From the 1500’s to the 1700’s, art began to change from a more 2D traditional medieval style to a more realistic and lifelike style. This change in art style was from the birth of a new age called the Renaissance.

The Renaissance is an important part history that gave light to new ideas and views. In the medieval period of Europe, there tended be a focus on more religious paintings and the representation of the characters in these paintings. When the Renaissance came, the new views also affected the art guilds in Europe. This led artists to not only paint religious depictions and expand their collections to daily life, nature, and other subjects.

In the medieval period, artists did not have freedom to change and adapt their art styles. This caused art to be very disproportionate and unrealistic. Artists back then didn’t tend to care if their art looked realistic as it was only meant to visualize symbols in Christianity.

Take Epitaph of Nikolaus Lindner(c. 1511) by Anonymous. If you zoom in on the baby the woman is holding, it looks distorted and odd. Babies did not look like that back then and why the baby has that appearance is caused from a very little understanding of human anatomy that painters had. Another example of this is the baby in the painting having two left feet.

When the new ideas of individualism in the Renaissance came, artists had more freedom to choose what they painted. Artists then wanted to recreate and create the art styles of the Greeks that was more realistic.

A famous depiction of the newfound study of anatomy is Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. This was a hand-drawn depiction of human anatomy that revolutionized how to portray humans in art.

Take Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper. It uses many “new” art techniques in medieval Europe as well as using symbolism. Some of these techniques included light and shadow, mathematical depth, using oil paint, and many other techniques as well.

All in all, the ideas of individualism in the Renaissance had a huge impact on the art from medieval Europe. It allowed art to develop and change forever how we paint and the techniques we use today.

Sources: https://artincontext.org/medieval-art-vs-renaissance-art/