Abstract
This paper examines how early Renaissance artists, such as Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Mantegna, among others, successfully gained intellectual recognition and respect, and achieved acceptance of their artistic work in the same way as other liberal arts with reference to Francis Ames-Lewis' book, "The Intellectual Life of the Early Renaissance Artist" (2000).

From the Paper
"Ames-Lewis explores the methods and attitudes that were adopted and promoted in order to further the recognition of the artist as a creative genius who possesses and develops a unique identity and individuality.In his beautifully illustrated volume, Ames-Lewis investigates the gradual increase in the status of the artist, both from the personal efforts of the individual artists, who strongly believed that they merited a status greater than that of a craftsmen, and also from the changing perception of the society in which they lived and worked. He examines the cultural ethos of the time, which placed an increasing importance and prestige on those who were perceived as being "learned", thus concentrating the artists' desire to develop, and exhibit, their intellectual prowess, in addition to their recognized artistic talents.?

Tags:maximizing, public, professional, associations, acknowledged, intellectuals, literary, celebrities

Abstract
This paper discusses early Renaissance art. It focuses on sculptures that were commissioned for various reasons. The paper describes these works of art - their inspiration and properties and the purpose of their commissions. It particularly focuses on a statue of Pallas Athena, the ancient goddess of wisdom and the protector of the city of Athens and the sculpture of "David."

From the Paper
"The only possible objection might be the church that might resist the image of a nude female form from mythology standing proud before the city. Yet the Medicis wished that their power, over the authority of the Church and the technical legal status of Florence as a republic would reign supreme. They were making a new republic of wisdom that was in reality not a democracy at all, just like "David," for all of the gestures made to Biblical times in its name and in the statue's slingshot, really strikes the viewer as more of a celebration of Man and the artistry of the sculptor than the divine. The sculpture would pay homage to the right ideology on the surface, but an even deeper message of raw power would be expressed by the image of stone and metal."

Tags:Medici, Italy, gallery

Abstract
This paper explains that there are three highly significant ways in which Renaissance art can be considered a turning point for the visual arts. It shows how, first, a series of technical advances took place from the late 13th century to the early 15th century, notably a new feeling for the solidity of bodies, for the dramatic possibilities of design and composition, and the development of scientific perspective. Second, the writer explains that there is a rising interest in the classical civilizations, most importantly ancient Rome, leading to a concern to imitate classical architecture, sculpture, and as far as possible, painting. Finally, paralleling the development of new humanism in learning and scholarship, the writer points out that a change in the content of works of art can be discerned, as ideas from philosophy and literature influence both the choice of subject and the way in which it is handled.

From the Paper
"A new individuality of style and of genre can be seen in much of the work of this period, with a breaking down of the categories of religious and devotional painting that had characterized the 14th and earlier 15th centuries. The work of Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-94) has been described as only "nominally religious," and is typified by portraits and set pieces cast in the form of religious works but with more naturalistic and humanistic dimensions than in the devotional pictures of the previous century. His "Adoration of the Shepherds" of 1485 [fig. 2] shows influences of Flemish painting in the naturalistic portraits of the figures on the right, while the careful detailing of the ancient Roman sarcophagus being used as the manger demonstrates his concern with the antique and the classical. At the other end of the spectrum from the painters who strove for realism in art was Sandro Botticelli. In Botticelli's work the quest for linear harmony that had begun with Donatello reaches a climax in such non-naturalistic exercises in contour, movement and symbolism as "Primavera, the Allegory of Spring" (c.1482)."

Tags:botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Castagno

Abstract
In this article, the writer explores the birth of the Italian Renaissance. The writer maintains that that the Renaissance came about due to three principle causes: the development of Humanism, the unique organization of the Republican city-state, and the new conception of the artist as a respected creator. The writer specifically argues that the Renaissance developed first in the city of Florence, growing out of a major expansion in classical interest, the unique position of the Florentine city-state, and the new concept of the artist as a respected creator. Brunelleschi's dome is examined as a major Florentine feat during the proto or early Renaissance.

From the Paper
"For the first time since the medieval period, human values and interests came to the fore. The religious orthodoxy of the dark ages were giving way to an enlightened form of thinking that has come to shape the way we view the world today. This is not to suggest that the Renaissance was a period of secularization. Indeed, religious mores and values were still deeply rooted in the every day lives of Europeans. What the Renaissance allowed was a competing voice in European social fabric, an opportunity to explore human and secular interests - including the arts for self and religious glorification - on an unprecedented scale. Paul Walker observes that the Renaissance was more than a rebirth of ancient learning; it was also a first birth ..."

Tags:Florence, Renaissance, Italy, artist, Brunelleschi

Abstract
This paper discusses the Renaissance movement, which took place in Europe from the early 14th to late 16th century, and witnessed a revival of interest in the values and artistic styles of classical antiquity, especially in Italy. In particular, it looks at how the culmination of the artistic revolution of the Early Renaissance led to what is now known as the High Renaissance to signify the period of explosion of creative genius, producing as it did the work of great artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. It examines how High Renaissance Art touched unparalleled heights of creative expression because it brought the artist's personal expression into well-established techniques and style, thereby increasing the dramatic force and physical presence of a work of art . It also shows how an essential characteristic of High Renaissance Art is seen as its unified balance between technical skill and the artist's intuition or personal expression.

