The Renaissance refers to the cultural, literary, and intellectual
movement that many historians would argue created modern
Europe.
 Burckhardt’s Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
 humanism
 secularism
 vernacular
 individualism
 Petrarch
 Dante
 Boccaccio
 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 Castiglione’s The Courtier
 Machiavelli’s The Prince
 The rebirth of ancient Greek and Roman artistic and
literary styles, languages, and values was at the heart
of the Italian Renaissance.
 The revival of classical texts and the educational
curriculum based on them was called humanism.
 The Renaissance rested on new political and social
structures forged in quasi-independent city-states in
Italy, called communes, which were dominated by
wealthy merchants who became the patrons of artists
and scholars.
 Individualism and secularism developed as new
societal values
 Renaissance artists adopted many elements from
antiquity, from Roman arches to motifs and themes
in painting.
 Perspective and realism allowed them to imitate
nature.
 Communal bodies, wealthy merchants, and the
church were important patrons of the arts
 The invention of movable type and the printing
press in the mid 15th century allowed for the quick
and relatively inexpensive dissemination of new
ideas, fostered literacy, and made the Renaissance
an international movement.