Humanism and the Renaissance

Humanism and the Renaissance

The Radical transformation…from ‘God Centered’ to ‘Human-centered’, greatly affected the mentality of people living at that time and up until today. Humanism during the Renaissance was a ‘spirit of learning’ or cultural movement that had developed originally in Italy, with the renewal of classical letters and self-assurance in the ability of human beings to conclude right from wrong instead of abiding by everything that was announced by the church and pope (Edwords 1). The term ‘humanism’ itself without relating it to the Renaissance means ‘underlining’ a person’s ability for ‘self-realization’ through explanation; humanists sometimes end up rejecting religion and the supernatural.

The word ‘Humanism’ had been used ever since the eighteen hundreds to refer to the revival of non-religious art and literature material following the Renaissance. At first, artist and writers were basically devoted to religious themes and works, with which Italy became very famous at that time. Numerous paintings of Mary and Jesus were produced; that period in Europe was very Christian. However, this ‘intellectual cultural movement’ started, and all of a sudden artists changed the direction of where their work was going. Non-religious pieces of art have been produced; paintings explaining everyday life and stories, as well as statues of non-religious figures were produced. Most of those pieces of art were based on classical Greek and Roman myths and stories, which had no Christian or religious significance ("Belfast Humanists").

Italian artist glorified the human body through nude statues and forms, as well more use of light in their paintings. New styles were introduced such as oils and frescos. In addition to that, proportions and perspective of the paintings were developed. Humanism showed greatly in arts and literature at that time because the transformation of styles happened quickly and with much change. With much sophistication and complexity,...