The 14^th through the 17^th centuries define the bulk of Renaissance Art. The period depicts a cultural movement in which the development of linear perspective painting (as seen by the eye), and a gradual but widespread educational reform.  Perhaps the most important things which affected how people viewed and interacted with the world during that time period. 

 
The Renaissance was also a time marked by revolutionary intellectual pursuits, gradual technological progress, and agricultural improvements. These developments allowed more people to leave the land and live in the cities.  This was an era that produced polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

 
No one can argue that the Renaissance profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early periods.  It began in Italy, and spread to the rest of Europe the 16^th century, and affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, and religion.  The scholars of the day employed the humanist method of study, and searched for profound realism in art and human emotion.