Directly following the Middle Ages came a time we have come to call the Renaissance. This was a time of rebirth, renewal, regeneration, and rejuvenation throughout the world, especially in Western Europe, where expanding trade brought news goods and, with them, new light to culture. It was a time where humanistic and philosophical ideas could flourish and be explored. Rather than focusing on the afterlife, the focus shifted to this life, the here and now, tour worldly realities. The individual became more important and there was a huge focus on learning the Classics, such as the Iliad and Odyssey, to inspire the arts. The Age of Faith morphed into the Age of Reason and cracks of light began to illuminate the Dark Ages causing the birth of new ideas. This affected self-awareness, religion, and science, but especially the arts, literature, and architecture. We may further subdivide the Renaissance into two parts. The High Renaissance ran for about four decades between 1490 and 1527. …show more content…
But in these bronze doors, the backside might actually have been more important to the artist. It is very clear that Filarete took a lot of pride in his work, but here he took a very unusual claim of authorship and went to great lengths to declare himself the artist of this piece. “He placed two self-portraits and three signatures on the front of the doors and an additional relief depicting himself and his assistants celebrating their achievement on the otherwise unornamented reverse.” (Paul Glass) Depicted on the back, at the very bottom of the door, is what looks to be a group of men dancing, but if you look closer you can actually tell that the leader of the group is Filarete. He is celebrating and rejoicing in the completion of the Bronze Doors, along with his six helpers. We know this is true because on either side on Filarete’s figure it says “ANTONIVS ET DISCIPVLI MEI”, which translates to ‘Antonio and my