Renaissance
• Means rebirth
• Refers to explosion of art and intellectual creativity
• 1300-1600-peak around 1500
• Time of great change-politically, socially, economically, and societal.
• Shifts from agricultural to urban society
Shift to Renaissance
• Rebirth after the medieval world
• Renewed interest in classical learning of Greece and Rome
• Continued use of Latin
• Shift from religious beliefs to “human experience” and the “here and now”
• Renaissance-sparked interest in the unknown-led to many explorers.
Renaissance Man
• Renaissance Men-were well rounded-talented in numerous areas.
• Renaissance Women-were expected to inspire art yet not create it
Expressing Humanism
• Renaissance fueled an intellectual movement-humanism.
• Studied classical culture of Greece and Rome to understand the world then.
• Shifted from religion to world affairs.
• Emphasized the humanities-grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history etc.
• Petrarch-assembled a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts in monasteries and churches
Italy as Birth of Renaissance…Why?
• Survival of Roman artistic and architectural heritage
• Use of Latin kept memories of classical civilization alive
• Islamic and Byzantine influences
• Tradeled to wealth-created an affluent middle/upper class with the leisure for education and
a sense of political responsibility
• Competition amongst city-states
Artists
• Renaissance painters, sculptors, and architects drew inspiration from the classical Greek and
Roman artists rather than their medieval predecessors
• Artists used the technique of linear perspective to represent the three dimensions of real life on
flat, two dimensional surfaces
• “Ninja Turtles”
Sculptors
• Sculptors depicted their subjects in natural poses
• Reflected working of human muscles
• Strays from awkward and rigid poses
Humanism
• Focused on: Learning, Here and Now, Worldly Affairs
Famous Authors
• Geoffrey Chaucer-Canterbury Tales, Thomas More-Utopia, Miguel de Cervantes-Don Quixote,
William Shakespeare
Moveable Type
• Johannes Gutenberg’s use of movable type to print books accelerated the spread of classical
learning
• Allowed for the mass production of texts that spread the cultural heritage of the classical world
throughout Europe