Renaissance means re-birth. When the barbarians wrote “finis” on the page
of Rome’s ancient story, long centuries of tenebrous reorganization were
to elapse before Italy once more emerged into the light of civilization.
In comparison with the shadowy gropings of this age of transition, the
brilliant culture of the XV and XVI centuries seemed indeed a re-birth, or
renaissance of long-departed glories; and, as an apposite description of
the art of this period, the word Renaissance is, on the whole, well
chosen. Renaissance art attained its most complete expression in Italy
during the XV and XVI centuries; but the new style was not confined by any
means to Italy alone. During the XV century, Renaissance art began to
spread from Italy to other European countries. Late Gothic art could not
withstand its bewitchment, and in the XVI century, European art yielded
almost without reserve to the ascendancy of the Renaissance style.
Enthusiasm for antiquity and enthusiasm for nature, it has been said, are
the chief characteristics of Italian Renaissance art. While this is
correct, it is principally the enthusiasm for antiquity that gives to
renaissance art its peculiar distinction; for naturalism we find quite as
potent a factor in the development of Gothic art as in that of the
Renaissance. The Renaissance artist differed in the main from the Gothic
not so much in his attitude toward nature as in the way he recorded his
reactions—his style, in other words.
[The Second Renaissance Gallery]