World History Mosaic Project Essay

Over the course of World History to 1500, I learned many things. Although not many things changed my point of view on history, I did realize things that I did not realize before. The main point, though, was the art of the Renaissance. I never realized how humanistic ideas influenced it as much as it did. The mosaic I created represents the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo DaVinci. Its supposed to represent my more in depth understanding about art during the Renaissance. I always saw the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci as just a more evolved form of art. Im pretty big on art, since art is one of my major hobbies. I always admired the work of Renaissance artists, but never really knew how the style came to be. After the unit on the Renaissance, I discovered that much of the art during the Renaissance was influenced by humanistic ideas, putting man before God. The Statue of David, by Michelangelo, is one of the examples I was talking about. Ive known about this piece for a while, but I never really paid any attention to why Michelangelo had structured it that way. It was the humanistic ideas of that time, I learned, that caused him to shape the figure of David in such a way. Michelangelo made the body of David very muscular, which shows that he believed in human strength, which is a humanistic feature. Another very well known piece of Renaissance art is the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo DaVinci. I used to think that this painting was just a portrait of some lady that he decided to do. However, the Mona Lisa also turned out to incorporate many humanistic ideas and new techniques of art. The use of aerial perspective was something new at the time, as well as realistic paintings using proportion. Also, the Mona Lisa shows a simple, smiling woman, rather than a power queen or royal figure. Leonardo DaVinci was a student of humanism, and I never realized how that influenced his art.

Art is one of my strongest passions. The thing that changed my point of view most in this curriculum would probably be the unit on the Renaissance. It open up a new sight to the reasons that different types of art were created, and it made me view the different types of art differently. I understand the structure of Renaissance sculptures more, because of how humanistic ideas influenced them. I have a new insight on paintings of the Renaissance, because I never realized that the Renaissance was the birth of the use of perspective. I guess I could say that the unit on the Renaissance gave me a deeper perspective of the art that was being created. As an artist, I feel like understanding the arts from different time periods are pretty important. These units made me realize that humanistic ideas were a very big part in Renaissance art.