1. What invention was most responsible for helping to educate the middle classes during the Renaissance?
The invention that was most responsible for helping to educate the middle classes during the Renaissance was the printing press discovered by a German printer named Johannes Gutenberg in the middle of the fifteenth century.
2. Were Renaissance artists and scholars more interested in studying the artistic accomplishments of the medieval period or those of the Greeks and Romans?
Renaissance artists and scholars were more interested in studying the artistic accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans. This interests in the classics was called humanism.
3. Who is regarded as the first important artist of the Italian Renaissance?
Masaccio is regarded as the first important artist of the Italian Renaissance.
4. Name the graphic system, based on geometry and developed during the Renaissance, that gave artists a method for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface.
The graphic system based on geometry that gave artists a method for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface was linear perspective. Based on geometric principles, this system enabled an artist to paint figures and objects so that they seem to move deeper into a work rather than across it. This was discovered by Flippo Brunelleschi.
5. Refer to Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ(figure 16. 10 on page 362). How is the main figure made to look most important?
The main figure is made to look most important by a few of the elements of art, mainly shape and line. Gently curving archs formed by a treebranch and the hand and arm of st. john the Baptist draw your attention to christs face. The horizon line forms a second arch that dips down below christs head. Christ is made to look most important mainly because Christ is a solid form placed in the center of the picture. The hand of St. John the Baptist and a dove representing the holy spirit are placed directly over his head.
