John Howe on the Renaissance

"... remember back in school, when it was patiently explained to us how the murky shadows of the obscure, crepuscular and otherwise dark Middle Ages were at last pierced by the blinding light of the Renaissance?(Think of all those poor medieval families "Are we in the Renaissance yet mom? Are we, are we?" "Shut up and fasten your seat belt, we'll be there any minute." )
Accompanying this helpful information were always images - medieval ones with big people standing BEHIND smaller people and later pictures with omnipresent vanishing points. The former done by "medieval" artists who got it all "wrong"(who, by the way, were also commonly said to be too unsophisticated to have invented left and right shoes... guess they were too busy building cathedrals.)"

"All this was intended to show us how humanity had at last placed Man in the centre of the Universe, no longer in darkness, he now assumed his rightful place - number one. (Never mind that the Italy of the Renaissance had the highest percentage of slaves prior to Gone With the Wind"

-HORIZON LINES AND VANISHING POINTS
(Check out his blog archives here, great stuff)