The historic periods during which the great masters of type were active, when the typographic and book design systems that we still use today, even when we design electronic material such as e-books, were developed start from the Renaissance in the 15th century, continue through the Baroque period in the 17th century to the Age of the Enlightenment in the 18th century.
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.
The ideas characterizing the Renaissance had their origin in late 13th-century Florence, in particular with the writings of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) and Petrarch (1304–1374), as well as the paintings of Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337). Some writers date the Renaissance quite precisely; one proposed starting point is 1401, when the rival geniuses Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi competed for the contract to build the bronze doors for the Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral. Others see more general competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance.
During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand. Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia and Europe. Silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa and Venice, while Florence gained prominence as a city of bankers through the Medici family. And, of course, Rome as the seat of the Vatican, also had control over vast monetary resources.
Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – 1337), known as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Renaissance.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564) exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since been described as one of the greatest artists of all time, as the archetypal Renaissance man, together with his arch-rival Leonardo da Vinci.
Michelangelo's relationship with his most important client, the Medici family of Florentine bankers, carried great complexities, surviving over many strifes. This affiliation is a very good example to the connection between money and art during the Renaissance.
Throughout the Middle Ages, religion was a strong, pervasive force in society. Most individuals were more concerned with God and the possibility of the afterlife than they were with current human affairs. By the time the Renaissance occurred, this social attitude was beginning to change. Although the church still continued to exert a great deal of influence, nevertheless individuals began to be more focused on secular or humanist values, alongside spirituality. Human affairs were no longer viewed as distasteful or inferior to the otherworldly possibility of Heaven, meaning that people began to appreciate their own humanity far more than ever before. A great cultural obsession began with human accomplishment and people began to feel more optimistic about their own short lives on earth, rather than their future eternal lives in Heaven.
Alongside the big church and cathedral triptychs, painted by famous artists there were also personal, small altarpieces, carved out of ivory or wood.
Alongside the big church and cathedral triptychs, painted by famous artists there were also personal, small altarpieces, carved out of ivory or wood.
Robert Campin (1375 – 1444), also known as the Master of Flémalle, is considered the first great master of Early Netherlandish painting. Campin did not sign his paintings, therefore none can be securely connected with him. Thus the corpus of work is attached to the unidentified "Master of Flémalle." His early work shows the influence of the International Gothic painters but displays a more realistic observation which he achieved through innovations in the use of oil paints. Campin taught both Rogier van der Weyden and Jacques Daret and was a contemporary of Jan van Eyck.
Throughout the Middle Ages, religion was a strong, pervasive force in society. Most individuals were more concerned with God and the possibility of the afterlife than they were with current human affairs. By the time the Renaissance occurred, this social attitude was beginning to change. Although the church still continued to exert a great deal of influence, nevertheless individuals began to be more focused on secular or humanist values, alongside spirituality. Human affairs were no longer viewed as distasteful or inferior to the otherworldly possibility of Heaven, meaning that people began to appreciate their own humanity far more than ever before. A great cultural obsession began with human accomplishment and people began to feel more optimistic about their own short lives on earth, rather than their future eternal lives in Heaven.