WORLD MYTHOLOGY-HUM 115

Renaissance Art

In this essay am going to seek, examine and explain how Renaissance art incorporated mythological themes into its subject matter. Most of Renaissance artists had a culture of establishing a traditional form of painting which was very much closely related to ancient Greeks and Romans artworks with mythological or classical subjects. The attitude and approach of Renaissance artists were to commission mythological paintings and as well would identify some of the mythological themes such as heroism, humanism, classicism, individualism, naturalism and much more. The use of traditional tales or stories were part early myths that played a significant role to invent mythological paintings, and I think it was an excellent opportunity for Renaissance artists to use mythological paintings to explain some of the cultural practices, facts of nature, beliefs and historical events and heroes. Through mythological paintings, the artists would also trace the origin of the world, the origin of human and the existence of different deities. We cannot ignore the fact that mythological paintings had a significant importance to translate the early civilizations of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Germanys and French of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Hoppe 540).

The discovery of mythological paintings expanded knowledge during the Renaissance period and led to the inquiry of different discipline of social sciences such as anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. The myths presented in the form of art that had to communicate and express the fundamental truth of what was happening in a particular society. The myths also had to explain some of the natural phenomena such as the origins of the world and all humankind. So I think myths played a big role in creational stories found in different early civilizations such as in Greece, Rome, Egypt and French (Chastel 80). Through some of the myths, we would identify the gods and heroes found in the ancient world. The vocabulary used by Renaissance artists to present mythological paintings had to communicate a cultural language that society was capable of understanding their customs and traditional beliefs and religions. 

Greek mythology was one of the notable example of mythological paintings in the Renaissance period, and I would like to mention how the Greek myths embodied gods and heroes. In Greek, most of the myths tried to prove the nonexistence of equality between the immortal gods and human (Welch, 210). The was no way were men who walk on the earth would get into the race with deathless gods but in the myths, the artists used to present heroes with supernatural characteristics like gods. You can find that the Greeks had several gods who had different roles and they made the gods and godliness very much like humans but more perfect than men and women. The gods had emotions like humans. They were also believed to have weakness and passions like humans. The only difference that separated humans from the gods was the character of immortality. The gods also did not eat or age. They were supernatural beings.

In Greek religious myths, Renaissance artists were concerned to create artworks with cosmological tales that carried more serious aspects such as the genesis of both gods and the world. Through mythological imagery of the Greek myth, we would identify how the world emerged out of chaos between different ancient gods. The paintings would also give us insight into the successions and supremacy of various divine rulers (Hood 181). A good example is the religious myth of Zeus who was considered a supreme divine ruler of Olympus. The tales of Zeus covers the internecine struggles of the god who was associated with other goddesses and mortal women and give birth to other deities and heroes in Greece. Athena is one of the goddesses who emerged directly from Zeus, and the myth tried to prove the unique status of Zeus. The god had a supernatural character of creating deities and heroes through motherless birth. On the other hand, Athena was very famous as one of the great goddess who loved war and thus became famous in the city of Athens.

The heroic theme found in the myth of Apollo had a lot to inform the society about the Greek’s god sacral associations. Through the myths of gods, we would describe remarkable victories and the births of heroes who were believed to have fought monsters or giants in the world. A good example is mythological paintings that were connected to myths of god was the myths of Dionysus. The myths were common in Greece because they brought the picture of how rituals escalated conflicts between different gods. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was recognized as a god of love and Poseidon as a god of the sea. The myths of origins of the world and origins of humans attempted to prove the theme of humanism and naturism (Carty 126). Renaissance artists used mythological pictures to interpret the myths that explored the existence of the universe. Most of the myths that tried to explain the origin of humans were in the form of folktales, and we would identify mythological themes such as fiction, hostility, and trickster.

The myths of heroes or legend pursued elements like the one found in the myths of origins. When we consider the story of the Argonauts that was common in Greece, we will find that the themes of trickster and friction at the end of the story. The episodes of Hercules and Trojan cycle are largely fictional and at the end find legendary themes such as generosity, kindness, love, and hospitality. The theme of lost persons was also part of popular recurring themes found in the Greek folktales and later emerged as a Greek myth. The folktales had exciting adventures and journeys that would bring specific motifs to be learned by the societies. Like the story of the Paris of Troy, we have several heroes mentioned to have passed through multiple adventures to restore their wives, children or parents. The Renaissance artists would mention heroes from the earliest Greek mythology and use artwork in the form of painting to send a message or themes to society. The artists also tried to change the folktales into epic. That is why epics such as The Odyssey, the adventures of Perseus and the labors of Heracles were famous during the Italian Renaissance period (Hood 180).

In my conclusion, I think the reason why Renaissance art was interested in mythological paintings from Greece mythology was that the Greeks were said to be among the earliest civilizations with a strong humanist tradition (Carty 130). The Greeks myths had a lot of important themes that would bring change in the Italian Renaissance period. The Greek were believed to be great thinkers and philosophers so their ancient myths would be a source of knowledge in the age of enlightenment. Through the myths which were in the form of traditional tales led to the invention of particular beliefs, historical customs event, and facts of nature, that were not yet discovered in the society. Another reason why the Renaissance artists were interested in the Greeks methodology was that the ancient myths tried to explain the order of the future world and the relationships between supremacy of gods and nature of humans. Lastly but not list, the Italian Renaissance artists were interested in Greek mythology because they were more convenient to Christian themes (Hoppe 550).

Work Cited

CARTY, JARRETT A. “Machiavelli’s Art of Politics: A Critique of Humanism and the Lessons of Rome.” On Civic Republicanism: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics, edited by GEOFFREY C. KELLOW and NEVEN LEDDY, University of Toronto Press, Toronto; Buffalo; London, 2016, pp. 119–135. 

Chastel, Andre. “French Renaissance Art in a European Context.” The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 12, no. 4, 1981, pp. 77–103. 

Hood, William. “The State of Research in Italian Renaissance Art.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 69, no. 2, 1987, pp. 174–186. 

Hoppe, Stephan. “Translating the Past: Local Romanesque Architecture in Germany and Its Fifteenth-Century Reinterpretation.” The Quest for an Appropriate Past in Literature, Art and Architecture, edited by Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym, vol. 60, Brill, LEIDEN; BOSTON, 2019, pp. 511–585. 

Welch, Evelyn. “Engendering Italian Renaissance Art — A Bibliographic Review.” Papers of the British School at Rome, vol. 68, 2000, pp. 201–216.