Humanism: Art In The Seventeenth Century

At the start of the 14th century a time period in human history started that lasted until the mid-seventieth century known as the Renaissance. A rebirth occurred that made this era captivating to study. This rebirth of intellect was in the form of a renewed interest in the classical form of thinking. This renewed way of thinking shifted the prime importance of culture away from divine and supernatural matters, to humankind now being the main importance. With this new culture based on classism, artworks started to become more common and wanted as the artists began to gain recognition. The scholars saw a new found interest in the studding of ancient Greek and Latin classics. The art work that was being produced showed increase detail in not only …show more content…
The term Humanism is a more modern word and was not used to describe the studies in that time. The term "humanism" was coined in 1808 by a German educator, F. J. Niethammer, to describe a program of study distinct from science and engineering. According to Paul Roebuck, BA philosophy, MA anthropology, PhD geography, “”humanism" begins in the twelfth century in the institution of studia humanitatis, or "the studies of human things"” in the newly formed universities. Then In the fifteenth century, the term "umanista," or "humanist," was current and described a professional group of teachers who taught the studia humanitatis. These "human studies" included grammar (which included both history and literacy studies), logic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. The humanistic nature that the renaissance is known is due to the fact that a focus of the human nature. This was a shift from the preexisting focus on the divine and supernatural focus of the world that was the medieval …show more content…
During this time pieces of artworks were being produced at a strong rate. This was due that artists were gaining recognition over large areas. This new fondness of artwork that contained humanistic influences were new, and people were amazed by the style that had not been seen before in their lifetime. A large proportion of the artwork that was being made was made for the church and popes. One such artwork was the school of Athens, created by Raphael Sanzio, for the Apostolic Palace, in Vatican City. This work is of a grand scale in that was commonly taken on by the artists of the time. This particular fresco is 16’’5’ by 23’’ 3’ and is one of Raphael’s more famous works. Just by looking at this fresco you can see the strong influence of humanism. The theme itself is a strong give away, for it has a landscape full of philosophers from ancient times. As the lines of the fresco draw your eye the center of the landscape, you see two of the giants of ancient Greek philosophy Aristotle and Plato. One of the reasons that your eye is drawn toward the center of the painting is because Raphael was able to use the concept of using a vanishing point to make this 2d painting 3d. This use of vanishing point is not only what shows humanistic characteristics for the time, but the amount of detail that is put into every person and the landscape around them. From the detail