Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

In this essay, I plan to discuss the representation of women in Renaissance art with particular reference to the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci which I will analyse in depth, looking for common elements and ideas. The Renaissance was a time which saw an enormous cultural awakening take place in the fields of literature art and philosophy. The art of the Renaissance heavily featured female figures. Women have been worshipped and adored since the beginning of humanity, represented on cave walls and in elaborate oil paintings. The expressive Renaissance period allowed painters to freely portray the adoration they had for the women they cherished and admired. The Italian Renaissance began in the 1300’s, gradually spreading across Europe throughout the 1400’s, during this time art flourished. Prior to the Renaissance the type of people depicted in art were purely noblemen or royalty. As the Renaissance took hold and a stronger class system emerged, art was extended to the middle and working classes allowing the ordinary people to be immortalised in art as opposed to just those who held the highest positions in society. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and Thomas Gainsborough helped to revolutionise art in this p