Compositions and Pose

Today I bought a small book on the Renaissance, of the classical paintings from that era. From studying History of Art I had completely forgotten about these historical paintings and their hidden values. 

Today it feels sometimes as though we are looking for a new and original way to present our work, however I keep forgetting that you can only truly move forward with an understanding of the past. Some my not agree with this but once learnt the essentials of what works/worked then you can develop and move forward. 

The one thing I love about these paintings is the gracefulness captured in the figures by the poses they hold, and therefore they can be presented forever in a calm and effortless manner. Therefore it would be interesting to take these poses and re-design the story, taking what works and creating it into your own. I'm not saying simply copy but use to your advantage.