The economic and intellectual progress which had begun in the lower Middle Ages came to fruition in the Renaissance, a period which heralded a change of era: the transition from Medieval times to the Modern Era. In Spain it was also a very relevant historical moment. The union of the crowns of Castile and Aragón with the Catholic Monarchs signified the birth of modern Spain. In addition, that same year of 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula reached its final conclusion, and the Jews were expelled from all the Crown’s dominions. At this time the Italian influence (poetry, thinking, fine arts) reached Spanish culture, together with Humanism (the mark of Erasmus of Rotterdam is obvious) and a particular phenomenon: anonymous artisans gradually become renowned artists.