In the course of performing this work, the painters helped to humanise religion, and revealed the dignity and beauty of the body of man.

Next, in the fifteenth century, the riches of classic culture were discovered, and art was called upon to aid in the interpretation of the ancient to the modern mind.

The problem was no longer simple.

Christian and pagan traditions came into close contact, and contended for the empire of the newly liberated intellect.

During this struggle the arts, true to their own principles, eliminated from both traditions the more strictly human elements, and expressed them in beautiful form to the imagination and the senses.