With the rise of the Italian Renaissance and its new emphasis on humanism, crafts such as pottery were no longer seen as comparable to the fine arts, including painting, sculpture, and architecture. Artisans thus began sacrificing the elaborate styles of their wares in order to provide a blank “canvas” on which to present a story. During the Renaissance, painters of maiolica in Italy and enamel painters of France transformed pieces of decorative arts into elaborately illustrated narratives using the Bible and classical mythology as sources.