Renaissance

Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci

As the Middle ages came to an end , the European rulers once again gained new authority and the ever powerful Church slowly loses its exercise of absolute authority . At the same time , at last , Europe rested from its seemingly unending long period of wars , its tragic epidemics , and economic upheaval . There was now time for the people to enrich and flourish in their homelands . As a result , a new spirit of optimism confidence and creativity developed among the people which in the fourteenth century , led to the

start of an outstanding and influential period that is known as the Renaissance (Perry , 1988 , 332 . In this period lived the two famous Renaissance artists , Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci . The word renaissance is taken from French which means rebirth . At first , it was a name that describes to the new interest that the people have in the arts and works of ancient Greece and Rome but the name however , in later period , includes and refers to new changes that occurred in the arts , intellectual life and new ways of viewing and understanding the world . Moreover , people in this period give more emphasis on human life and human accomplishments while at the same time retaining their ideals of beauty and balance and proportion although the works were presented more and more in a realistic manner (Perry , 1988 , 332-333 . Michelangelo is most renowned as a sculpture artist . One of his famous works is the Peita Mary holding the lifeless...