why the italian painters?

Question

during the centuries the italian painters, sculptores was the best in the World. What made them so good

Answer 1

Well certainly during the Renaissance the Italians certainly were the masters.

The gene pool of Tuscany must have been exceptional.

Here's a little with regard to why Tuscany became known as the birthplace of the Renaissance.

The cities of Italy prospered during the late Middle Ages, serving as trading posts connecting Europe to the Byzantine Empire and the Moslem world via the Mediterranean Sea. Commerce enriched and empowered regions in which the feudal system had not taken a strong hold, especially in northern Italy. The most prosperous of these cities--Florence, Venice, and Milan--became powerful city-states, ruling the regions surrounding them. Further south, the Papal States, centered in Rome, gradually grew to rival the wealth of the northern cities, and as the seat of the papacy, exerted a tremendous influence over Italian life and politics. Along with a few other minor centers of wealth and power, including Urbino, Mantua, and Ferrara, these four regions became the cradle of the Renaissance, beginning in the fourteenth century to undergo political, economic, and artistic changes.

The beginning of the Renaissance in the mid-fourteenth century was marked by a turn from medieval life and values dominated by the Church toward the philosophical principles of humanism. The Italian people, especially the educated middle class, became interested in individual achievement and emphasized life in this world, as opposed to preparation for life in the next world, which was stressed by religion. They believed strongly in the potential for individual accomplishment in the arts, literature, politics, and personal life. Individuals began to be encouraged to excel in a wide range of fields and showcase their talents. Renaissance thinkers decried medieval life as primitive and backwards, and looked further back in history, to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, for inspiration.
One of the earliest and most prominent humanist writers was Francesco Petrarch, often known as the founder of humanism. Many historians cite April 6, 1341, the date on which Petrarch was crowned Poet Laureate upon the Capitol in Rome, as the true beginning of the Renaissance. Petrarch believed that true eloquence and ethical wisdom had been lost during the Middle Ages, and could only be found by looking to the writings of the ancients, especially Virgil and Cicero. Petrarch wrote extensively, producing poetry, biographies of historical figures, and wrote scores of letters, many of which were eventually published and widely read. One of his most popular letters, "The Ascent of Mount Vertoux," describes his journey to the summit of a mountain, but more importantly, it is an allegory comparing the hardships of the climb to the struggle to attain true Christian virtue.
Commentary
Geography, more than anything else, gave Italy an advantage over northern Europe in regard to potential for amassing wealth and breaking free from the feudal system. Jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, and strategically located between the majority of Europe and the Byzantine Empire, Italian cities had almost no choice but to participate in international trade and the market economy, and to integrate the activities of commerce into daily life. In this way, Italy became exposed to the large-scale flow of both goods and ideas much earlier than most other regions in Europe. Thus, during the later years of the Middle Ages, northern Italy flourished economically and intellectually. Further, because Italy's maintained its market economy while the rest of Europe developed a self- contained barter economy of feudal territories spawned by agrarian life, feudalism did not take hold in northern Italy as it did elsewhere in Europe. In both society and mind, it can be argued, northern Italy was more sophisticated and freer than the rest of Europe.
The history and ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans, cast into shadow throughout Europe in medieval times, had perhaps remained closer to the surface of contemporary thought in Italy than elsewhere, due to the geographical location of the Italian city-states, which had been built basically on top of the ruins of the Roman Empire. However, this geographical proximity should not be overstated. Even in the city of Rome, the buildings of the empire had fallen into ruin, and many were covered by centuries of waste and overgrowth. It seems unlikely, but even the citizens of Rome who lived in the shadow of the Coliseum and the Pantheon had little sense and less reverence for the history around them during the Middle Ages. The Greek influence on the cities of northern Italy was maintained by the trade with the Byzantine Empire, which had as its byproduct the flow of ideas and history. The Greek influence grew throughout the late fourteenth century and into the fifteenth, as the Ottoman Turks increasingly threatened Constantinople, the center of the Byzantine Empire, which finally fell in 1453. This constant pressure forced many Greeks into refuge in northern Italy, which benefited greatly from the treasures and knowledge of ancient Greece that these refugee/immigrants they brought with them. Many Italian and Greek contemporaries commented that it seemed Constantinople had not fallen at all, but simply been transplanted to Florence.
The influence of the revival of interest in Greek and Roman history is undeniable, and contributed greatly to the spirit of the times. Petrarch's writings demonstrate that while the intellectual focus of the time was evolving and changing to reflect this influence, the primary aspect of medieval life, the Church, remained powerful, and religion continued to exert an extraordinary power over the thoughts and actions of individuals. Petrarch and many other Renaissance intellectuals thus often described feelings of being torn between two sides of their personalities. Petrarch, like many Renaissance intellectuals, was comfortable in the seclusion of pious monastery life, but he also loved to travel. He believed in the Christian ideal of self-denial, but also enjoyed the pleasures of the world. He advocated study and learning, but feared that the accumulation of worldly knowledge might prevent him from achieving salvation. This was a common dilemma for Renaissance thinkers, as the principles of humanism rose up to rival the doctrines of the Church.

Why were the artists so good and how did art change from Medieval times?

In keeping with the spirit of humanism, artists of the early Renaissance strove to portray lifelike human forms with correct proportions and realistic clothing and expressions. Artists developed new techniques to give paintings a more three-dimensional, life-like quality, and commonly studied human and animal anatomy in efforts to better understand their subjects.
The first important painter of the Renaissance was Giotto di Bondone. Giotto painted during the turn of the fourteenth century, breaking away from the Gothic and Byzantine artistic traditions. He deeply studied nature in an effort to infuse his paintings with reality, an effort most notable in his especially realistic facial expressions. In 1334, Giotto was appointed chief architect in Florence, where he remained until his death in 1337. Giotto's innovations made in the portrayal of perspective were improved upon by a later painter, Tommaso Guidi, known as Masaccio (Messy Tom) because of his disheveled appearance. Masaccio is credited with mastering perspective, and was the first Renaissance artist to paint models in the nude, often using light and shadow to define the shape of his models rather than clear lines. Masaccio's best known work is a scene from the Bible called The Tribute Money. Furthering the accomplishments of his predecessors, Sandro Botticelli emerges as a dominant artist during the early Renaissance. One of a circle of artists and scholars sponsored by the Medici in Florence, Botticelli's most famous work, The Birth of Venus, shows the goddess rising from the sea on a conch shell. During the late fifteenth century Botticelli became a follower of the Girolamo Savonarola, and burned many of his paintings with pagan themes.
The Merchants and city officials whose patronage supported the Renaissance artists were frequently more interested in architecture than they were in painting. Therefore, as the city-states of Italy began to develop great wealth during the early fifteenth century, architects and sculptors rose to fame and power. In 1401, Florence held a competition to choose the artist to design and sculpt a pair of bronze doors for the Baptistry, a church honoring St. Paul the Baptist. The winner of the contest, Lorenzo Ghiberti, spent 28 years completing the doors, which, decorated with scenes from the Bible, remain one of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance. Ghiberti developed the techniques of three-dimensional sculpture, and greatly influenced all Italian sculpture of the Renaissance.
The loser of the contest, Filippo Brunelleschi, traveled to Rome, where he studied Roman ruins and developed mathematical formulas to be used in architecture. In 1417 he again competed against Ghiberti for the right to design the dome of the cathedral of Florence. He won the competition. The dome he designed, combining the modern trends in architecture and the style of ancient Rome, still dominates the Florentine skyline, and is considered one of the great architectural masterpieces of all time. In terms of sculpture, the acknowledged master of the early Renaissance was Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello. Donatello studied under both Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, and went on to create several masterpieces for Cosimo de Medici in Florence. His most important work is the David, which depicts the Hebrew king in the classical style of a Greek god, and was the first freestanding nude figure sculpted since the Roman era. Donatello went on to create the first bronze statue of the Renaissance, showing an incredibly realistic soldier on horseback.
Commentary
During the Renaissance, artists benefited from the patronage of rich merchants and rulers, and were well known during their own times, unlike the anonymous artists who had produced works in guilds during the middle ages. Great fame and influence was conferred upon the great artists of the day, and they were celebrated wherever they traveled. This fame convinced many artists that they deserved special privileges and consideration, which they were often granted.
The artists of the early Renaissance were both liberated by the patronage of the wealthy and constricted in their choice of subject matter. Despite the changes wrought by humanism, the Italian population remained, more than anything else, highly religious. Wealthy patrons most often commissioned works of art that were in some way related to the Catholic Church, to which the wealthy often donated grand cathedrals. Altarpieces and religious murals were common among the works created during the early Renaissance, and artists were often confined to the Bible in choosing their own subject matter. Nevertheless, artists experienced great freedom to develop new techniques and work with new materials, as can be seen by the groundbreaking work of Giotto and Ghiberti.
Botticelli's experience was indicative of the tension all Renaissance artists felt between traditional values, represented by the Church, and the progressive (and simultaneously antiquarian) nature of Renaissance art. Botticelli was fascinated by the ideology of Neoplatonism, which sought to blend the teachings and traditions of Plato with the teachings of Christianity. Art historians claim that The Birth of Venus is a clear example of applied Neoplatonism. It has been described as "an allegory of the innocence and truth of the human soul naked to the winds of passion and about to be clothed in the robe of reason." Like Botticelli, the artistic community often attempted to align its ideals of learning, reason, and self-expression with religious dogma. Yet as can be seen in the example of Botticelli, the alignment was not easy: the two ways of thought often seemed antithetical and irreconcilable. The constant desire to conform to the doctrines of the Church, along with the persistence of religious themes in Renaissance art, is a testament to the continuing importance of the Church in Renaissance culture.
Despite the similarities to medieval art surrounding subject matter, there can be no doubt that that Renaissance artists broke the static mold of medieval art. What is most remarkable about the art of the Renaissance is the constant evolution of techniques and materials, with each generation of artists building upon the accomplishments of the last. While technique, style, and materials stayed relatively constant throughout much of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance was a period of rapid change and development. Giotto was the first Renaissance artist to dabble in the techniques of perspective. His methods and ideas changed the face of art significantly, but no sooner had they been studied and absorbed by the artistic community than Masaccio and others built upon and improved the techniques. Similarly, Ghiberti and Brunelleschi pushed each other through competition to new artistic heights. Donatello studied under each of the older masters and incorporated the developments they contributed to the art form with his own talents and ideas, producing the most admired works of the era. This rapid evolution and the continuing advance of artistic techniques and talent was one of the primary characteristics of the Renaissance.

