The Renaissance is an epoch of the development of European countries. This era is the time of an unprecedented burgeoning of art, an era of geographical and scientific discoveries, and the development of banking, trade, and crafts. Among the main characteristics of Renaissance art are skillful brushwork, integrated compositions, perspective, color, the dexterous use of light and shadow, emotion, and scrupulousness in the work. Mythological and biblical characters were often depicted by artists of that period.
The first vital characteristic of Renaissance art is the human body which was the primary source of inspiration and the object of research. Artists and scientists deified the human body, making it an epitome of life and beauty (Rubin, 2019, p.783). Hence, artists were constantly improving their knowledge and skills by studying the human body. This was manifested in the elegantly precise details of the body, muscles, and the understanding of motor skills. Among the characteristics of works of painters and sculptors of that period are complex poses, gestures and facial expressions, and harmonious and expressive colors. The similarity with reality reached such an extent that the characters depicted in the works seemed alive; physical perfection reflected the prevailing idea at that time that man was created in the likeness of God. Unlike the works of the Middle Ages, the gods were personified and depicted as people, with features that were inherent in man.
Another vital characteristic of Renaissance art is the thorough mathematical construction of space and objects in the paintings. The Renaissance perspective system was born in the XIII century, which led to changes in the concepts of painting. The idea of perspective includes the visual distortion of the proportions and shape of real bodies in their perception. Many paintings of the Renaissance era show that “the incorporation of optical projections for producing certain features” led to more realistic depictions of objects (Falco, 2016, p.266). Convinced that the visible world obeys the laws of nature, artists began to use scientific knowledge and various tools at their disposal in their works. The size of the bodies, the brightness of the color, and the distinctness of the shapes and borders decrease or increase according to the distance of the bodies.
In addition to inventing a direct perspective, the Renaissance discovered new themes in art and created new genres. The artists often painted ordinary women, making them look pure and preserving their features in the portraits for better similarity. Painters also depicted themselves and the local people. For example, Lodewijk Toeput depicted various banquets which would emphasize “the status of sophisticated elites” in Renaissance Italy through the nature and consumption of food (Fisher, 2018, p.136). Thus, not only religious but also trivial events have become a worthy subject for art.
Hence, the love of life, human beauty, and innate curiosity of the Renaissance artists often transmitted into a propensity for details, for the image of various objects with which artists filled their compositions. They painted every detail of both the foreground and background with the utmost care, paying close attention to every ornament, every feather in the angel’s wings, and every curl on the person’s head. The art of the Renaissance, represented by the masters of painting and their immortal works, might serve as an example of uncompromising hard work and high spirituality, striving for the highest values of humanity.
References
Falco, C. M. (2016). Optics in our time. Springer.
Fisher, A. (2018). In food and landscape: Proceedings of the 2017 Oxford Symposium on food and cookery. Prospect Books.
Rubin, P. L. (2019). Seen from behind: Perspectives on the male body and Renaissance Art. Yale University Press.