humanism
"A cultural and intellectual movement of the renaissance that emphasised human potential to attain excellence and proved direct study of the literature, art and civilisation of classical Greece and Rome"
(American Heritage Dictionary, 2011)
(American Heritage Dictionary, 2011)
- Humanism is placing the study and progression of human nature at the centre of interests.
- During the middle ages (3rd to 13th centuries) art and learning revolved around the church and religion.
- Start of the 14th century people became less interested in thinking about God/heaven/saints and more about themselves/surroundings/everyday lives.
- Influenced by study of ancient Greek and Roman writings on scientific matters, government, philosophy and art.
- Scholars in renaissance became less interested in religion/medicine/law and started to focus on science/natural world/biology/astronomy. Started to study mathematics/engineering/architecture.
- Artist/writers/composers began creating work outside of the church.
- Artists signed their work/wrote autobiographies/memoirs.
- Ideals and values popular in renaissance described as secular humanism.
- Rise of humanism can be seen in paintings created by renaissance artists.
- During middle ages angels wore halos, artists used the hieratic scale, making saints/religious figures/God larger in scale than ordinary/less important people.
- Hieratic scale - adjusting size of characters in line with their importance/connection to religion.
- As humanism became popular, ordinary people depicted the same size as saints/saints appeared as ordinary people/halos became fainter/eventually phased out of paintings.
- Saints occupied same landscapes as regular people - earth instead of heaven.
- Middle ages artists often represented heaven as a solid gold background - symbol of beauty/value of heaven.
- Natural landscapes began to appear as backgrounds scenes - renaissance artists experimented with humanistic ideas.
- Use of mathematically calculated perspective to represent space.
- Earlier attempts didn't look quite right.
- Mathematical formulas gave artists a new tool to represent 3D space convincingly.
- Gave impression that frame around painting was a window frame - painting like looking through window.
- Artists began to use oil paint, whereas tempera widely used in middle ages.
- Characteristics of oils allowed artists to create the appearance of greater depth.
bibliography
Allentown Art Museum. (s.d) Humanism in the Renaissance. (http://www.renaissanceconnection.org/lesson_social_humanism.html (Accessed on 15.08.15)
American Heritage Dictionary. (2011) Humanism. At:http://www.thefreedictionary.com/humanism (Accessed on: 15.08.15)
American Heritage Dictionary. (2011) Humanism. At:http://www.thefreedictionary.com/humanism (Accessed on: 15.08.15)