| Term Paper Title | A Comparison Of The Medieval And Renaissance Eras |
| # of Words | 1119 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 4.48 |
A Comparison of the Medieval and Renaissance Eras
A Comparison of the Medieval and Renaissance Eras
It is amazing how significantly various aspects of society can and will change over
a prolonged period of time. Between the time periods of the Medieval era and the
Renaissance, one can note numerous significant changes, mainly those pertaining to art
and religion. In general, ideals and subjects during the Renaissance became more secular.
In Medieval times, people seemed to focus mainly on the church, God, and the afterlife;
whereas during the Renaissance, the focus was more secular: humans and life on earth.
Although these two eras differ in many ways, the most concentrated differences deal with
the realms of architecture, painting, and philosophy.
Architecture noticeably shifted from religious awe to classical reason between the
Medieval era and the Renaissance. During the Middle Ages, architecture was aimed
mainly at making advancements in the church. Medieval cathedrals had very distinct
features, such as pointed spires, which were exactly that -- spires, or steeples, that were
pointed and extended upward from the tower area; the rose window, which was a large
stained glass window that was located on the front of the tower; and squared-off exterior
walls, which were a contrast to the usual rounded exterior designs that people were
accustomed to. Overall, cathedrals during this time could have very elegant features due
to the excellent techniques of support and stabilization. Buttresses, simple extensions of
the cathedral wall to enhance support, and flying buttresses, stone structures set away
from the cathedral wall and attached at the top, contributed to the excellent support that
Medieval cathedrals experienced. While architectural advancements during the Middle
Ages were concerned mainly with making elegant reformations in the structure of the
cathedral, architecture during the Renaissance was much less religion-centered, and
revolved more around classical reason and secularity. Architecture in this time was
concentrated mostly with the design of castles, such as the home of the prevailing Italian
Medici family, perhaps the richest family in Europe. Architectural focus had changed
from the cathedral in the Medieval era to other, more classical and secular subjects, such
as castles and homes of significant rulers.
The style, subjects, and overall attitude of painting was something that underwent
very significant changes during the progression from Medieval times to the Renaissance.
Generally, paintings became more secular, and less focused on aspects of the church, as
the Renaissance approached. Medieval paintings seem to be focused almost entirely on
religion and are given heavenly attributes, while paintings of the Renaissance consist
mainly of secular subjects and contain much more realism, especially noted in human
subjects. In Giotto's Madonna With Child, a Medieval painting, any observer will
obviously notice that the child and woman are very awkwardly proportioned, indicating
the lack of realism. However, in the Mona Lisa, by DaVinci, and The Marriage of the
Virgin, by Raphael, both paintings of the Renaissance, it is evident the amount of realism
that the artists were attempting to portray. Both of these paintings are extremely realistic,
seemingly three-dimensional, very well-proportioned, and involve large amounts of
shading to accentuate the realism. When considering the subjects of Medieval painting, the
majority of them were religious oriented or somehow involved the c...Read entire document
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