The Renaissance developed in many parts of Europe (with its heart in Italy) in the 15th century to give the world a rich artistic heritage. It changed the traditional creative techniques upside down, departing from the dominant abstract forms in medieval art and setting new norms of human and natural depiction. Here is a brief account of the 5 characteristics of Renaissance art, which define this period and are easily recognizable even for amateurs.

What 5 Characteristics of Renaissance Art Shaped This Period?

Renaissance artists broke up with many Middle Ages traditions by inventing a completely new artistic approach. Here are its main defining features.

A Focus on Humanism and Naturalism

While medieval art favored abstract forms and avoided the naturalistic depictions of humans as sinful, Renaissance artists returned the human being to the focus of artistic gaze. The human ideal, the vision of humans as the peak of natural beauty and creative genius, and naturalistic human images reentered the art stage to usher in the revival of earlier creative traditions.

Return to Antiquity

Classicism, or classical antiquity, laid the basis as the main inspiration for Renaissance artists. While the dominant imagery of medieval art came from religious sources, with rare exceptions of aristocracy portraits, the Renaissance art tradition was dominated by the Greco-Roman visual language and style. Artists boldly fused the images from ancient mythology with biblical motives to reimagine Christian figures and historical events.

Three-Dimensional Paintings

Renaissance artists moved forward in the development of advanced painting techniques, some of which were the linear perspective and the vanishing point. These techniques enabled realistic depictions of three-dimensional objects and represented significant progress in visual art.

Natural Motifs

As the Renaissance coincided with the broader revival and activation of scientific pursuits, artists also got fascinated with natural processes and objects. Many paintings of the Renaissance period feature detailed images of plants, animals, and human body parts, thus signaling the deeper interest of humanity in natural laws and processes.

The Rise of Chiaroscuro and Sfumato Usage

Notable progress in visual art is also exemplified by the development of chiaroscuro and sfumato techniques – a more nuanced interplay of light and shadow on the canvases. The former means a three-dimensional object’s definition with light and shadow, and the latter stands for the light-enhanced color shade transitions.

A closer look at many famous art objects will reveal these 5 characteristics of Renaissance art. Take your own tour of the Renaissance art legacy to check it out for yourself.