Renaissance Art and Culture: Patrons, Humanism, and Quattrocento Masters

The New Spirit of the Renaissance

Cortesans and Patrons

The new humanistic spirit spread through the cities, where the bourgeoisie sought to secure their wealth and increase their power. The cult of individualism and personal effort favored increased enrichment. There was also a process of secularization, and religion was no longer the center of spiritual life. The cultural ideal of the man was identified with the refined courtier. He was interested in music, literature, and art, and surrounded himself with thinkers and artists. Nobles who ruled the main Italian cities, such as Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent in Florence, drove the artistic renewal we know as the Renaissance. These individuals became patrons who protected great artists and financed their works.

A New Conception of Art

The Renaissance promoted the recovery of ancient Greco-Roman art. Painters and sculptors embraced new themes arising from classical mythology. Artists aimed to shape their works according to the ideal of beauty. They considered the human being the most perfect creation of God and were concerned with the study of nature and human anatomy. Painters adopted an approach based on mathematical rules of proportionality, and sculptors recovered the proportional canons of classicism. Artisans began signing their works and started to enjoy prestige and social recognition.

The Quattrocento

The Renaissance appeared in Italy and had its first stage of splendor during the 15th century, known as the Quattrocento, which began in Florence, driven by the Medici family.

Architecture

Architects sought to provide order and rationality to space using simple, ordered elements inspired by Greco-Roman models such as the round arch, pediments, cornices, columns, and domes. Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti were notable figures.

Sculpture

Sculptors were interested in representing the human body, focusing on the handling of the nude and proportions. Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti were prominent artists.

Painting

The major innovations included the use of rational perspective, the representation of nature, and the psychological depth of characters. Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, and Sandro Botticelli were the most prominent painters.