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Differences Between Renaissance
and Medieval Art
Kristal Wood
Hist. 535
Dr. Loni Bramson
May 23, 2012
When a person is asked what type of art they remember from ancient times, they say
Greek and Roman sculptures and buildings. They say Renaissance paintings and frescoes. The
one form no one says is medieval art. The period of time between the splendor of the Roman
empire and the dawning of a rebirth and renewal that swept the European continent. After the fall
of the Roman empire there was a period of “darkness” that overtook the majority of the
population of Europe. There was a loss of classic works to the ottomans in the middle east and
chaos as rulers were thrust into a new position without a powerful force looming over them.
These are known as the dark ages, the medieval ages, the middle ages; the 1000 year period of
time where there is little to remember but a few surviving relics and pieces of architecture. What
is the difference between Renaissance and Medieval art, including; sculpture, paintings, frescoes,
tapestries, architecture, pottery, etc. that draws people to one and not the other?
In this paper the term art will refer to not only paintings, but also sculptures, metal work,
tapestries, anything that has been considered art by historians in the past. Each time period had
different pieces of art that they held in more value and esteem than others, so each needs to be
represented fairly. In order to know what may draw people towards one period and not another
first a person has to understand the differences of the time periods which includes the economy,
the thoughts of the people, the political climates and the materials available to artists. All of these
factors go into the art work being produced.
The Medieval time period spans for roughly 1000 years; although historians do not agree,
a general timeline for the period is from the 5th to the 15th centuries (depending on which part of
Europe a person is researching and discussing). The Renaissance started in southern parts of
Europe, like Italy, much earlier than the northern areas, like England, and can be seen as early as
the 14th century. This time period came on the heels of the downfall of the Roman empire and is
a time of economic instability, people leaving city areas and barbarian invasions. It was a time in
history that had a very bleak outcome, and much of the art would reflect this. With the fall of
Rome, territories that had previously been controlled by the Emperor were now free to be
conquered by other growing groups. The Franks, Islamics and Vikings all took their turns
controlling different portions of Europe at various times during the seventh thru ninth centuries,
which resulted (sometimes) in a massive change in the political dynamics of an area. The future
German empire, the Franks, would assume a large portion of western Europe under the
leadership of Charlemagne forming the Carolingian dynasty, which lasted for a couple hundred
years in its own right. The Islamics would take control of most of northern Africa and Turkey.
Each region would come to have its own artistic style, in its own right, which would lead
future historians to not have a cohesive picture of artwork from the period, like they do with
Roman and Renaissance art works. This lack of consistency is one reason that medieval art has
been down played, and looked at differently than Greek sculpture or Renaissance painting.1 The
medieval time period is one of constant changes in territorial claims, political entities and
borders. In contrast, the Roman empire was stable in the lands it contained, with the exception of
conquering new territories, and the Renaissance was stable, even with all the alliances and
disputes between Italy, France, Spain and England. There was little mass changes in leadership
in any of these areas, which meant that there was consistency in the lives of the people living
there. People could live their whole lives under the leadership of one central government during
this time period, but the same could not necessarily be said about families in the medieval time.
Herbert L. Kessler, “On the State of Medieval Art History,” The Art Bulletin 70 (June
1988): 166, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051115 (accessed May 14, 2012).
1
The art being depicted during the middle ages is regarded as losing the essence of the
Classicism that was seen with Greek and Roman art because of the images being depicted. There
were monsters being drawn, images that were surreal in nature to the eye because they did not
depict the human form in a realistic manner. With the new advent of Christianity as the dominant
religion, there became a thought that anyone who was not a Christian was sinful, and if a person
or culture was sinful, they were ugly. This became a main theme in the artwork that was being
produced and different groups started being represented as monsters, instead of people.2 These
depictions would later be classified as “barbarian art” by the Renaissance painters and historians,
tainting the validity and hidden beauty that was in this art. This term, barbarian, came about
because of the tribes and peoples that seemed to emerge out of the woodwork with the fall of the
Roman empire, but were in all reality, a part of the empire before its collapse.3 These barbarians
were soldiers who had been sent out to the farther reaches of the empire, and had adapted to the
demands of the areas they were living in.
This period of barbarian invasion seems to have been misclassified by early historians,
especially from the Renaissance age, as the people moving into new areas were simply migrating
from other parts of the former empire, not invading some new found territory. They were people
who had been living there all along, at least in the “late antique” or “early Christian” phases of
the Medieval period.4 These two periods are what classify the types of art being depicted, and
2
Debra Strickland, Saracens, Demons & Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2003), 29.
Lawrence Nees, “Approaches to Early Medieval Art” Speculum 72 (Oct. 1997): 959,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2865953 (accessed May 14, 2012).
3
Kessler, “On the State of Medieval Art History,” 167, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051115
(accessed May 14, 2012).
