Da Vinci: How does he represent the Renaissance?
Leonardo da Vinci’s life and his works represent classic Renaissance traits of thinking that characterized this era. Da Vinci’s paintings, such as the famous Mona Lisa, depicted a woman with a mysterious nature, a human component, and attractiveness that was not evident in Middle Age artwork. Da Vinci was considered a thinker and artist who brought about the beginning of as well as illustrated the Humanist way of thinking. In other words, he believed strongly in people’s ability to learn and capacity to learn; specifically, through scientific means, research, testing and logic. He believed the human mind was limitless with regard to the amount of knowledge it could learn and hold. Da Vinci’s artwork portrayed people in harmony with nature and the environment (using the example of the Mona Lisa)- this painting shows natural landscapes and backgrounds that flow with the curvature of the human outline of the woman in the portrait. The Renaissance also spurred a deepening interest in the intricacies of the human body. Da Vinci brought anatomy into his research and developed theories about how the human body’s proportions should be linear, or tied to actual human bodies and not divine bodies as they had been portrayed or painted for centuries. He drew sketches of the human anatomy and its relative dimensions in his notebooks and challenged previous scientific information discounted. His affinity to the human body, human beings and the importance of science and truth, as well as the challenging of old information and zest for new discoveries and prolific art, makes Leonardo da Vinci an excellent representation of all that the Renaissance entailed.
Aspects of Humanism Da Vinci’s work illustrates
2. I touch upon the Humanistic approach which Da Vinci had (above) towards science and art. The basic tenets of the movement included a leaning toward teaching people so as to provide them with “free and active minds” (Herrick, p156.) Humanists were a new breed of scholars who drew upon older Roman works by Cicero and Quintilian to assist them in their learning ventures. Now that Italian society was less structured by class and open to learning about the rich history of their state, it was believed by Humanists that people of all class levels should be able to study topics such as poetry, art, history, music and rhetoric, and gain understanding on deeper meanings of each. Da Vinci, as other Humanists, believed in the potential of human understanding and intellect, and he believed everyone possessed this potential regardless of class standing or lot in life. Da Vinci also showed an interest in having his art display the human body as it is normally seen, instead of in a divine or fantastical way. This was a step toward defining Humanism as something separate than the Church and godlike artwork. It also showed that Da Vinci and his colleagues in the movement were moving more towards studying the anatomy and physical attributes of the human body- considered close to basic Humanist principles of human-centered studies.
Connections between Humanist aspects and the Renaissance movement
Connections between the aspects of Humanism as described above and rhetoric can be drawn. Discoveries of works by earlier rhetors such as Quintilian were key to uncovering rhetoric works of Rome in earlier times. During the Middle Ages, such intense analyzation on rhetoric as art was somewhat stifled, so the recovery of some of these great works brought about interest and depth to the Humanist movement, and gave it reason to grow. The reason was to create a perfect intellectual “Renaissance Man”- well rounded, educated and spoken- based upon the word around him, inside him, and that came before him. Human will and motivation was studied from earlier works by Aristotle and Cicero. Humanist scholars added another level of rhetoric study known as Pathologia, or the study of human passions and emotions which comes from the emotional power of language and writing. Humanists also yearned to study rhetorical works for what they considered to be their “true meaning” and not their meaning as religion would dictate it (Herrick, p158.) They referred to rhetoric in full context, concerned that to not do so would compromise its meaning or intent. They studied it in its purest form as it was meant to be written and copied without intervention from the sometimes inauthentic musings of clergy.
Human Relationship with the Divine during the Renaissance
During the Italian Renaissance, based on my readings, I feel that society began to emerge from believing everything they read to questioning and wanting truth. Science became more intertwined with education and rhetoric and people wanted to know the facts on the world around them, both immediate world (society, anatomy,) to the far-off world (the earth itself, continents, topology and maps- and later, space.) Instead of relying on divine beings and church readings to answer the big questions in life, people relied on scientists, the human mind and their understanding and unraveling of facts to do so. Perhaps religion also took a more naturalistic turn during this time. People saw beauty in nature, sky, plants, landscapes, mountains, and rivers, and in their own bodily makeup, which amazed them and gave them feeling of higher power existing beyond their lifetimes. Fine art and more creative writing may have led people to develop their own beliefs about life instead of having a blind faith and loyalty toward the Church alone. People themselves could accomplish wonderful things like poetry, painting, rhetorical mastery, and scientific discoveries, and this was a newfound power and direction toward both the inner self and the awe-inspiring things a human being could create, with or without the help of a God.
Mary 