Three cords to one guitar.

In the 15th century there was a very tight relationship between science, humanism, and the artistic production. I would have to say that humanism would start everything off. It was the main train of thought for most people in the 15th century. You could even call it the popular political party of the day. Science would link up to this because people wanted to know more about themselves and the world around them. Weather it was what a baby looked like inside the female body or how to make a flying machine as Leonardo attempted to do. This would then lead into the artistic production. Not many people could read so paintings and sculptures were like newspapers. If you wanted to tell the masses something you had a painting made of it. The church did this a lot with paintings of people falling into the depths of hell and others ascending into heaven.
I don’t think such a connection exists today. Today we have such a wide education that many people profess themselves into many different ways. There are just so many people going so many different ways that we tend to get tunnel vision. To us the only people that matter are those that directly affect our lives. This means that scientist never really conform to one train of thought. Scientist now fight with one another endlessly to prove they are the one that is right. Even after proving they are the ones who are right they have no need to hire an artist to get their findings to the masses. Now the scientists just write up an article then post it on the web and send it to major newspapers. 98% of the modern world can read and write so it’s very easy to pass along findings. With the internet the information can travel across the world in a few seconds.