Humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Humanities - Essay Example The creativity, magnificence, and sentimental influences involved in the artwork makes them valuable. Different times in history have given rise to different art forms (Charles & Metcalf, 2007). One of the ancient times, known by the name of Renaissance existed from 15th to 17th centuries and the eighteenth century art emerged under the name of neoclassical art. Renaissance is a word that came under the derivation from French language that means reborn. A cultural and learning rebirth that began from Florence - Italy, reached the boundaries of Europe later on. The art in this era was intensifying with a unique, exclusive, and different style in the form of paintings and sculpture making, which came under the name of Renaissance art. This period not only gave a different meaning to the field of arts but philosophy, literature, music, and science saw a massive change and improvements. Renaissance art gave birth to new forms and techniques of paintings that not only affected the artists through its work but common people similarly came under affection by it (Charles & Metcalf, 2007). Renaissance artist started to make paintings on distinctive subjects and real life images portraying human exquisiteness and life’s contentment came into focus rather than restricting themselves to only religious paintings. The artists focused on minute details of the object from different angles and distances while painting or making sculptures. The paintings of middle ages that focused on stiff and erect bodies came into replacement by real life paintings (Charles & Metcalf, 2007). The period of Renaissance gave birth to indigenous artists, such as the well known Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Leonardo da Vinci with the use of oil paint enhanced his paintings that mainly focused on landscapes, natural objects, and humans. He included microscopic details in all his paintings and one of his most admired paintings includes Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Michelange lo only targeted human body in his artwork and the marble statue of David is his famous creation. In the High Renaissance period, Raphael has also contributed in his work of art. Even, he was famous for his portraits of the nobles of that time and his renowned art includes portrait of Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X (Books, 2010). Looking at the other end of the spectrum, the eighteenth century art gave birth to a new form, known as neoclassical art, generally seen in paintings, portraits, sculptures, and scenery/landscape. The advent of neoclassical art of the eighteenth century was from France. Simplicity, transparency, and realism were the key features of neoclassical art. Naturalism also came under focus in the neoclassical art like that of Renaissance art (Books, 2010). This art form came under influence by the ancient ideas and artists integrated these inspirations with their thoughts and observations in their portraits and paintings. Representation of the themes in the form of symbols and codes became a principal aspect in the artwork of the artists to express their thoughts, emotions, and views. Eighteenth century paintings and portraits did not reflect the ideas of barbarism, unprofessionalism, and narrow-mindedness. Artists’ knitted their visions, dreams and inspirations well with the bright and colorful images (Buser, 2006). The era of neoclassical art has seen many skillful artists that were well qualified, classy, and cultured. Some of the legendary artists of this