From the billboards you see every day to the pictures you take with your camera. It exists on every continent and every country. Art has been around sense the beginning of time and still thrives today. This essay is to inform and highlight some of the most important periods, artists, and pieces of are over the years.
The Renaissance period occurred in Northern Europe and Italy in the 1500s and 1600s. Renaissance means "rebirth." At this time that is exactly what happened, a rebirth in the world of art. This included drawing, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Many artists use the subject of the human body. They also concentrated on the use of perspective. Some artists of the late Renaissance painted their subjects with distorted and elongated bodies. Leonardo da Vinci was just one important and outstanding artist of this time period. He is known for his inventions. You may know him for some of his famous works of art, such as, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Michelangelo and Raphel are two more of the many artists in this period that made great contributions to art during the Renaissance.
A style of art known as Baroque developed in the 17th century. The center of Baroque art was in Rome. Paintings on ceilings were popular at this time. When these paintings were observed from the ground, the figures appeared to be floating in the air. This technique was known as "illusionism." Another popular technique at this time was "classical landscape." These paintings often had small figures, hills, plains, and Roman ruins.
In the 17th century, Holland became a newly independent country. Paintings became very popular and the demand was overwhelming. In order to reach a higher standard, most artists had to produce certain types of paintings. Popular subjects of paintings at this time were landscapes, ships and the sea, Dutch merchants, and the farming community. Some Dutch paintings were of carefully arranged subjects.
