency of Leonardo Da Vinci. Unfortunately, she passed away before the portrait

even reached her. As a result, because of the perfection of the work, this portrait is

now famous and well known throughout the world. This can be a measure on how the

portrait and paintings on human became popular after that. There are more examples

of portraits painted by Renaissance artists such as Raphael and his paintings Madonna

and Child, Portrait of a Girl and Portrait of La Muta (Kren & Marx, n.d.).

Moreover, paintings and sculptures can tell a story. In a historically rich country like

Italy, how could their history be forgotten? Throughout Italy, the sculptures of past

warriors or heroes are located at almost every corner of the cities. To support the

statement, Verrocchio, the teacher of Leonardo, Botticelli and other artists, owns the

equestrian statue of Condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni. The statue reminds us of the

great warrior who fought for Venice during the 1400s (Fletcher, 2000). The statues of

other warriors and their horses can still be seen and appear to be nostalgic. They are to

remind the citizens the wars’ past, – the fights and the pride; that the people can be

proud of.

In a flashback, the arts during the medieval period mostly revolved around

religion, like the paintings on the churches’ walls. However, this does not mean that

the arts during the Renaissance were not influenced by religion. Certainly, it was

probably less of religious icons and more of the religious occurrences. The sculptures

and paintings became even more detailed and used to decorate the churches or other
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religious places. The figures of the saints were created by a number of artists during

the High Renaissance. These artists focused on religious arts and produced all kinds

of arts to decorate the sanctuaries. People should be able to remember the epic

painting on the wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. The Last Supper was painted

by Leonardo Da Vinci, which is the painting of Jesus and his twelve apostles.

Another important fact that relates to the meaning behind the construction of the

buildings is the architecture no longer depending on the cross in their structures.

Instead, they used basic circles due to the belief that the circle is the symmetrical

perfection and thus, representing God (Art History, 2006). The structures of some of

the buildings, including houses and other constructions, were based on the concept of

circles. Examples would be the arches, domes and other decorations on the buildings.

Churches and sanctuaries were constructed with this similar idea, for example,

Florence Cathedral, Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio and S. Pietro No.1 (Masuda,

1995).

Even though the Renaissance period had been long gone and replaced by the

modern world, its significant presence in the arts still stands firm in the history. These

different influences on the arts created growing app5180668reciation and interest

among people. The influences on the arts are not limited on a specific number or

particular theme. Truthfully, there are more in the world that can inspire the arts and

worth seeking for.