The Renaissance Problem?

One current view in art history is that the Renaissance isn’t as significant an era of human achievement as once believed.

I've even seen it suggested that "the term is meaningless and the whole concept should be abandoned" as here on the Boise State website.

It's referred to now as the "Renaissance problem" in the article "Did the Renaissance have a Renaissance?" by Anne Dunlop in the Art History journal issue of September, 1998.

So what exactly is the "Renaissance problem"? Well, in today's times of cultural relativism, perhaps we're loathe to say that one society or group of artists or their artwork is renowned over another. Some believe claiming that Renaissance Italy produced artistic geniuses says so at the expense of other cultures and other artists. They question whether artists of the Renaissance had an unfair advantage over artists of other times because of their financial backing from the Church and from royalty.

But here I'll consider the Renaissance by its traditional definition: a humanistic time of man's burgeoning self-awareness, an increased sensitivity to beauty and to nature, and a return to an interest in classical Greek and Roman ideals. A time of great exploration, artistic growth, and enlightenment. Yes, all of these ideas refer to tenets of Western civilization since that's where the great art of the Renaissance took place. No matter how you view it, it's art that's beautiful and highly worthy of consideration.