Answer 2

What made them so good was that they enjoyed a Renaissance of knowledge in the arts due to the encouragement of the private sector.
Bankers like the Medici family financed the work of these men,there were others outside of banking as well. All the wealthy merchants of the northern state cities invested their monies into the arts. So with that there was a competition amongst the artists themselves for the money. Because they had the initial backing before the rest of Europe it was a head start on other visual artists of the time. This strong foundation was pivotal in the advancement of the artists as the centuries went by.
With such a concrete base laid down by the artists of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century the following artists had a lot of past experience to draw from. More so than the other states and countries. This allowed the Italian artists to stay one or two steps ahead in most of the game.
That is a succinct version of what happened. There is a lot more; politics,religion,state wars, and other minor factors that brought the Italians to the front of the arts for so long.

Answer 3

Right through history, there have been explosions of creative genius in certain societies.

Ancient Egypt in architecture; Ancient Greece in all the arts; Italy in painting and sculpture during the Middle Ages and Renaissance; the United States in the 20th century with film.

Italy was a part of a long process that has been going on since humans first built cities to live in.

Answer 4

because of the fact the Renaissance term produced the somewhat some appropriate artistic endeavors and historic previous, that has on no account been exceeded! Giotto for example the godfather of the Renaissance grow to verify by skill of masters of their particular guild (coaching masters) So the Masters discovered from the terrific and that's probably why their so sturdy. Plus in that element they dissected bodies so that they had a a lot greater powerful awareness of ways the human physique labored and their muscle tissues, facial expressions... and so on. no longer all great artist are from the Renaissance, like Van Gogh who grow to be dutch, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Hieroymous Bosch, Rene Magritte.... maximum of greater!!!