Jeff Scudder
World History Honors

Essay On Renaissance

	During the Renaissance I believe there were two characteristics which were most important. They were the arts, and individualism. These were both very vital parts of this time period and they tied in together. People advanced in art, but at the same time wanted credit for their work.
	In Italy and other parts of the world during the Renaissance, the arts flourished. The reason for this was that people could now buy food. They could trade or make art or other things and sell them for their food. That way artisans could focus on their sculpting or painting instead of their farming and their survival. Many nobles hired artists and painters as their personal workers. These artists would make or paint things for the nobles and in return get food or money.
	There were many famous artists during this time. Leonardo da Vinci was a great painter who painted many famous portraits including the Mona Lisa. He kept detailed notebooks about his life and this is how we know so much about him today. Some interesting facts about da Vinci are that he wrote all of his notes backwards. He also invented things. He created sketches of an early helicopter and he also invented many weapons of war, including an early machine gun. Another artist, Michelangelo was known for his amazing work on sculptures. He loved to show man's strength and stature in full three dimensional views. He created many free standing statues of men and men on horseback like the Greeks and Romans had. On one of his famous statues, you can see his name carved on the man's shoulder. This is because somebody stated that the work was their own and not Michelangelo's. So he took his chisel and carved his name right into the statue to prove it was his. This is called individualism.
	Individualism is when one takes pride in what they do and they stop following the crowd. Because the arts were flourishing during the Renaissance, so did individualism. People who made beautiful paintings and sculptures wanted others to know who had made them. They wanted to be known as a painter and not known for their paintings themselves. People began writing their names on poems they wrote, or on books they had written. Architects began to sign their name somewhere on the building they had designed, or leave a watermark. A watermark is like a signature of an artist, but it is a picture or design, and not his name.
	Before the Renaissance, artists and others worked for the whole of humanity and for God. They did not care about being known for their individual, they just thought everyone was the same. But in Italy especially, people began to have the need for being famous. They wanted to be known as an individual painter and artist. So they began signing their names on all their works, and they would have people comission them for their works and paintings.
	The Renaissance had two very important characteristics. They were the idea of individualism and being known as a person and not as a whole group. And the idea of art itself, which flourished and grew in styles and methods during the entire Renaissance period.