By Gabrielle Selz
Many of us only became aware of NFTs on March 11, 2021, when venerable auction house Christie’s sold the artist Beeple’s NFT, “Everydays—The First 5000 Days,” in a bidding frenzy that began at $100 and ended at a whopping $69.4 million. That sale upended the traditional art market.
Shortly afterward, Joshua Rosenthal, a former academic historian and now a founder of a crypto-investing firm, appeared on the Bankless Podcast. He drew powerful comparisons between the technologies that catalyzed the European Renaissance and the technologies fueling today’s blockchain art fever. Rosenthal stated that our current global society has entered the early stages of a Digital Art Renaissance. The podcast immediately went viral and was translated into six languages.
What did Christie’s auction and Rosenthal’s ideas suggest, and why did they ignite such enthusiasm in NFT circles and confusion in the art establishment?
This is not the first time that audiences have been confounded by novelty in works of art. During the 20th century alone, art transformed from object to environment to concept and idea. As a mirror and a record of what is valued, art evolves as culture evolves. At its core, art is essentially a given culture placing value in its aesthetic choices. Today, art and technology have merged into NFTs—unique certificates of ownership that live on the blockchain and represent pieces of digital media.
The analogy between the European Renaissance and today is a layered narrative of cause and effect. Both histories begin with the emergence of two new technologies unwinding established power structures. The result of these changes is a loosening in a hierarchy, thus creating a new, wealthy social class. This new class then expresses their status, taste, and identity with a new form of art.
The disruptive technologies of the European Renaissance
During the European Renaissance, the two disruptive technologies were the printing press in 1436, followed in 1497 by the accounting ledger that we now refer to as double-entry bookkeeping. Merchants and financiers were the new social elite that wrestled power away from princes and popes. The art they favored was more realistic, even domestic. They wanted art that reflected the aesthetics of home life instead of art that reflected the aesthetics of monarchy and church. These events were so interdependent that they caused a chain reaction. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press allowed for a mathematician named Luca Pacioli to publish and distribute his new accounting system. Pacioli taught Leonardo da Vinci perspective. In turn, da Vinci created geometric illustrations for Pacioli’s book. The Medici family utilized Pacioli’s accounting method and nurtured da Vinci’s talent. Technology, art, and money cannot be separated.
![](https://editorial.superrare.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/902px-Raphaël-Laurent_II_de_Médicis-771x1024.jpg)