Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, forms the trinity of great masters of the High Renaissance . This was a presentation most recently done for the Society for Creative Anachronism at the Northern Outlands Arts and Sciences Collegium on November 5, 2011. Silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. In 1347 the Black Death – probably bubonic plague – was brought by a Genoese ship to Sicily. This exhibition represents a significant contribution to our understanding of the rich visual culture of mortality in Renaissance Europe. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand. This was especially true in Italy where new found wealth allowed people to spend more money on items of prestige, such as art, and in turn allowed for the patronizing of renaissance artists. The appeal of the “ memento mori ,” featuring macabre imagery urging us to “remember death,” reached the apex of its popularity around 1500, when artists treated the theme in innovative and compelling ways. From Caravaggio to Gentileschi: The Ecstasy of Death in Italian Renaissance Art. Art is often thematic—artists have explored common ideas in different mediums and from different perspectives all through the ages. The High Renaissance is a term used to denote the apex of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance. Following the Dark and Middle ages and their associated turmoil and stagnation, not to mention the Black Death, Europe experienced a rebirth of sorts with a rediscovery of math, philosophy, astrology, astronomy, science, and literature and art witnessed a great revival within the 200 years, i.e., from 1400 to 1600. The aim of the presentation was to show two important facts: 1) The medieval mind had a Posted by: Samm Deighan in Feature Articles, Slider October 9, 2016 0. It was a time of transition from the ancient world to the modern. The age when European art rose to glory was an age of disease and death. This period was often filled with despair and hopelessness, and for the first time, several … Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia and Europe. The word Renaissance means “rebirth”. Home / Art, Culture, Literature / Feature Articles / From Caravaggio to Gentileschi: The Ecstasy of Death in Italian Renaissance Art. In the Middle Ages, starting around the 14th century, art took a turn toward the dark when the plague known as the Black Death descended upon Europe like the apocalypse itself. The Renaissance was a period of "rebirth" in arts, science and European society. Humanism The video below with Peter Weller is a short clip on how the survivors of the Plague, such as Frances Petrarch helped to kick off the Renaissance with the idea of Humanism. Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent.