The medieval period led to the development and burgeoning of a new class system that would redefine modern culture. The established aristocracy that dominated the social climate in the feudalistic society was faced with the emergence of a wealthy middle class, composed mostly of tradesmen who had found a niche and grew influential among Europeans of this time period. This emergence of a new social class further had influences on the artistic spectrum of the period
Perhaps one of the reasons for this burgeoning new class was due to the fertility of crops in Europe during a period known as Medieval Warm Period or the Medieval Climate Optimum. This period helped bolster population growth as well as increased prosperity that found that this increase in physical capital and consumers helped influence the spread of production and commerce in Europe. Naturally, this ushered in the rise of tradesmen who profited from this boom in economic expansion. This rise in a middle class of people created a whole new market of artisans supplying their wares and artwork. Furthermore, the dominance of Christian beliefs in the lives of these medieval people would have prompted them to indulge in more religious motifs to satisfy their needs for art, sculpture and architectural works as a reassurance that God was integral to their lives.
Overall, the increased prosperity of medieval people led to an influx of demand in the art market. As people gained affluence, the need to flaunt this wealth was manifested through the developments of artistic works in this period.
Trent Kajikawa, Naomi Krieger, Daphne Liu, Wilson Muller
This response is very organized in its structure, but it lacks substantial content that is supported by facts. The main argument of the entire post is that crop fertility blossomed, in turn increasing the population and creating more customers for the tradesmen. However, this claim is merely a hypothesis devised by the authors of the post instead of being synthesized from facts. Moreover, a specific example of any of the "art, sculpture, and architectural work" that allegedly include "more religious motifs" would have made their argument stronger.
ReplyDeleteAlthough more evidence is needed to fully address the question, this group did well on alluding to the "Medieval Warm Period or the Medieval Climate Optimum." They also had very vivid imagination, which helped them correlate this synthesis from one theorized fact.