The fine arts were defined as crafts during the Middle Ages. How were they redefined during the Renaissance?

During the Middle Ages almost all art production was in the service of religion and the Church. The general belief was that man must never put himself above God, the ultimate Creator. The Middle Ages view of art was that it was inspired solely by God and thus the human maker of that art was only following a plan or template given by the deity. Thus, the majority of the artwork in the Middle Ages was not signed (many works still considered ‘craft’ today are anonymous--think quilts, pottery, clothing, etc.).

With the Renaissance came a loosening of the strictures of religion across society; with that came the redefinition of humans as individuals, rather than merely members of God’s flock (a movement known as ‘Humanism’). Following these philosophical developments came a relaxing of the restrictions on artistic subject matter. Artists could make pieces that had entirely secular content. Early forms of capitalism were beginning to advance during the Renaissance, and artists came to need individual recognition to market themselves and their work. The idea of the artist as a singular creative worker began to take hold, subsequently redefining what it meant to make art, inventing the artist as a category separate from craftsman, and paving the way for the wildly inflated art markets of today.