The Creation by Michaelangelo

The word Renaissance means "rebirth" and is used to describe the period in European history between the 15th and 16th centuries. Different scholars date its beginnings as early as the late 13th century, or in the the early 1400s. In some areas north of the Alps the Renaissance may have begun even later. Similarly, historians date the end of the Renaissance anywhere from 1498 to the early 1600s.

At the end of the Medieval Period which preceded the Renaissance, many changes occurred in the world view of those living in this period of history. These changes, correspondingly, brought about radical changes in human values, scholarship art, religion and the sciences.

The rebirth, or re-naissance, was seen largely as a movement away from the darkness, barbarism and superstition which characterized the prior era. In contrast, scholars and thinkers of the Renaissance self-consciously saw their own time as a reflection of the much earlier societies, namely those of classical Greece and Rome. The works and philsophy of the Ancient Greeks such as Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, Pythagoras and Romans, particuarly Cicero, were all influential in terms of shaping the Renaissance sensibily. In Italy, first, and then France, England, Germany and the Netherlands, this association with classical antiquity, catalyzed efflorescence in the arts and sciences. Similarly, the Renaissance would also generate a philosophical outlook that would place categorical man at the center of human interests, activities and concerns. The centrality of humans would in time give rise to the term humanities to describe the arts of humans, and to the philosophy of humanism.

Contrary to popular misunderstanding, humanism was not an anti-Christian movement. In some ways, Renaissance humanism was in many ways a very Christian movement in that it sought to place categorical man in God's universe. While focus of humanism was on man it was a focus within the context of a God-created, God-ordered universe.

For the most part, the humanism of the Renaissance infused both the scholastic pursuits of the time as well as civic life. In education and the scholarly life, humanism meant the pursuit of study, particularly mathematics, rhetoric, literary studies, art, and history. The humanist agenda which evolved eventually into what we know of as the liberal arts program, or studia humanitatis. It was seen as the course of education that free men (and it was primarily a program for the education of men) pursued, and it was modelled after the the program of the Republic of Ancient Rome. This notion in turn was based on the philosophy of the Roman orator and statesman Cicero that a well-educated citizenry was essential to a free society.

A far as can be ascertained, the word Renaissance, and its association with the re-emergence of civilization, was first coined in 1551 by an art critic named Giorgio Vasari. Vasari used the word Italian word rinascita to describe a 14th century painting that he saw as a return to the ancient style of Roman art.

As a cultural movement,the Renaissance had its beginnings in the 14th century in the cities of northern Italy. Here, legalists began the fashion of using the Latin style , and interest grew among scholars and art critics around the Roman heritage of Italy. One of the foremost eaders in the classical revivalism was the poet Petrach. His own successes as a poet and scholar of antiquity earned him the support of powerful men of his time. This in turn would influence a whole generation of younger men of letters whose own works began to take on the structures, stylistics and allusions of classical Greece and Rome.

By the 15th century, men of letters, well-versed in Latin, the classics and rhetoric would rise in the world of politics and at the church. Well-educated, eloquent and highly gifted, they brought with them the humanism of the times. Blind imitation of antiquity was replaced by a more sophisticated assessment of antiquity. The study of Latin and Greek, along with a century of growing familiarity with the arts, history, philosophy and archaeology of the ancient past, produced a new syncretism that blended wisdom and knowledge, science and art, logic and sprituality.

In this intellectual environment, the polymaths, or "Renaissance Men" as typified by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Galileo became symbols themselves of the seemingly limitedless possibilities of humanity. Some of the other key great figures of the Italian Renaissance included the Florentine artists such as Michaelangelo (1475-11564) and Botticelli (1444-1510). and the Venetian artists such as Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (1488-1567) and Tintoretto (1518-1594.) The august group also includes Raphael (Rafaello Sanzio) (1483-1520) who was born in Urbino but who came to be part of the Florentine tradition.

From the mid-15th century on Italy underwent a transformative period particularly in Florence and Tuscany. Under the patronage of the great Medici dynasty, unparalled by experienced a period of artistic achievement which ontinued into the 16th century. This was the era of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Raphael and many others who would transform not only the world of art, but the manner in which the modern world would come to think about at human existence and human creativity.

The fame of Italy as a center of the cultural world draw students from other European countries. From the 15th century on, they came to Italy to study art with the masters, as well as to absorb the classics, poetry, philosophy, and relics of antiquity. Through these visiting students, the seeds of the Italian Renaissance would soon spread into France, Spain, Enland, Germany and the Netherlands. Italian fashions, styles of painting, music, ways of life and, above all the philosophy that was central to the humanism of the Renaissance, were spread, absorbed and naturalized quickly within the next hundred years across Europe.

The influence of the Italian Renaissance extended into virtually all aspects of European history and culture. The humanistic philosophy that emerged from the Italian Renaissance was in fact not one, but several strains of philosophical strands. The emphasis was on a flexible approach to social problems and an active participationon behalf of fellow humans. This was correspondingly supported by the increasing interest in the dignity and centrality of humans. Philosophers such as Giovanni Pico della Mirandelo epitomized this trend as manifest in his treatise on The Dignity of Manwhich appeared in 1486.

The radical idea of human dignity and the importance of humans would play into the growing restiveness against the mediative presence of the church. Both Erasmus the Dutch humanist and John Colet the English reformist would be strongly influenced by Italian humanism in their own works. In this regard, Italian humanism may be seen as having a direct impact on the later Protestant Reformation. Meanwhile in England, Renaissance humanism found its expression in the works of Sir Thomas More particularly in his work Utopia. The humanist notion of human dignity was extended into everyday life in the prescribed etiquette that marked the well-bred gentle man or woman. The Book of the Courtier by the career diplomat Badassare Castiglione and published in 1528 became the medium through which Renaissance humanism was popularized.

Just as the philosophy of humanism was characterized by the attempts at bridging several schools of thought, the arts and sciences were integrated to a degree that has yet to be paralled in subsequent periods of history. Men like Leonardo and Galileo were architects, astronomers, anatomists, engineers as well as peerless painters. Mathematics opened the way to the incoporation of perspective in art. Anatomy in turn led not only a greater understanding of the human physique, but to a philosophical reframing of humanity.

Renaissance Home Page
Art and Science
Giants of the Renaissance