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

The Renaissance, a period lauded among historians to be the most intellectually-rich that mankind has ever been, lasting over 3 centuries. In those three hundred plus years, gargantuan changes were made in roughly every facet of arts, sciences and philosophy imaginable. Everything from the way those people treated and respected the church, to where people thought the Earth was in our galaxy. The Renaissance era introduced so many new ways of thinking that would’ve ended up getting you in jail or executed in eras before.

One of advancements made in the arts field was the evolution of artwork, if one were to compare the characteristics of a Middle Ages work of art and a painting from the Renaissance era you would see two totally different images. Middle ages art had a very flat, lifeless look about it that made it seem very strange looking. The people, animals and scenery all looked wildly unrealistic; one could compare it to a pancake on a canvas, again, flat and very lifeless looking. Middle ages art for the most part had a very heavy religious undertone. Much like the people in that era, religion was the center of virtually everything. Not very many works of art displayed emotion either, adults and even children all exhibited straight, emotionless faces. Renaissance art on the other hand, brought all new, never before seen elements into the way art was designed from there on after, backgrounds became very natural looking, and it looked very three-dimensional. The faces and the emotions of the people looked very realistic, as if the person were actually there. Renaissance art wasn’t very religion centered as the era prior, this era focused more on capturing nature and human emotion at its very peak.

The Renaissance era wasn’t all innovation and advancement, shifting of thought processes also played a very key role in the progression of human society during that time period. As I’ve said earlier, the era prior to the Renaissance was oriented around religion, residents of Europe at that time were mostly Roman Catholic, and one wasn’t really allowed the free will to think as they so pleased, you were just forced to believe what the church preached and no one was to question it, unless that person wanted to face very serious persecution and possibly even execution for going against the church. People in the Renaissance however, were very liberal about they way they did things. With the evolution and the prominence that humanism, which is a way of thought that rejects religion and centers on humans’ own values, abilities, and worth, people started to care less about what was right in the church’s eyes and in God’s eyes, and took more into account what they as individuals believed in and thought about. Humanism pushed the people of that time years ahead into the future in terms of where they were supposed to be technology wise, people finally started working for themselves and not for this false overlord (the church)