Art in the 15th century

Art was still an integral part of life during that age. Life was shaped by strong forms and held together and measured by the sacraments of the church, the annual sequence of festivals, and the divisions of the day. The labors and joys of life all had their fixed forms: religion, knighthood, and courtly Minne provided the most important of these forms. Art had the task of embellishing the forms in which life was lived with beauty. What was sought was not art itself, but the beautiful life. In contrast to later ages, one did not step outside a more or less indifferent daily routine in order to enjoy art in solitary contemplation for the sake of solace or edification; rather, art was used to intensify the splendor of life itself. It is the destiny of art to vibrate in concert with the high points of life, be it in the highest flights of piety or in the proudest enjoyment of earthly moments. During the Middle Ages art was not yet perceived as beauty per se. It was for the most part applied art, even in cases where we would consider the works to be their own reason for being. That is to say, for the Middle Ages, the reason for desiring a given work of art rested in its purpose, rested in the fact that artworks are the servants of any one of the forms of life. In cases where, disregarding any practical uses, the pure ideal of beauty guides the creating artist himself, this happen to a large part subconsciously. The first sprouts of a love for art for its own sake appear as a wild growth on the production of art: princes and noblemen piled up objects of art until they became collections; this rendered them useless: they were then enjoyed as curiosities, as precious parts of the princely treasury. The actual sense of art that arises during the Renaissance has this foundation.

-- Johan Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages