History of World Art II: Day 18 - Pre-Renaissance Re-Cap

From the devastation of plague the 14th century saw a time when humanism took root and art moved away from purely religious - the church was not the center of wealth anymore as a new economic system of trade took root throughout Europe. Religion was still the main focus of daily life during this time, but scholars and artists became more aware and concerned with the natural world surrounding them.

In the early 1300s Giotto di Bondone of Florence is regarded as the first Renaissance artist for his naturalistic portrayal of form and light in his painting. He was the fore-runner of the naturalistic movement which lead to a relaxed view of elements. In the 1290s Duccio di Buoninsegna demonstrated this in his paintings as well in a style that became known as Roman Naturalism. He relaxed the rigidity of figures and gave them more depth of field within the scene of his paintings and made decisive steps towards humanizing the religious elements and giving the subjects emotion. From there the artistic view of the time zooms out from the religious focus and starts to look at the individuals place within the landscape of the world. This can especially be seen in the secular works of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescoes done for the Siena Plazzo Pubblico - this is the first time that landscape is used in Western art since antiquity.