The Culture of the High Renaissance

A 2001 art historical study of the paradigms of High Renaissance culture.

This 2001 study examines the culture, society, and intellectual norms that generated the High Renaissance. Fuelled by a volatile mix of economic development, longing for ancient civilisation, and religious ferment, the High Renaissance, Rowland posits, was a period in which artists sought 'new methods for doing new things'.Between 1480 and 1520, a concentration of talented artists, including Melozzo da Forlì, Bramante, Pinturicchio, Raphael, and Michelangelo, arrived in Rome and produced some of the most enduring works of art ever created. This period, now called the High Renaissance, is generally considered to be one of the high points of Western civilisation. How did it come about, and what were the forces that converged to spark such an explosion of creative activity? In this study, Ingrid Rowland examines the culture, society, and intellectual norms that generated the High Renaissance. This interdisciplinary 2001 study assesses the intellectual paradigm shift that occurred at the turn of the fifteenth century. It also finds and explains the connections between ideas, people, and the art works they created by looking at economics, art, contemporary understanding of classical antiquity, and social conventions.