Middle Ages And The Renaissance example essay topic

The Renaissance, which began in Italy in the fourteenth century, was a period of great change in art, culture, and science. The word Renaissance means rebirth. Many of the greatest artists in history, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, lived during this period, but did not follow the trends of society. Great artist like Michelangelo and da Vinci began their own trends based on personal experience and beliefs.

Renaissance's society was very different from feudal society of the Middle Ages. There are many contrasts in the ideals and values of the Renaissance and of the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages was a time of great suffering, including famine and wide spread disease. The Renaissance, however, was a revival of art, learning, and literature. The purpose of life was viewed differently during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. During 'The Age of Faith,' or the Middle Ages, man's purpose was to serve God.

Life was a journey. The life of highest value was the contemplative life, a life devoted to God. In sharp contrast, man's purpose during the Renaissance was to exercise virtue, or the excellence as a man. During the Renaissance, towns in southern Europe had grown greatly in size. The wealthy people who lived in Renaissance society had more leisure time and money than did those of the Middle Ages.

This meant they could spend more time studying new ideas and had could afford to patronize the arts. During the Renaissance, people became tired of the trends of the Middle Ages. To them, the feudal period had been a period of inactivity and sluggish growth. People of the Renaissance admired the Classical Age and the great artists and philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. Humanism, an intellectual and cultural movement based on the study of classical works, was highly regarded during the Renaissance. Characteristics of humanism include scientific attitude, a love of beauty, the practice of human virtue, love of proportion, celebration of man, and action.

Humanists were strong believers in ethics, and they believed that eloquence was a representation of ethics. In the 1400's, the feudal system became weak and national Governments became stronger. People put more emphasis on humanism than on the church. During the Renaissance, technology had advanced. Martin Luther started the reformation against the Catholic Church. As the effect of the Reformation, a middle class emerged making it possible for people to travel more.

Technology became more advanced and more available to the common public. The printing press made it possible to publish books. Ideas of the Renaissance were spread through some of these books and commoners could own a copy of the Bible. The weakening of the Roman Catholic Church, brought about by the Protestant Reformation, changed the way people felt about the church and its importance in their life.

Diversity became an interest of the city population, and the wealth of the cities provided opportunity for the cultivation of any culture taste or talent. Wealth also provided the means for unprecedented luxury and display, and led to a more conscious refinement of social life. Michelangelo was a republican, but his notion of freedom did not apply to the free citizens, those who paid taxes. From his letters, it is known he was proud of belonging to a family that had paid taxes to Florence for three hundred years. The modern idea of universal freedom was quite foreign to him, although his contemporary Francesco Vet tori had a clear understanding of it. He was an aristocrat, and proud of his noble birth, seeing in it a special virtue.

He was inspired by this and other artist such as Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, and Que rcia. Michelangelo expressed his views in his art. In the creation of David, Michelangelo emphasized the permanent features of David's character and his moral attitude. David is an incarnation of moral and physical strength, which knows no fear and is ready to defend an ideal. Michelangelo's most important works were the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Working high above the chapel floor, lying on his back on scaffolding, he painted for five years.

Between 1508-1512, Michelangelo painted some of the finest pictorial images of all time. On the vault of the papal chapel, he devised an intricate system of decoration that included nine scenes from the book of Genesis. God Separating Light From Darkness, The Creation of the Planets, Sun, and Moon, The Creation of the Creatures of the Sea, The Creation of Adam, the Creation of Eve, The Temptation and Expulsion from Eden, The Sacrifice of Noah, The Flood, and The Drunkenness of Noah can all be seen on the ceiling. These centrally located narratives are surrounded by alternating images of prophets and sibyls on marble thrones, other Old Testament subjects and ancestors of Christ, which all devise scores of figure types and poses. These awesome, mighty images demonstrate Michelangelo's mastered understanding of human anatomy and movement. Michelangelo's ideal he intended to express was the perfection of God, and that man was created in his image.

Michelangelo depicted God's perfection in his paintings by illustration the power of God. For example, in The Creation of Adam, God just merely touched the lifeless hand of Adam to bring him into existence. Michelangelo believed in the recollection of the classics. By giving the ceiling such a powerful demeanor, Michelangelo gave people the opportunity to question their beliefs. People could become more spiritual and virtuous, remembering how necessary it is to fear God in all his perfection and glory..