Essay on Art and Artists
The list of talented artists, who changed the history of art, is probably endless because every epoch has its unique knights of the brush. However, not every artist became a genius and received recognition. To my mind, the eternal glory comes to the craftsman when his paintings represent not only visual images but something deeper. Something, which can not be seen, but felt. If you see a masterpiece, it really touches your heart and urges you to reflection. When I hear the word “Giant” of art, Leonardo da Vinci comes to my mind. He was the son of Florence, which was the cradle of arts. Without a doubt, Leonardo left a remarkable imprint on pictorial art. Moreover, da Vinci made a breakthrough in the field of anatomy and botany; his engineering skills were impressive – the genius was the inventor of numerous war and flying machines. Leonardo was an example of a person out of time and space, he represented the universal intelligence and, therefore, was a white crow. He faced mistrust, offense, and disregard. It is not strange because everybody knows that genius people have a lot of hurdles to overcome so as to prove their brilliance.
All in all, many artists became famous posthumously, when the genuine admirers of art saw the prominence of these authors’ creation. What I want to say is that we should discern the talent in time and support all the artist’s endeavours so as not to miss the “rising star” at the dawn of the 21st century. Every period of Western culture brought a change of thinking and world perception, and this caused the diversity of artistic forms and different representations of the reality in art. Despite the originality of every epoch, the crucial role in the history of art played the Renaissance - the period from the 14th to the 17th century, which drew down the curtain of Dark Ages and presented humanism in a new perspective.
From Florence, Italy, the spirit of the Renaissance spread across the Europe and became a milestone in the way of understanding human nature due to the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy. Being the apex of God’s creation, a human realized that there was nothing impossible. The phrase that the man is the measure of all things, revived belief in humanity. Since human abilities had no boundaries, the epoch of Renaissance provided us with many and many talented people, who changed the course of history. Thirst for knowledge and desire to cognize the outdoor world were the impetus to unprecedented scientific discoveries and inventions.
The understanding of the Universe was totally changed because of pivotal hypothesis about the sun, stars and the Earth. Less and less artists created church paintings, as they became interested in representation of the realistic pictures of life, using lights and shades to render the depth of the painting. All things considered, we may assume that the Renaissance was a real “rebirth” of …
