RENAISSANCE ART Humanism: A NEW MENTALITY - Massacio: "Scenes from the life of St. Peter.

" Fresco Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. (1426-1427) - Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man". (1492). - Lorenzo Ghiberti: "The story of Joseph." Batipsterio of the cathedral. Florence. (1425-1452) By the middle of the fifteenth century in parts of Europe lifestyles and mindsets that accompanied them had undergone numerous changes: the cities had been consolidated and, in them, the bourgeoisie had come to break, progressively, with many of cultural patterns characteristic of the medieval world. We can see these changes in any aspect in which we look, but here we will be interested in a more direct way to those that occurred in the field of culture. Thus, for example, universities were increasingly numerous, attracting more students and the prestige of many of its teachers was increasing. Furthermore, the spread of the printer had supposed a considerable increase in the production of books. Also, there was an emerging and broad interest in renewing many of the approaches that had characterized the classical Greco-Roman world. The situation described is perceptible in many places, but it will be in Italy where the development was faster and where finally will emerge that new cultural stream called Renaissance. If we need to define a single term that was important in Renaissance culture, this concept is, without a doubt, Humanism, understood in the classical way: facing the medieval omnipresence of God, man now becomes the measure for all the things in the world, though the divine creation is not rejected yet. But to understand the human, faith is not the only factor; what matters is also the reason, hence the need to study, to investigate or analyze things. And this argument eventually change the world: Copernicus proved that the earth was not the center of the universe, while Luther challenged the authority of the papacy as a center of the Church, while travel and geographical discoveries opened Europeans to an unknown world. This whole journey of Renaissance culture was hand in hand with a true rediscovery of classical culture, which had concerned the same issues as the people in the 1500. Therefore, we use precisely the term Renaissance, because that mentality is reborn and the classic resurfaces. . Throughout, Renaissance art is but a reflection of these issues. To summarize: a new mindset that should correspond (as it were) a new art, which is in the classic, especially in Roman, its paradigm and their models. Now artists, with name, are the authors of works that have handled concepts such as proportion, harmony, or balance naturalism. They had the same interest as in the rest of the humanists of the time to make it clear, through his work, the man was again the most important thing and that everything that was done in art was from a human scale. RENAISSANCE: BASIC FEATURES End of the medieval mind. New political, economic and social context: end of feudal Europe, rise of the bourgeoisie. New economic practices: early capitalist forms. Appearance of patrons. New mentality: Origins of the modern world. Anthropocentrism. Importance of the individual, as an individual artist begins to sign their works. Importance of reason: humanism.

Rediscovery of classical culture. New cultural forms: Heliocentrismo Reformation Complete renovation of the arts: Renaissance Art. Origin: Italy. New ideal of beauty: the proportion, interest in perspective. Two stages: - Siglo XV, Quattrocento. Cultural Center, Florence. Medici Family cnotributes to the artist (patronage) - Siglo XVI, Cincuecento. Cultural Center: Rome. Contributions of the papacy. From 1530 they began to develop Mannerism.