This paper represents some of the aspects of Renaissance Art and Literature via individualism. Consider whether individual artists and writers during the Renaissance have the power to change the perspective of others and perhaps a larger collective worldview. Therefore, the values and ideals that we as a Western culture share and continue to expressed in art, architecture and literature. Thus, the people of that era experienced with the aim of witnessing a rebirth of ancient times that characterized a new age. As a result, the period became known as the Renaissance, which is French for rebirth. Artists, scholars, philosophers, and theologians studied ancient texts, finding within them a philosophical outlook that give emphasis to individual motivation and the evidence of the senses in the search for truth.
From fourteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth century, Europe generated the Renaissance era. It was one of the most creative eras in the history of art and classical literature; it was an outstanding master in all major fields of painting and literature. In Florence, in the first half of the Fifteenth century, there were great innovators in all these fields, which work marked a beginning of a new era in the history of art. This era in time marked the rebirth of humanism, and the revival of cultural achievements of all the forms of art, including music. Furthermore, with the combinations of the two beneficiary notions, individualism and humanism, artisans were expected by the society to be experts in more than one profession, for instance, art and literature. Renaissance was one of the most colorful, vital, and exciting times in history (Hersey, 1993, p. 225).
The Renaissance characterized a significant model in the depiction of the human figure, the peak of the use of perspective space, and a strong influence of classical art. The most important characteristic of the era was the manner in which the greatest masters created personal styles that challenged a part to the Renaissance, giving some justification to the thought that the discoveries of the fifteenth century were coming to a peak. The city of Florence still held an important place for the production of art, however increasingly it was Rome and the papal court that attracted the greatest artists. These changes of art and literature were recognized since the being part of the Renaissance (Johnson, 2005, p. 77). It changed the lifestyles and thoughts of most people of art. One of the major influences of these changes was the idea of natural law. The city of Venice became the other leading center for artistic production, represented by several master painters whose technical skills in the oil medium would be influential for centuries to come. The Early Renaissance artists wanted to create art and sculptures that expressed themselves on a deep and emotional level.
They created art forms consistent with the appearance of the natural world and with their experience of human personality and behavior. The Early Renaissance was referred as a period of great art, since it was essentially from the peak of the cycle of art that preceded it (Cunningham & Reich, 2009, p. 295). The most famous painters from this era are Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo Buonarroti. These three artists have developed paintings in the narrative style that demonstrated the body in a more scientific and natural manner, therefore demonstrating the various aspects of everyday life. These artists made an effort to go beyond basic transcription of nature, to inspire the work of art with ideal, intangible qualities, significance greater and more permanent than that actually found in nature.
Sculpture was the first in the arts to present Renaissance individuality. Donatello was one of the most remarkable sculptors of the early Renaissance. His work was known as the classical techniques and classical subjects like the unsupported nude. In addition, his best and first nude sculpture work was David that was created in Europe since the Roman Empire. After a century, Michelangelo urbanized facts that were completely independent of any architectural structure. His statue of David is as well a nude study, but Michelangelo’s David is moving in a more natural way. Michelangelo was recognized as the most reclusive, He was also famous for his ability to harmonize the design of a statue with the proportions of the block of marble (Witcombe, 1997). However, Donatello and Michelangelo both went back to classical techniques like Contrapposto, their weight shifted to one leg. Painters in the Renaissance art began to utilize methods of realism by improving skills in three-aspect view.
Painters began to change direction away from religious themes and focused more on people and landscapes. Yet, Leonardo da Vinci′s art was varying differentiated from Donatello and Michelangelo artwork. His art used new techniques in the manipulation of light and darkness, for instance, the tone contrast evident and the development of Mona Lisa and the Madonna of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci. He was sociable; he was among the first artists to study and use the aerial perspective with which could represent the depth and distance of objects by using color. Thus, Painters and sculptors could now claim that their profession required intellectual ability and knowledge. This permitted the claim that they were superior to simple artisans and that painting and sculpture would be identifying as liberal arts (Witcombe, 1997). Now the attempt to create artists among the practitioner of the liberal arts that was viewed as mortal on a higher level than the mechanical arts.
The character of the Renaissance was expressed in art as well as literature. In the early Renaissance, particularly in Italy, writers focused mostly on translating and studying classic Latin and Greek works. Many of the great figures of early Renaissance literature were scholars concerned with philological research into and the translation of the Greek and Latin classics. Almost all of the Renaissance writers studied the works of the ancient Romans and Greeks, coming to new, modern conclusions aimed to their studies. In addition, they were called humanists because of their interest in human rather than otherworldly ideals. During the Renaissance, writers produced a greater volume of work then in the history, as well as, their works reached success upon audience because of the lower prices and the increased numbers of texts. Literature became a part of the lives of the larger public, since the advent of the printing press (Shutika, 2003).
Therefore, literature of the Renaissance focused largely on religion, classic remains, scholarship and politics. Some of the most famous Renaissance writers were Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Petrarch (Cunningham & Reich, 2009, p. 295). Petrarch was an Italian humanist and poet and was considered the first modern poet of the Italian Renaissance. Many historians consider him the modern man because of his innovative poems focusing on individuality. His use of the sonnet form of poetry influenced future English poets. The poetry of Petrarch powerfully expressed the principles of humanism extremely early in the budding Renaissance. As well as Boccaccio, he stood at an almost similar stature as Petrarch. A Florentine, Boccaccio is most famous for writing the Decameron (a series of 100 stories set in Florence), in these stories Boccaccio explores the traditions and viewpoints of various social classes, greatly based on actual observation and study. Dante was considered the finest poet of the middle ages and is best known for his classic divine Comedy. He wrote most of his poetries in the Italian vernacular instead of Latin, a choice that would influence the entire course of western literary development. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio were the first Italian writers to make literary use of the Tuscan dialect spoken in Florence and Italy, thus, they won for it a general acceptance as the language of culture. Unlike Chaucer literature style, Chaucer was the first notable English author. In addition, he was a poet and storyteller of considerable ability. His style is narrative, descriptive and reflective and has all qualities of speech. His sentences are short and simple in their structure. His stylistic qualities and poetic genius contributed to English what no other did before his time; the English language and literature grew at a bound to full development. Yet, Chaucer was known as the father of English poetry and is one of the greatest literary artists who ever lived (Shutika, 2003).
Once more, the Early Renaissance art was developed in the city of Florence in Central Italy in the fourteenth century. The artists of the early renaissance period believed that the art could not maintain inert; it must develop and move forward. Thus, Roman and Greek classical (Zennie, 2010)styles in art and literature were studied. The artists of early renaissance observed the light, color and space procedure used by the earliest Greek and Roman artists. They used the successful creative processes of the early period artists to create a new and modern art form. Furthermore, The Italian Renaissance was called the beginning of the modern age. The Renaissance was a rebirth of culture, since almost lots of remarkable changed occurred during this time in the fields of philosophy, art, and literature. Therefore, the importance novel was placed on enjoying life and the world around people. Talented individuals sought self-gratification through art and literature, as well as, their achievements would influence future generations for centuries to come.
