When looking at Botticelli and his specific works, how does he embody the concept of the Renaissance artist?

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The Italian Renaissance was driven by a force of great development in humanity. The arousing of the human intellect and individualism mirrored the great evolution in the fine arts. With newfound inspiration and implementation styles, the fine arts of the Renaissance questioned the traditional beliefs and demanding representation of the middle Ages. As the first period in history to be aware of its own existence, the Renaissance overpowered previous rules and divulged a revival of the classics. The artists that contributed to the shaping of this artistic society all abided by similar guidelines that distinguished them as Renaissance artists.  Sandro Botticelli, through his graceful and idealized interpretation of pagan, portrait, narrative and religious scenes left a permanent mark in art history during this transitional period. Botticelli doesn’t only fit into the characteristics that make a renaissance artist, but also represent them throughout his works of art by conveying a revival of the classical forms originally developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, an intensified concern with secular life, and interest in humanism and assertion of the importance of the individual. When looking at Botticelli and his particular works such as the Birth of Venus, Primavera and the Adoration of the Magi, he embodies the concept of the renaissance artist given that he fostered a revival of the Greek and Roman classics, was influenced by a more secular approach, and experienced self- awareness.

The renaissance is distinguished by its admiration towards classical antiquity and the effort of many artists to pattern their lives on the image of men portrayed by Greek and Latin classics. The combining of the old and the new depicted this rebirth of painting. Botticelli represents the renewal of Greek and Roman classics in his works of art seeing as he was often inspired by classical artists, from which he got his ideas for some of his most renowned paintings. He is considered a Quattrocento artist, meaning an artist that showed the transition from the Medieval, to the beginning of the Renaissance, in his art.  The Birth of Venus (Figure 1) was in reality inspired by a written description of the 2nd century historian Lucian of masterpieces of Ancient Greece, which had long disappeared. In this painting, the graceful movements and melodious lines of his composition brings back the Gothic tradition of Ghiberti and Fra Angelico, perhaps even the art of the fourteenth century. Also, the Calumny of Apelles (Figure 3), another one of his paintings, was stimulated by the Greek Artist Apelles, whose painting is also similar. After seeing the rate at which Botticelli was flourishing, one could conclude that he most likely attained his enthusiasm for the classics from the Medici family, for whom he was commissioned, this is shown by the constant paintings of pagan figures that would please his patrons; thus, driving him to produce more. Botticelli was inspired, and under the protection of the Medici, so he created an entirely new genre of art, consisting of pagan deities, clearly motivated by the pagan beliefs in Roman and Greek precedents.

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The upheavals occurring in the arts and humanities were paralleled by a dynamic period of change in the sciences through humanism. A more secular approach to science had arose; thus, diverting some attention from the church. The Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporary theology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God, this movement was called humanism. This alteration of belief, allowed artists to surpass their established religious-based limits, and establish their art on a more secular ideal. Sandro Botticelli stands as a model of this new way of thinking. Botticelli started off, as most ...

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