From the Paper
"Leonardo da Vinci's The Madonna of the Rocks exists in two, nearly identical versions; one, entirely credited to Leonardo, in the Louvre, Paris and the second, considered a collaboration because of its distinctly sixteenth century characteristics of larger figures, in London's National Gallery. Both versions depict a supposed meeting of the Christ Child and the infant saint John. The painting shows the infant Baptist, sheltering under Mary's cloak, venerating the Christ Child in a cool, watery wilderness. The figures, grouped in a pyramid, are glimpsed in a dimly lit grotto setting of rocks and water, a setting that inspired the work's name."

Tags:italy, leonardo, da, vinci, raphael, michelangelo

Abstract
This paper explains that the Renaissance marked the first time in centuries that Europeans had launched anything like a concerted and scientific attempt to investigate and record the past. The author points out that, in rediscovering the works of the great Classical historians such as Tacitus, Livy and Herodotus, the scholars of the later Middle Ages and Early Renaissance were digging into more than simply a huge treasure-trove of information; they were also unearthing a long-lost method of logic and inquiry. The paper stresses that, in reexamining these ancient histories, the great minds of the Renaissance were beginning to set limits on what was acceptable and what was not acceptable in academic research, to be critical of the material, not always automatically assuming that all was correct, the recorder of that material had been unbiased or had even been properly qualified to give the information at hand. Several long quotations.

From the Paper
"The Renaissance's discovery of the concept of historical perspective was to have dramatic consequences at the time, but even more astounding consequences for the future. The realization that actions had direct consequences, that a provable pattern actually existed, forced human beings to look at, and analyze their actions. Things could be seen to work because they truly made sense; and those things that "did not make sense" could be dispensed with - dispensed with the full understanding of what it was that was wrong with them. Our generation has inherited the taste for scientific experimentation that began in those far-off centuries. A reliance on the firm belief that there is a real logic to the world, and the cosmos, has permitted us to make discoveries that would have been impossible for our ancestors."

Tags:valla, bruni, machiavelli, more, erasmu

Abstract
This paper explains that, in his very short life, Raphael completed a almost countless number of works of art, which were diverse and exquisite because he was able to easily draw in any style. The author points out that, in the painting called "Sistine Madonna", Raphael established a balance between the exuberant naturalism, which was heralded in the early Renaissance, and the spiritual idealism, which had been prevalent in the Dark Ages. The paper describes in detail the "Sistine Madonna" and compares it with several other Madonnas drawn by Raphael.

From the Paper
"He used the newly developed techniques of mathematical perspective that gives the painting the illusion of real space through his intense study of nature. The composition is geometrical, as was Raphael's signature, shaped in a rhomboid, with the head of the Madonna at the apex and St. Sixtus and St. Barbara at the sides with the two cherubs at the base. The Madonna is elevated above the two saints that also form a triangle, between the three figures heads. At their feet, St. Sixtus is standing lower than where St. Barbara is kneeling, so the triangular shape falls to the left and produces a very appealing movement to the left, slowly."

Tags:sacred, technique, child, models, color

Abstract
The paper shows how King Henry VIII created the modern conceptual model for English governance. The paper details the events of Henry's reign including his divorce of Catherine of Aragon and his marriage and eventual beheading of Ann Boleyn, and highlights his changing relationship with both Parliament and the Pope. The paper also discusses Henry's institutional foundation of secularism and his support of high culture in the court.

From the Paper
"King Henry VIII was one of the most formative influences upon England during the early Renaissance. He created the modern conceptual model for English governance, an England that depended upon human, monarchal authority, rather than Church influence. The relationship between Parliament and King developed under Henry was unique for its day, and later enabled England to engage in electoral reforms, rather than undergo violent rebellions to enfranchise the populace like the European Continent in the 19th century."

Tags:Elizabeth, Church, governance, Parliament, poetry, drama, culture

Abstract
This paper is on the emergence of early western civilization and focuses primarily on the condition of the western world before and after the coming of the Renaissance followed by the Reformation. Both the eras mark the beginning of a society based on humanism and education. This paper also reviews the political, religious, economic and social transformation undergone by these societies to completely eradicate the reminiscence of the Middle Age.

Tags:emergence, early, western

Abstract
This paper provides a summary of the art and major artists of the High Renaissance movement of the early 16th Century. The paper discusses the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

From the Paper
"High Renaissance, that period of art at the beginning of the sixteenth century, has been referred to as one of the great explosions of artistic and creative genius in history. Most notable, it seems, for producing three of the greatest artists in history; da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, the High Renaissance was referred to as such not only because it was period of great and high art, but equally so because it was essentially the culmination of the cycle of..."

Tags:high, renaissance, art