Telling the Story of the Early Renaissance

Published by Alec Barbour

        Throughout the course of the adorations, there have been a number of paintings and different styles that have made a major contribution to the rest of the world, in a way where one person can take a piece of art and evaluate it through its eyes and also with the help of helpful resources, they can fully appreciate the true concept of composition and perceptiveness. There have been a number of art styles during the Italian Renaissance, but one of them stood out the most to me as a student because there was so much characterization being portrayed by the figures that it allowed me to continue to further evaluate the art work and that was from Sandro Botticelli who created “Adoration of the Magi” that was supposed to represent Botticelli during the year 1475. According to Botticelli, this painting was to commission the final seven versions of “The Adoration of the Magi”. In the scene, we are seeing several people who are presumed to be the Medici family, from there we can evaluate that the Magus are bowing down and on top of that, we have the three magi who are presented as the stages of life. In terms of civilians, the three magi were Cosimo, Giovanni, and also Pietro, from there we are given the exact understanding as to what the other paintings that represent the Adorations of the Magi, where they find Jesus by following a common star that leads and allows them to present a meaningful gift or worship towards life. This is relevant to the resources provided from chapter twelve and to quote “Magi are shown as three generations of the Medici family; the sons of Pierro” (Cunningham, 280). Given the text provided from the resource of Cunningham, the overall understanding was for Botticelli to create a version from which she believed would be the most logical sense in terms of what reality could like it without it seemingly impossible to glance at a painting. So, in overall terms, it was a great evaluation because ultimately, Botticelli’s painted was made to become part of a chapel in Santa Maria Novella by the Lama family who were eventually going to patronized it.

        Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510)

        Since Sandro Botticelli has become one of the best-known artists from the early western civilization and also the early fifteenth century, there is a lot more to it when it came to development and processing of the workplace skills that went into “The Adoration of Magi”. According to the Renaissance Studies, they published an article entitled “Quality choices in the production of Renaissance art: Botticelli and demand” and in their article, they mentioned a lot about how many artists were being drawn away from the creation of hand working craftsmanship due to the increase of publishing companies. To quote one of those statements, one of the things they mentioned “the ironic fact is that as high demand required master painters to turn out more and more work, they were themselves less and less engaged directly in making it” (Studies, 2014). Just from this quote alone, it is clear to determine that as Italian artists became more popular in their work and had the economies and publishing companies to help manufacture more of these prints, they were being driven away from the joy and nature of creation that made them for who they are. This can be later determined in ways where workers who help create “The Adoration for Magi”, there work was nothing compared to Botticelli’s original work. Ultimately, this background information is a clear understatement that Renaissance paintings became the ultimate design for the fifteenth century but it did also draw in a new system of making paintings faster and more equipped for number of proportions across Europe.

"Adoration of the Magi" (Botticelli, 1475)

https://www.artnews.com/feature/sandro-botticelli-who-is-he-why-is-he-important-1234581919/

    In many ways, the word humanism can be referred to by a number of outcomes but from my understanding it’s mostly been presented as a reference to a philosophy of life but in a progressively mannered way. Throughout the world and other populations, the fifteenth century has been known to portray a number of events that took place, from the foundations of a new world to the ultimate printing press of economic companies that are increasingly expanding every day. This is why we have humanism, because it is a knowledge to establish the greater good from the purposes that we bring to the world. Like Sandro Botticelli’s painting of “Adoration of the Magi”, it was meant to present a meaning of humanism through the course of Italian culture. For instance, in chapter twelve, there is a reference to the understanding for why this painting had a purpose in life and to quote, “Many scholars believe it was votive offering to the church in thanksgiving for the safety of the family during the political turmoil of 1466” (Cunningham, 280). Because of this, there is a meaning of peace, joy and solitude because there was a purpose in which to provide a necessary tool of knowledge of a certain culture that wanted to relive with them throughout the course of their lifetime. Not only does this painting share knowledge of what life was like in the fifteenth century it provides a great aspiration for the outcome of what a foundation could start with the creation of a new Italian renaissance. Looking back on how this painting was affected me emotionally, it showed me that the renaissance was a major contributor to how the rest of Europe would be put together for new generations to come, and that is why I think using the term pejorative to the context of humanism is an insult to both the world of nature and culture. The reason I say this is because many people do not appreciate the history that came about with all events and rough moments in early modern life, that all should be equipped for an understanding to accept the beginning of new era of would define humanism in the world of the Italian renaissance and the fifteenth century.

Work Cited

O’Malley, Michelle. “Quality Choices in the Production of Renaissance Art: Botticelli and Demand.” Renaissance Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, Wiley, 2014, pp. 4–32, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24423863.

Cunningham, Andrew. "The Anatomical Renaissance: The Resurrection of the Anatomical Projects of the Ancients" Chapter 12. Published 1997.