It led to a flourishing of literature, science and the arts. Artists and architects sought to capture ideal proportions in their work. They studied Roman architecture and adopted its formal language of pillars, pediments and semi-circular arches. Artists increasingly used anatomical studies and perspective techniques to achieve realistic portrayals of nature and human figures. Secular and mythological subjects grew in popularity alongside religious themes. Due to the technological developments in printing, by the mid-15th century the ideas of the Renaissance spread from Italy to the rest of Europe.
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