The standard of beauty was measured by rudimentary and uncompromising representation of individual qualities. This may  best explain all the strange physiognomies witch suddenly made their appearance in art; course men of the people with uncouth, overworked figures; peasants, with bones of bronze and pointed weather beaten features; half starved old beggars with sagging flesh and tottering bodies; neglected fellows with bald heads, stubbly beards, and long muscular arms. In place of the former dainty pose, every line is now sinew. Their firm, energetic attitude reflects the entire sprit of the rugged age. -- Richard Muther, The History of  Painting, Henry and Co., London, 1896

The most profound change came with the introduction of the new technique of painting in oils, developed in Flanders, and widely adopted in Italy and elsewhere.

Key Descriptive Words  and Phrases associated with the Renaissance Movement -  rebirth, rediscovery of the classical world, City-state, Humanism, Humanist, Francesco Petrarch, Reform, The Prince, Theocracy, The Inquisition, Human Reasoning,  publication of Della Pittura, a book about the laws of mathematical perspective for artists, sfumato, chiaroscuro, linear perspective, Heliocentric Theory, vanishing point, Savonarola, spiritually significant,  illuminated manuscript,  idealized biblical themes, scriptorium, emotion, illuminator,  iconoclast, Age of Discovery, axonometric drawing, curiosity about the natural world, mythology,  realistic use of colours and light,  Bonfire of the Vanities, Old Testament stories, ethereal and foggy backgrounds, Gospel parables, The Blackdeath, romanticized landscapes,  Christian symbolism. Paradise

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