Why was the concept of making things look real important to Renaissance artists?

During the Renaissance there were tremendous advances in the sciences as well as the arts. The development of oil paint as it is known today as well as one and two point perspective enabled artists to achieve artistically what had not been achieved since the days of ancient Rome. During the dark ages all western art was comprised of religious subject matter and done in the name of Christianity. Artists were simply craftspeople and had a low status in society. As the Renaissance and the age of Humanism dawned artists were concerned with doing what had not been done before. There were a lot of science studies which concerned artists, such as anatomy, chemistry, alchemy, engineering, and architecture.

Humanism replaced a totally God centered way of seeing man, which was reflected in the way the renaissance artists used materials and portrayed their subject matter. The flat space and styalized religious portraits became open with the use of one and two point perspective, aerial perspective, and the figures took on lifelike form in animated poses that included foreshortening techniques.. Artists often used real people to portray historical figures. Instead of the viewer seeing the artwork as sacred and seperate, the paintings of the Renaissance invited the viewer into the picture. While the representations were much more lifelike, the style is idealized, and symmetrical balance emphasized harmony and beauty.