As+a+Whole

The pictures in Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel paint a picture of the overall spirit of the Renaissance's legacy: new yet ancient, spiritual yet very human. In the beginning, the Renaissance started as a simple idea; all great things do. The idea that the people needed change. Believe me, they did. The Medieval Ages was dirty, sickly, and overall, disgusting. Filled with the ideas that the Church was all-powerful and nothing mattered but getting to heaven. Then came the printing press, starting the high points in the Renaissance. The printing press spread books and ideas. The abundance of books allowed the price of books to go down, and people started to read. The first thing that happened was the people discovered that no where in the Bible did it say indulgences were good. So, there came the new denominations of the Church, like Lutheranism. Also, the printing press helped spread ideas. Where before ideas took weeks, even months to travel from one ear to the next, now they could travel a lot quicker. That helped the Renaissance spread ideas and discoveries. The Renaissance was an amazing oppurtunity for anatomists, scientists, and doctors to discover more about the human body. This allowed them to treat people better when they came down with a sickness. Artists all across the country of Italy were being hired to make amazing sculptures, murals, and paintings. This allowed them to become better artists. They invented things such as Mannerism and perception, which allowed for more lifelike paintings.