Renaissance Is Perhaps the Best

Renaissance is perhaps the best historical example of the best of the old and the best of the new that the world has ever seen. The constraints of the past were given less importance than the new and exciting and somehow, a balance between the two was discovered in the search for significance. The Renaissance did break away from traditional medieval thought in that the new attitude did not look for religious symbols in Medieval Art but rather focused on more classical and natural ideals.

Renaissance thinkers looked to great thinkers and artists of ancient years and were compelled to revive their work because of its significance. (Barzun 46) While this focus might have appeared to be looking back, it was also looking forward and attempting to break away from it by learning more about life through the individual experience rather than the overarching influence of the individual by the church. The theme of the Renaissance is no doubt "restoration after a long period of darkness" (Breisach 398).

Earnst Breisach maintains that while the Renaissance was moving in another direction it underscored the "universality of the human experience" (Breisach 404). This is the most significant aspect of the Renaissance - that it incorporated new ideas with ideas and managed to forge a new way of thinking, creating, and articulating that appealed to many that were searching for significance. The Renaissance cannot be considered seriously without looking at the aspect of Humanism and how it contributed to what the Renaissance would become.

Humanism is described as the "chief of the new conceptions of the Renaissance. (Lucas 209) Humanism was stimulated by pagan characteristics of Greek and Roman life that Middle Age scholars avoided. Many claim that Humanism was an "unchristian philosophy that stressed the dignity of humankind of championed individualism and secular values" (Craig 435) while other maintain that Humanism was a champion of Catholic Christianity.

Regardless of the real truth, almost everyone can agree that Humanism was the "scholarly study of the Latin and Greek classics and the ancient Church Fathers both for their own sake and to promote a rebirth of ancient norms and values" (435). Humanists were devoted to liberal arts that "embraced grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, politics, and moral philosophy" (435) and, from this perspective, they can be seen as individuals that were concerned with the teaching of the old and embracing the new.

Humanists were unique in that they wanted to understand what things meant - especially how life lessons applied directly to them and their lives. They were not happy simply learning things; they wanted to "draw their own conclusions" (435) about what it was that they were learning and they wanted to do this without worrying about what others might say or do. The Renaissance gave them the opportunity to explore and create without restraint.

As a result of this, learning took on an entirely different meaning in that it included the human experience as a significant aspect of knowledge, increasing the desire to know more. A result of a desire to learn resulted in an invigorated self-confidence that only reinforced the belief that mankind had the power within him to understand all things, including nature. This new outlook on life and mankind resulted in an expansion of knowledge, especially in literature and science.

Renaissance artists broadened their skills by using oil paints and incorporating realism to their work. Leonardo di Vinci is perhaps one of the most prominent artists of this time. His work illustrates the new trains of thought that mankind was taking. Another artist that cannot be ignored when mentioning the Renaissance is Michelangelo; a man whose art speaks volumes about mankind, art, and beauty on a level all its own.

He is responsible for what is referred to as High Renaissance painting, marking the "advent of a new, experimental style known as mannerism" (440). Mannerism made way for the "strange and even the abnormal and gave freer reign to the subjectivity of the artist" (440). Freedom to express oneself without worrying about any constraints or opposition allowed the artists of this time to experience complete freedom in a way that they had never experienced before. The Renaissance means, more than anything, the opportunity for every man to be himself.

Pico della Mirandola wrote that man should be "free to become whatever they choose" (Mirandola qtd. In Craig.