Instrumentalism - is this in any of Da Vinci's works?...University paper and am new to art concepts?

We have to write a paper on instrumentalism, or a type of work trying to convey a message of political or religious means for example. This is an introductory art cl, and I am taking it as a general education requirement at my university, so I have little to know experience in art, although my mom is a published artist, so I have some talent in my blood. Back to the point though, I really like the Renaissance period and was hoping I could somehow consider his work as instrumentalist. If this is possible please explain why it is. If this is not possible, please explain more about the definition of instrumentalism and offer some artists from old style works that might be useful for my paper.