During the period between 1350 to 1550, art changed and evolved through its subject matter. The subject matter of painting before the Renaissance was primarily religious; it was concerned not with the naturalistic portrayal of human life, but with the purpose of provoking a religious reaction of the viewer. Painters were not interested in making a picture look realistic. During the Renaissance, all that changed. Suddenly artwork began to put emphasis on human beings and the environment.

Giotto was one of the first masters to put these ideas on canvas. He turned away from the symbolic art of the Middle Ages and went more towards art that dealed directly with people and things. People were painted as to mimic social si

Besides painting devices, artists also had to study their material in order to acquire a realistic appearance. Leonardo da Vinci wrote that "the painter will produce pictures of small merit if he takes for his standard the pictures of others, but if he will study from natural objects he will bear good fruit." He also said that Giotto "being born in the mountains and in solitude inhabited only by goats and such beasts, and being guided by nature to his art, began by drawing on rocks the movements of the goats which he was keeper." If a painter wanted to paint the human form, they would have to study human anatomy. These artistic techniques had to be formed in order to keep up with the growing evolution of art.

As ideas and events shifted in the Renaissance, they became highly influential upon artwork. When life is calm and prosperous, life and religion is portrayed as friendly, virtuous, and noble. However when times are troubled, people think of death and this goes into their art. That is why during the Black Death in the 14th century, Giotto and his followers did not emphasize the humanity of saints and biblical characters. Instead, they placed figures such as Christ and the Virgin Mary on a pedestal above them, superior to mortal men. In time of need, the artists were looking toward religion to save them from distress. In 1380 the crisis ended and artists turned back to realism, human emotions, and representational accuracy at the century's close.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle Ages, Tempietto Besides, Virgin Mary, Vinci Renaissance, Michelangelo Raphael, Laurentian Library, III Benvenuto, Renaissance Florentines', Western Europe, Da Vinci's, leonardo da, subject matter, leonardo da vinci, da vinci, middle ages, symbolic art middle, ideas events, evolved subject, art evolved, copy nature, neoplatonic philosophy, art middle ages, evolved subject matter, renaissance advanced,
Approximate Word count = 1313
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)