4
that are showing the rise of Christianity as a dominate force in people’s lives. People had gone
from a primarily pagan belief system, into something more concrete with the imposition of
Christianity on the people.5 The artwork that was being produced shows a shift in the mentality
of the people as they went from a classic view of art in the sculptures and architecture, to a very
surreal view and one that dealt mostly with ascension of Jesus into Heaven. “It began to
disappear with the rise of the Renaissance in the fifteenth century, when, so to speak men began
to look upon themselves and their surroundings as more interesting than God.”6 This newfound
sense of self and their surroundings can be seen in the art of the Renaissance, when the concept
of spatial relevance within the painting became known, and a widely used technique, as well as
the implanting of nobles and figureheads into the paintings, instead of just a scene showing a
story from the bible. Renaissance nobility started to have the ability to pay artists to integrate
themselves into the artwork being done, along with the Virgin Mary, the Apostles and other
figures from biblical times.
Medieval art went through many different phases and had multiple influences upon it.
There was the “barbarian” invaders from the north, there was the Asiatic influences from Persia,
Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the like (the Nearer East); as well as the artistic works that were still
visible from the remnants of the Greek and Roman empires. All of these different styles made
the artwork of this time very distinct and different. There are now phases that this art went
through (as defined by art historians); Early Christian art, Byzantine Art, Romanesque art and the
Gothic period. By contrast, the Renaissance does not have as many distinct phases of the
artwork, but it becomes all lumped into one style, Renaissance. There are different techniques
5
Charles Morey, Mediaeval Art (W.W. Norton & Company: New York, 1970), 6.
6
Morey, Mediaeval Art, 3-4.
used, and different geographic areas where the art comes from, but for the most part, the art is
considered to be of one “style.” The fluidity of the artwork from the Medieval time period works
against it in this sense, because a general person looking at this artwork will not understand the
history behind the artwork. They will not understand that it comes from a place of unbalance and
cultural upheaval. All the person will know is that the art from one area during medieval times is
not consistent with that of another area. In comparison, the artwork produced during the
Renaissance all tends to have a similar look and feel to it, no matter where it comes from. There
are distinct styles to different areas; Italian, English, Spanish but all of these styles have a
similarity about them because the artists who create pieces in Italy may have learned from
someone in the Netherlands. Someone who paints in England may travel to Italy to learn new
techniques and then bring them back with them to England, but also may have been influenced
by Spanish and French artists along the travel route. An example of this is the famous painting of
Henry VIII where he is dressed in his finest, with things surrounding him that make him known
to be of royalty. This painting was done by Hans Holbein, not of English descent, but of German.
He painted portraits for many people around the continent of Europe, which meant that the style
he learned in Germany, traveled with him to other areas, such as England. This cohesiveness of
art is pleasing to people when they are looking at art that is from the same period.
There is not only a lack of cohesiveness with Medieval art, but there were different
mediums being used to create the artwork that was not as popular and widely used during the
Renaissance. Sculpture, architecture, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metal works,
mosaics, tapestries, ivory carvings, embroidery and paintings were all the types of artwork being
created during the middle ages. There was different emphasis on the different mediums, and
there tends to be a sense of more importance placed upon the decorative arts than the sculptures
and paintings. Very little of Medieval artwork has survived through the ages, and what has
survived are mostly representations of Christian works, making the period seem overly
enthusiastic about their new religion. This was not always the case, but the more commonly used
items, like embroidery, would have not been preserved like sculptures, metal works and the like.
One example is the scarphagus’ that are preserved all throughout Europe from the middle ages.7
The art work being done for nobles usually consisted of plates, carvings, metal works and the
like. One of the finest examples left from the period is the Projecta casket, which was most likely
a wedding gift to a young couple. It is made of silver and gold with intricate carvings on all sides
and the lid. It depicts various people but there is no religious connotations with the gift, as Venus
Goddess of love and beauty, is depicted.8
This type of art work was much more highly regarded than a painting, as it could be
carried around and used to show off a person’s class, where as a painting could only be seen by
people who came to the noble’s home. In the middle ages there was a stronger sense of class
difference than gender difference, and that is illustrated by what people wore, and the gifts they
could receive. The imagery and detailing were not as important to the wealthy so much as the
weight and heft of the silver or gold used to make the item. This is demonstrated by the
inventory of Constantine’s gifts to the Lateran Basilica:
[Kenneth Painter] He suggests that although for us today the imagery is the most
significant aspect, in the fourth century the weight of silver might have been the preeminent sign of its owner’s importance. The fourth-century inventory of Constantine’s
gifts of gold and silver to the Lateran Basilica describes the iconography and placement
7
Lawrence Nees, Early Medieval Art, (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2002), multiple.
