¶ … art are closely enmeshed in the social and political culture of any given time. Hence the significant differences in different periods of art, and also the ability to differentiate between these periods. While changes between adjacent time periods may seem minor, they eventually accumulate to form wide differentialities between periods. Because human beings change, politics and society change, and therefore art will also be subject to change accordingly. As substantiation for this claim, one might consider the differences between the Renaissance and Romantic periods of art.

During the Renaissance, the church and a number of powerful families, such as the Medici, played a powerful role not only in politics, but also in influencing the arts. In the early fifteenth century, for example, Renaissance palaces changed from the rather austere designs of the past to include a more socially inclusive arcaded halls and family loggias. The focus of art during this time was then also the human being and the social setting.

In the Romantic era the focus moved from humanity to nature. This was largely due to the influence of the English. The poetry, painting and architecture of the time proves this. English works created during this time for example then is simpler than that of the Renaissance, in order to celebrate the greatness of nature rather than humanity. A further characteristic of this time is the revival of the concept of the Real. Realism and naturalism were preferred above the grand and intricate display of wealth for which the Baroque period was known.

The main difference between Romanticism and Baroque is that the focus has moved from humanity to nature, and from displaying the wealth of one's sponsor to the wealth of one's devotion to nature. Two different paradigms of art were thus influenced by two different countries - Italy and England - together with their political and social influences as dictated by the specific time periods focused upon.

Bibliography

Brion, Marcel. (1966). Art of the Romantic Era. London: Thames and Hudson.

Harrison, Charles, and Wood, Paul.(Eds) (1998). Art in Theory: 1815-1900. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Van Schaack, Eric. (1964). Baroque Art in Italy. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Wackernagel, Martin (1938). The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist. Trans. By Alison Luchs, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.