[AAABEST]

The Michaelangelo's of the rennaisance were studying the art of Rome and Greece,and the ideas of Plato, not the Church. Baroque artists represented the exorbitant wealth and excess of the nation state and the monarchy, not the Church.

What an asinine and terribly unlearned statement. As if all of our greatest artists were of a monolithic, uninspired and secular mind.

Would you mind explaining how the philosophy of Plato has anything whatsoever do with with the works of Rembrandt?

[St.Chuck]

What an asinine and terribly unlearned statement.

You certainly have a rude way of joining a conversation, but I appreciate your interest anyway.

As if all of our greatest artists were of a monolithic, uninspired and secular mind.

Didn't imply that at all. I'm just saying that the great rennaisance artists were neo-classicists and Platonists. The Church didn't teach them how to paint. It merely dictated what to paint-to an extent-for every religious theme there was also a "School of Athens" or "Primavera".

Would you mind explaining how the philosophy of Plato has anything whatsoever do with with the works of Rembrandt?

I never brought up Rembrandt, can't say I'm too familiar with him, but I think it highly unlikely that the Church had anything to do with inspiring his most common subject----himself.