The Role Of Beauty In Renaissance Art

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The arts that had been created in the Renaissance period such as paintings, sculptures, and literature represented advanced ideas about humanity such as the newfound importance of beauty, the free will of man, and the changing relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the individual. Beauty had a presence in art in a way that it had not before, and the focus of a lot of art shifted from the church to the individual. The focus on the individual also explored the free will of man, not just the beauty and exterior layer.
Before the Renaissance, art was not very focused on beauty of the individual. Art focused mainly on religious events or figures, which is understandable because at the time the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) held most of the power. Some visual art and artists were able to tie in religion alongside the focus of beauty of man, such as Donatello. Donatello created a bronze statue of the religious figure David, which was the first free standing bronze figure made since rome. Donatello's David was different from other …show more content…

However, unlike Donatello’s David, Botticelli's works did not tie in with christianity. The paintings he created such as La Primavera and The Birth of Venus strayed very far from it. The two paintings used mythology to portray beauty through female nudes. These women did not represent christian figures, and they were not taking part in an activity centered around religion. Both paintings included and focused on the Roman goddess Venus, the goddess of beauty and love. La Primavera and The Birth of Venus focused purely on beauty. They emphasized the beauty of the women, as well as the beauty of celebration and nature. Pre Renaissance art was not created to show and emphasize beauty. These works of art represented changing ideals and views of the individual as product to display religion to a representation of

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