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1350–1550 How did art reflect new Renaissance ideals? 65

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Villa Capra Architecture as well as literature and art aimed to re-create classical styles. The Venetian
architect Andrea Palladio modeled this country villa, constructed for a papal official in 1566, on the
Pantheon of ancient Rome. Surrounded by statues of classical deities, it is completely symmetrical, cap-
turing humanist ideals of perfection and balance. This villa and other buildings that Palladio designed
influenced later buildings all over the world, including the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and count-
less state capitol buildings. (DEA/W. BUSS//De Agostini/Getty Images)

artist has led many historians to view the Renais- the notion that artistic genius could show up in the
sance as the beginning of the concept of the artist work of an untrained artist did not emerge until
as having a special talent. In the Middle Ages peo- the twentieth century. Beginning artists spent years
ple believed that only God created, albeit through mastering their craft by copying drawings and paint-
individuals; the medieval conception recognized no ings; learning how to prepare paint and other artis-
particular value in artistic originality. Renaissance tic materials; and, by the sixteenth century, reading
artists and humanists came to think that a work of books about design and composition. Younger artists
art was the deliberate creation of a unique personal- gathered together in the evenings for further drawing
ity who transcended traditions, rules, and theories. A practice; by the later sixteenth century some of these
genius had a peculiar gift that ordinary laws should informal groups had turned into more formal artistic
not inhibit. (See “Individuals in Society: Leonardo “academies,” the first of which was begun in 1563 in
da Vinci,” page 52.) Florence by Vasari under the patronage of the Medici.
However, it is important not to overemphasize As Vasari’s phrase indicates, the notion of artistic
the Renaissance notion of genius. As certain artists genius that developed in the Renaissance was gendered.
became popular and well known, they could assert All the most famous and most prolific Renaissance art-
their own artistic styles and pay less attention to the ists were male. The types of art in which more women
wishes of patrons, but even major artists like Raphael were active, such as textiles, needlework, and painting
generally worked according to the patron’s specific on porcelain, were regarded not as “major arts,” but only
guidelines. Whether in Italy or northern Europe, most as “minor” or “decorative” arts. (The division between
Renaissance artists trained in the workshops of older “major” and “minor” arts begun in the Renaissance
artists; Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, and at times even continues to influence the way museums and collec-
Michelangelo were known for their large, well-run, tions are organized today.) Like painting, embroidery
and prolific workshops. Though they might be men changed in the Renaissance to become more natural-
of genius, artists were still expected to be well trained istic, more visually complex, and more classical in its
in proper artistic techniques and stylistic conventions; subject matter. Embroiderers were not trained to view

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