How Did the Renaissance Change Man's View of Man?

How did the Renaissance Change Man's View of Man?

During the Renaissance, people of all cultural groups started to use their unique skills as a way of understanding innovative forms of politics, social reforms, and thinking. This new attitude started to form a modernistic wave of optimism; one that believed man was capable of accomplishing great things. Renaissance thinkers studied classical work for the prospect of discovering their own idealism. In contrast to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance changed man's view of man through the decline in religious authority, perspective in art, advancement in anatomical studies, and discovery of cutting-edge astronomy.

Before the Renaissance, the Catholic Church was an important part of a system that was based on allegiances between lords and vassals (the feudal system). Society during the Renaissance shifted and became based on money instead of allegiances. The church had a hard time adapting to this new way of thinking. For example, priests and monks had long served as the religious teachers of the peasants, but as the commercial class began to grow, the priests found that they knew very little about the needs of this new class of people. These actions only further weakened the political influence of the church, which can be seen in the passages of the English plays Everyman and Hamlet by William Shakespeare. "What a piece of work is a man!" Shakespeare writes. The church, instead of bringing spiritual leadership for the swiftly changing society and class, was distracted with its administration staff and with the collection of revenue (Doc B).

The Renaissance is well known for its achievements in art, literature and music. The artists of this time period began to break away from medieval traditions in painting and sculpture. Artists started to use what they knew from the Middle Ages, and incorporated new, innovative methods for creative expression in art. Until the Renaissance, most art was used for the decoration of churches. However, during the Renaissance, artists became more independent and better regarded; some began signing their works, which was something that was rarely done in the Middle Ages. The use of mathematics and geometry to achieve perspective and proportions was common. These distinctions can easily be seen between the Madonna Enthroned Between Two Angels by Duccio di Buoninsegna and Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (Doc A). Buoninsegna's painting lacks 3-D perspective and fine details; the main painting is religiously based. Da Vinci's piece shows the advancements of the Renaissance era with its fine etchings and well-defined landscapes (Doc A).

Leonardo da Vinci is without a doubt the most significant artist and anatomist of all time, first undertook a series of detailed studies of the human skull in 1489. Previous to this scientific-Renaissance era, many believed in