8
Nees, Early Medieval Art, 66-67.
of figures on the fastigium, but for the long list of patens, candelabra, and other items
given at the same time imager is never mentioned, and weight never left out.9
This importance of weight does not seem to be seen in the Renaissance, but the beauty of the art
becomes very important to the nobility commissioning the artist.
A facet of Renaissance painting that was not included in Medieval art at all is the idea of
humanism. The ancient Greeks and Romans had studied such things as rhetoric and history,
language and literature and philosophy. These ideals had been lost after the end of the Roman
empire and the sacking of Rome when all its precious treasures were captured and taken to the
middle east. During the Renaissance, those treasures were re-discovered, thanks to the crusades,
and the idea of humanism spread throughout the Renaissance and was incorporated very heavily
in the artwork being produced. A wonderful example of the differences between Medieval and
Renaissance art, incorporating classicism and humanist ideals is Leonardo de Vinci’s Vitruvian
Man (1490-1500) and Hildegard von Bingen’s Liber divinorum (late 13th century). Both depict a
man standing arms splayed and within a circular shape. One of the differences here is that
Bingen’s man is not symmetrical, nor is baring his nudity, as the man in Da Vinci’s painting is.
Bingen paints his man being constrained by the cosmos, subject to the fates of the heavens. Da
Vinci has made his man reaching various geometric planes, and not tethered to the fates of the
heavens surrounding him.10
Leonardo had a belief that poetry and painting were both equal in bringing beauty to a
persons mind. A painting was a visual representation of a poem, and poetry was a mute painting.
Leonardo tends to lean towards painting as the superior of the two liberal arts, as the sense of
9
Ibid. 71.
10
Charles Carman, Images of Humanist Ideals in Renaissance Art (The Edwin Mellen Press:
Lewiston, New York, 2000), 70.
sight is the superior of all five senses.11 Beauty was a very important aspect of the lives of people
during the Renaissance, and a painting was used to depict that beauty and the divinity of nature.
To Leonardo, a poem was created in the inferior “tenebrous eye,” or the inner vision. A painting
was created from nature, and allowed for what was divine in nature to come out and be a visual
representation to the public.12 These were concepts that were not thought of during the middle
ages, so these are not aspects that are included in their paintings. Paintings of the middle ages
were meant to depict what a person saw as beauty and ugliness, and to be represented in a
unrealistic way, such as, Jews depicted as monsters, and Ethiopians depicted as devils. Paintings
in the Renaissance depicted the beauty around them, in a more realistic nature, rather than a
misrepresentation of their surroundings.
Renaissance art took on a very different quality than that of Medieval art, and people
have shown a greater liking for that realistic qualities and the classicism that is shown throughout
the time period. The art of the middle ages took on a surreal quality and lost the realistic
depictions of people that had started to emerge during Roman times. Also, Renaissance nobility
and elite tended to treasure their paintings, hoping to preserve them along with their family lines,
so the artwork was better taken care of than that of the middle ages. Paintings showed a level of
wealth that was not achieved of lower classes, because artists were so incredibly expensive to
obtain. The Catholic church was one of the wealthiest empires and they used that wealth to hire
artists like Michaelangelo to paint wonderful masterpieces for them. The Medici’s were also a
family well known for their art collection and for hiring artists to paint large masterpieces for
them.
11
Carman, Images of Humanist Ideals 122.
12
Ibid. 124.
There are many differences between Renaissance and Medieval artwork and this paper
has only touched on the surface of some of those differences, there is just simply not enough
room to discuss everything in length within this paper. The Renaissance was a time of rebirth,
renewal and a time to get back to the classics that the Romans and the Greeks had brought to the
world. Although there were advances made during the Medieval ages in agriculture, architecture
and other forms of art, those were lost when the black death first struck in 1347. Europe was not
able to recover what it had lost before the humanists and the Renaissance period took over,
making the Renaissance a lasting image in people’s minds, rather than the middle ages.
Historians have also given the Medieval time a bad reputation as a time of unease, barbarian
invasions and a level of unsophistication that they have not given to the Renaissance. Historians
have named the Renaissance the Golden Age, making it seem much more grander than it was,
and have biased people to believe that whatever came out of Medieval Europe was of little
consequence and the true thrust forward in innovation was the Renaissance.
Bibliography
Carman, Charles. Images of Humanist Ideals in Renaissance Art (The Edwin Mellen Press: Lewiston,
New York, 2000).
Kessler, Herbert L. “On the State of Medieval Art History,” The Art Bulletin 70 (June 1988):
166-187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051115 (accessed May 14, 2012).
Morey, Charles. Mediaeval Art (W.W. Norton & Company: New York, 1970).
Nees, Lawrence. Early Medieval Art. (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2002).
Nees, Lawrence. “Approaches to Early Medieval Art” Speculum 72 (Oct. 1997): 959-969.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2865953 (accessed May 14, 2012).
Strickland, Debra. Saracens, Demons & Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art. (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2003).