Change Between The Middle Ages And The Renaissance

The time between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is known in history as a time of great change in Western culture. It has been said that “art reflects life,” so as culture changes across the centuries, so does visual art. A review of the history of art from the end of the Middle Ages to the early Renaissance also reveals many significant changes in visual features over this time period. One major change in the arts occurred in a shift of the subject of the art itself. Artists in the Middle Ages focused solely on religious subjects, but they shifted to natural subjects and secular themes towards the beginning of the 14th century. Another transition took place within the backgrounds and in the improved perspective of paintings. Artists developed
Giotto di Bondonne is known for being one of the famous pivotal artists between the Medieval and Renaissance, and Giotto's works demonstrate the changes that occurred in art backgrounds and perspective. In the Middle Ages, the backgrounds of art were made from gold leaf, to represent the spiritual world. In the Renaissance, the artists stopped using gold backgrounds, and transitioned first to blue backgrounds, and then later created natural, realistic backgrounds. Background of paintings in the early Renaissance featured landscapes for the first time in art history. Renaissance paintings also represented backgrounds of actual furniture, walls, and textiles in the room behind the main subjects. One of Giotto's masterpiece works completed in 1306, the famous interior of the Arena Chapel, demonstrated the change to a blue fresco background. Much later, artists in the mid 15th century provided works with fully realistic backgrounds. Two examples of these realistic backgrounds include the 1449 painting by Petrus Christus, A Goldsmith in His Shop, and Dieric Bouts's Last Supper, in which Bouts even painted the floor tiles, chandelier, and wooden ceiling beams in the background of the central panel of the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament in
In the Middle Ages, figures were typically painted side-by-side with very little depth. A classic example of a painting from the late Middle Ages is Cimabue's Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets. Cimabue's work, completed in Florence sometime between 1280 to 1290, depicts Mary and the Christ child, with angels on both sides of her and prophets painted below her with very little depth. Then in the Renaissance, artists began using linear perspective, so that figures could be seen one in front of the other. Also the Renaissance artists used light and shade to make their art appear more real. This linear perspective and use of light is also seen in Giotto's Arena Chapel masterpiece, the piece known for marking the beginning of Renaissance