Social Realism

Social Realism in the Early Renaissance Early Renaissance art and literature brought real life depictions to print form. Artists and writers alike began to pay close attention to things such as social class, social interaction, human society, personal experiences, lifestyles, and individual personalities. The focus was on real people living very real lives. This wasn’t a look at the general but a look deeper into the details of individual life and how people interacted while living in this time period. The time’s social concerns and values were brought out through these various forms, giving insight to future generations what life was like during the Early Renaissance for the common man. Great writers and artist give people today in the 21st Century a glimpse into the life of Renaissance people; only a glimpse, allowing us to draw our own conclusions from the art and literature. This depiction of real life people in great detail is known as Social Realism and paves the way for future Renaissance minds down the road, even to today’s modern society. The work of Giovanni Boccaccio led the way for Social Realism in literature. Boccaccio wrote the Decameron in 1351and based it upon people living through the plague. Its characters in order to escape the plague hole up in a villa and tell one another stories. These stories are comical and represent the social conditions and issues of the time. There are ten characters and each tells a story; giving ten stories in all. In the preface of the Decameron Boccaccio gives a detailed account of the conditions and horrors of the Black Plague in Europe. He writes about the fear instilled in the people of Europe and how death was inevitable to all those in contact with the plague. Death came upon so many that it was hard to keep up with the burials, which seemed to lose their esteem. Boccaccio writes, “So many bodies were brought to the churches every day that the consecrated ground did not suffice to hold