As many of you know, I can't stand ignorance in the world, and I do all I can to correct it. I admit, I am ignorant in some things while very knowledgeable in other things. One thing I know a little about is Art History. Those of you who are serious about art should consider learning about the history of art. It will inspire you and also allow you to see how art has progressed and evolved (though some say it de-evolved) throughout time. The following are 10 things every artist should know about Italian Renaissance Art (which is all the renaissance was good for), taken from Encarta Online (not checked for plagiarism therefore if you wanna excommunicate liquisoft for doing so, take it up with him privately please! -jark).

1. Artists made paintings to order. Today, our expectation is that artists express their innermost feelings or that they work for an open market. In the 15th and 16th centuries, however, wealthy Renaissance patrons usually specified the subject matter and the location when they ordered a work of art. A contract ensured that the artist fulfilled the patron's expectations, and the payment the artist received was often based upon the size of the painting.

2. Most Renaissance art is religious. Although we may think of the Renaissance as a more secular or even "pagan" time compared to the Middle Ages, religion remained important in the lives of the people. Altarpieces, small paintings of the Virgin and Child, and murals depicting religious stories in chapels ranked among the most common types of paintings.

3. Artists were trained in workshops, not in art schools. To become an artist, a teenaged boy served an apprenticeship with an experienced master who taught him every aspect of the craft, from grinding paints to drawing and finishing a composition. The young artist learned to copy the master's style closely.

4. Artists struggled for respect. Throughout the Middle Ages, painters and sculptors were considered artisans (crafts workers), but during the Renaissance they achieved the status of poets and writers.

5. Perspective was a fascinating, new artistic device. Linear perspective allowed artists to create an accurate illusion of three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional painting. Because scientific understanding of linear perspective had its basis in mathematics, this practice helped raise the intellectual status of artists.

6. Self-expression was a new idea, more often associated with morality than creativity. Artists could express themselves to some extent, but this usually meant that a saintly artist, such as Fra Angelico, would paint the most devout works.

7. Landscape might serve as background, but not as a subject in its own right. Renaissance painters valued narratives more than anything else. Even when nature appears to dominate a painting, a reference to a biblical or mythological story is almost always present. Pure landscape paintings were rare in Italy before the 17th century.

8. Censorship was an issue. Painters had to be careful that their works conformed to accepted religious beliefs, especially in the 16th century after the Roman Catholic Church launched the Counter Reformation to oppose Protestantism (see Censorship). Some artists, such as Paolo Veronese, were called before the Inquisition to explain their work.

9. The Renaissance was the first age of mass media. Engravings and woodcuts enabled an artist's work to reach a larger audience than ever before. At first, in the mid-15th century, these methods produced simple images with practical functions, such as playing cards or holy pictures. But artists soon realized that sophisticated works would appeal more to the new collectors.

10. Women were sometimes patrons, often subjects, but rarely makers of art. Wealthy women and nuns commissioned works of art quite often, and women were the subjects of portraits, typically before marriage or after death. Idealized portraits of women appeared in religious and mythological paintings. But unless a girl's father happened to be an artist, she had little chance of receiving the workshop training necessary to obtain important commissions in the Renaissance.