art history

Early Renaissance Art and Artists

The Renaissance period began in 1400 in Florence , Italy and soon spread through the rest of Europe , lasting until 1700 . The early Renaissance is centered in Florence , 1400-1450 and was inspired by Florentine 's political and social world during this period as the city fought off a takeover attempt by the duke of Milan . The city successfully defended itself , militarily , diplomatically and intellectually , unlike the rest of Italy . Florence was the only city that was able to resist the takeover . This aroused a patriotic pride and inspired

Florentines to complete the great artistic enterprises they had begun the century before . A great competition developed for how to complete the dome in the Florence Cathedral , a project that lasted for thirty years when the Cathedral was completed . The times , but was compared to rebuilding the Acropolis in Athens and brought out an emergence of great talent (445

From the very beginning , the visual arts were considered an important part of Florence 's spirit . Prior to 1400 , the arts had been classified with crafts or mechanical arts ' Around 1400 , a Florentine chronicler named Filippo Villani wrote an explicit statement defining the visual arts as liberal arts , a definition that was completely accepted by 1500 . This change was important as it classified the visual arts among other disciplines necessary for a gentlemen 's education including mathematics , dialectics , grammar , rhetoric and philosophy Having won acceptance into this group , the artist was redefined...