Art History

The Renaissance era (1400-1600) is an important period in history as it marked the revitalization of art and rebirth of music (Stokle 176). Musicians and artists in this era composed and performed their art in a style that that exhibited uniqueness from that of medieval era. The art was influenced by ancient Rome Greece classical models. Besides, music in this era flourished and exhibited individualism and difference in terms of artistic freedom
King indicates that humanism is a philosophical term affirming individuals’ responsibility and ability in life to lead ethical lives (190). It also influence the capacity of an individual to seek freedom and develop aspirations to achieve good for themselves and the greater humanity. Humanism played a critical role in determining the aspirations of Florentines to develop aspirations and desire for freedom from medieval corruptions. There was need to purify Latin that was gripped by massive immorality. It was this humanism that made the Florentines to be called the Athens of the renaissance (Witt 86). Their philosophy was driven by compassion, hopefulness and was inspired by art.

With humanism, composers and musicians developed loads of interest in Rome and Greece ancient cultures. One such composer was the Florentine painter and architect Giotto di Bondone (1267 – 1337). Giotto was a genius. As Quilter explains, he was widely recognized in the Italian Renaissance as the first artist (70). His works were prominent at a time when shackles of the medieval restraint were been removed from peoples talents and minds. His works, though largely influenced by traditional religious subject, were strongly backed up by earthly subjects. Giotto indicates that he gained his prominence from his work that broke free from Byzantine art (101). In its stead, Giotto introduced pictorial space to bring convincing sense. He also replaced Byzantine art with ideals of naturalism (Bisaha 100). His famous passage was The Divine Comedy.

                                                       Works Cited
Bisaha, Nancy. Creating East and West: Renaissance humanists and the Ottoman Turks.    Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2010. Print.
Giotto, Julian. Giotto and his publics, three paradigms of patronage. Cambridge, London:             Harvard University Press. 2011. Print.
King, Margret.  Renaissance humanism: an anthology of sources. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2014. Print.
Quilter, H. Giotto. Cambridge, London: R. Clay, Sons, And Taylor. 2014. Print.
Stokle, Norman. The Florentines: a three part mini-series for television. New York, NY: Xlibris    Corporation. 2010. Print.
Witt, Ronald. The two Latin cultures and the foundation of Renaissance humanism in Medieval     Italy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 2012. Print.