Volume 1, 2018
Aesthetics and Philosophies of Art
Tina Adamou Fika
Pages 79-86
Philosophic Allegories in Renaissance Art
Undoubtedly the Renaissance era was a period during which art was closely related to philosophy, probably more than in any other time. This is partly due to the interest awoken to people of that time in classical antiquity, declaring, therefore, their clash with their immediate past. Thus, it is this interest in the Classical world that reignites the study of ancient philosophy as well. Neoplatonism, which dominated Florence with the founding of the Platonic Academy, affected fundamentally and directly the formation of art in that city; whereas the influence over the art of Venice was more implicit. Even if the Venetian artists seem on the surface to bypass the systematic study of the unrivalled Greek ideals, a closer look reveals that in reality they competed with classic heritage by integrating it in various ways and in many levels in their artwork.