Period and Overview of the Renaissance:
– Renaissance started during the crisis of the Late Middle Ages and conventionally ended by the 1600s.
– It was a cultural movement affecting European intellectual life in the early modern period.
– Origins in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, influencing art, architecture, philosophy, literature, science, and politics.
– Renaissance scholars used the humanist method in study, focusing on neoplatonism and historical texts.
Intellectual Basis and Spread of the Renaissance:
– Derived from humanism and classical Greek philosophy.
– Development of perspective in oil painting, rediscovery of concrete-making techniques, and invention of metal movable type.
– Major centers in Italy like Florence, Venice, and Rome, and spread to American, African, and Asian territories.
– Renaissance scholars reintegrated Greek cultural works back into Western Europe and extended the term to other historical and cultural movements.
Artistic Developments and Origins of the Renaissance:
– Renaissance known for its artistic contributions like linear perspective and natural reality in painting.
– Educational reforms, advancements in science, and development of modern banking and accounting.
– Renaissance ideas originated in Florence in the 13th and 14th centuries.
– Key figures like Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, and Giotto di Bondone contributed to the Renaissance.
Social and Political Structures, Impact on Arts and Sciences:
– Italy’s unique political structures during the Late Middle Ages allowed for cultural efflorescence.
– Renaissance impact on arts and sciences through developments in portraying the human form, political philosophy, and advancements in printing.
– Renaissance authors began using vernacular languages and the printing press expanded access to books.
– Sociologist Rodney Stark emphasizes the earlier innovations of Italian city-states in the High Middle Ages and their influence on the Renaissance.
Humanism, Notable Figures, and Libraries:
– Renaissance humanism as a method of learning and humanist education based on Studia Humanitatis.
– Notable humanists like Machiavelli, Pico della Mirandola, and Thomas More.
– Some Renaissance libraries were open to the public, promoting scholarship and exchanging ideas.
– Wealthy bibliophiles built libraries as temples of knowledge, influencing Renaissance culture.
The Renaissance (UK: /rəˈneɪsəns/ rən-AY-sənss, US: /ˈrɛnəsɑːns/ ⓘ REN-ə-sahnss) is a period in history and a cultural movement marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity, covering the 15th and 16th centuries and characterized by an effort to revive and surpass the ideas and achievements of classical antiquity; it was associated with great social change in most fields and disciplines, including art, architecture, politics, literature, exploration and science. It began in the Republic of Florence, then spread to the rest of Italy and later throughout Europe. The term rinascita ("rebirth") first appeared in Lives of the Artists (c. 1550) by Giorgio Vasari, while the corresponding French word renaissance was adopted into English as the term for this period during the 1830s.
The Renaissance's intellectual basis was its version of humanism, derived from the concept of Roman humanitas and the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, such as that of Protagoras, who said that "man is the measure of all things". Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the revived knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe: the first traces appear in Italy as early as the late 13th century, in particular with the writings of Dante and the paintings of Giotto.
As a cultural movement, the Renaissance encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, which contemporaries credited to Petrarch; the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting; and gradual but widespread educational reform. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, and in science to an increased reliance on observation and inductive reasoning. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual and social scientific pursuits, as well as the introduction of modern banking and the field of accounting, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".
