Rebirth of Art, Religion and Education in Europe

The “rebirth” of art, religion, and education in Europe is known as the Renaissance. During this time of rebirth, Renaissance thinkers dismissed the medieval period as a dark age of worthlessness. Instead, a style of classical age inspired a respect for order, perspective, proportion, and principles to the artist’s work. The Renaissance also had a time of rebirth in people’s religion and beliefs. The people became closer to God and began to worship Him in their own ways. There was a drastic change in education during this time also. A push for the citizen to become ducated became a big deal.

Books were given out, any many libraries were developed in an attempt to educate their people(Bowman 325-330). The Renaissance truly changed the art work, religion, and education throughout Europe. The European art emerged from its medieval precedents during the course of the thirteenth century. Before this time European art work were based on fixed, conventional forms art. This showed figures as stiff and flat; it showed the objects as unrealistic and lifeless. The artwork did not show great detail. Landscapes were decorative but unrealistic.

The artist no longer worked only on small paintings but broadened his work to masterpieces. Masterpieces would be a piece of art that sometime would take an artist his whole life to complete. Their masterpieces would be placed in cathedrals, on buildings and would cover entire walls and ceilings. Many of the paintings would tell a story, often from the Bible. The artist would spend years working to finish his masterpieces. Often he would die before completing the paintings all the The status of artists rose as they began to work more for nobility and the wealthy.

No longer anonymous, artists developed personal styles and experimented adventurously with new techniques(“Renaissance” 1989). The use of color also was changed through the Renaissance. Europe was going through a time of dark colors and lifeless paintings. Scholars of this time knew that the color and paintings had to be changed. They knew that the painting had to liven up. They chose to develop new colors, colors that were brighter and full of life. The artist chose colors that would draw attention to their They also knew that they should adopt techniques to ake their work more realistic looking.

Techniques such as perspective, proportion, and size was adopted. They would make their paintings appear as you would see them in real life, as if you were looking at the object not a The artwork that was produced took massive amounts of time. The artist would complete very few amounts of large jobs in his life time. Often a job would be to paint a cathedral. This included the ceilings, altar, walls, and the floor. The artist would spend countless years completing his job to perfection(Murray and Murray 12-14). The artwork was spread throughout Europe by paintings, sculptures and buildings.

Artist would be well-known for their paintings. A patron would hire an artist and ask him to create a series of paintings or sculptures. The artist would be paid a great deal if he was loyal and worked hard for his patron(Murray and Murray 14). Artwork went trough a great change, but this wouldn’t be the only perspective that would be changed during the Renaissance. Religion also changed a great deal during the Renaissance. During the Dark Ages, which was the time eriod directly before the Renaissance, people began to drift away from Christianity.

The Dark Ages sent many people into a time of depression. Artists sought ways to help people in their religious quest. They often would center their work around a religious theme. Their works would tell of Bible stories or pictures from the Bible. Religion became popular throughout Europe, and people began to worship on a regular basis. They would often visit the cathedrals many times a day to pray. People began to have a new respect for religion through artwork, writing, and song(“Renaissance” 1999). The cathedrals were really important to the people of Europe.

The cathedrals were a magnificent sight to the people, and they thought that they cathedrals were a main part of worship. They often had lectures based on the stories that were told on the walls, floors, and ceilings of the cathedrals. The cathedrals were kept open by donations from families, similar to the offertory given in today’s society. Many of the families had a pew in the cathedrals dedicated to their families. The cathedrals were a main part of the worship of the people during this time(“Renaissance” 1999). Education also changed a great deal during the Renaissance.

Books were written by authors during the Dark Ages, but to publish them one had to write the entire book over and over again because there was not a way in which to make copies easily. The Renaissance would change this forever. The scholars knew that to educate people, one had to come up with a way to distribute books. To write them over took too much time, and they needed a quicker and more effective way. The printing press was soon adopted by the people. In printing press, the letters in the book were laced on wooden blocks and a page was laid on the table.

After all the letters formed all the words and were in place, the next occurred. Printers would then pour ink onto the blocks and stamp the pages. The words would be printed out on the page. After this was repeated for all the pages, they were gathered and bound together in a book. This made books become more popular and affordable by common people. Through this, libraries were formed, and people could obtain books easier. This allowed people to become more educated and literate(“Renaissance” 1999).

The Renaissance was indeed a remarkable time period throughout Europe. It changed Europe a great deal and will be remembered throughout the future. Europe was suffering before this period and was in desperate need of a reformation. The Renaissance gave Europe just what it needed, a rebirth. Art work, religion, and education thrived through this period. The paintings and sculptures, in particular, were remarkable and illustrate great talent, “Renaissance is a word which is generally understood, but which few people would care to define very closely” (Murray 7).