What does the term idealisation mean in relation to High Renaissance?
The year 1500 marks a subtle shift in artistic style and objectives. To Vasari, writing in 1550, the key to the new artistic style was razia, meaning a refined grace and ease of manner. Even the most contrived details were made to appear effortless and unforced. Although artists aimed at increasing realism, a pedestrian realism was not the mark of the highest art. An aesthetic illusion of reality became the predominant aim of the High Renaissance. Classical art brought about an idealisation of reality. It was a form of stylisation which defined beauty as the sum of all parts and equated physical perfection with spiritual and intellectual worth. Cinquecento people preferred to contemplate beauty, rather than reality. By the time of the High Renaissance, the artists fully understood the application of perspective, the uses of colour and consistent light and the correct depiction of the anatomical human body in any position. High Renaissance artists, living in a period with no doubt and c
