Art of the Renaissance3. What was so different about Renaissance times?
Before the medieval era, during the high points of the Greek and Roman civilizations, artists, scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers were thinking about how things in the world worked. Scholars made real intellectual gains in understanding astronomy, medicine, geometry, and art was more realistic than ever before in the history of man. Then, as Rome faded as a super-power, that knowledge faded, too. Superstition and religion took the place of intellectual curiosity. Once the centralized government of Rome dissolved, Europe was divided into many unprotected kingdoms that were very vulnerable to conflict and famine. Order in society was provided by the church, and most common people were illiterate, poor, and trapped in a lifestyle from which they could not escape. Gradually, culture changed. The Black Death caused a great population drop in Europe, which made it possible for more people to find better jobs, and allowed for the accumulation of wealth for more members of society. Instead of working hard just to survive, this luxury of wealth allowed the culture to become more inquisitive and thoughtful about their own existence. Why are people the way they are? What is in the sky? How does the human body look, and work? They also questioned the power the church had played in their lives. Could man control his own fate, or was it really up to the heavens to decide? Gradually the Church became less important than intellectual inquiry. Scholars began going back to the ancient books and manuscripts preserved from Greek and Roman libraries. The Renaissance is responsible for a "rediscovery" of past knowledge and a return to intellectual curiosity about the unknown that is still with us today. For over a thousand years, this curiosity about the world had slept, and it was awakened, or "reborn" during the Renaissance of the 15th century. |