what was the renaissance essay

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Renaissance

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 11, 2023 | Original: April 4, 2018

The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages. Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art.

Some of the greatest thinkers, authors, statesmen, scientists and artists in human history thrived during this era, while global exploration opened up new lands and cultures to European commerce. The Renaissance is credited with bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and modern-day civilization.

From Darkness to Light: The Renaissance Begins

During the Middle Ages , a period that took place between the fall of ancient Rome in 476 A.D. and the beginning of the 14th century, Europeans made few advances in science and art.

Also known as the “Dark Ages,” the era is often branded as a time of war, ignorance, famine and pandemics such as the Black Death .

Some historians, however, believe that such grim depictions of the Middle Ages were greatly exaggerated, though many agree that there was relatively little regard for ancient Greek and Roman philosophies and learning at the time.

During the 14th century, a cultural movement called humanism began to gain momentum in Italy. Among its many principles, humanism promoted the idea that man was the center of his own universe, and people should embrace human achievements in education, classical arts, literature and science.

In 1450, the invention of the Gutenberg printing press allowed for improved communication throughout Europe and for ideas to spread more quickly.

As a result of this advance in communication, little-known texts from early humanist authors such as those by Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio, which promoted the renewal of traditional Greek and Roman culture and values, were printed and distributed to the masses.

Additionally, many scholars believe advances in international finance and trade impacted culture in Europe and set the stage for the Renaissance.

Medici Family

The Renaissance started in Florence, Italy, a place with a rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support budding artists.

Members of the powerful Medici family , which ruled Florence for more than 60 years, were famous backers of the movement.

Great Italian writers, artists, politicians and others declared that they were participating in an intellectual and artistic revolution that would be much different from what they experienced during the Dark Ages.

The movement first expanded to other Italian city-states, such as Venice, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara and Rome. Then, during the 15th century, Renaissance ideas spread from Italy to France and then throughout western and northern Europe.

Although other European countries experienced their Renaissance later than Italy, the impacts were still revolutionary.

Renaissance Geniuses

Some of the most famous and groundbreaking Renaissance intellectuals, artists, scientists and writers include the likes of:

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): Italian painter, architect, inventor and “Renaissance man” responsible for painting “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.
• Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536): Scholar from Holland who defined the humanist movement in Northern Europe. Translator of the New Testament into Greek. 
• Rene Descartes (1596–1650): French philosopher and mathematician regarded as the father of modern philosophy. Famous for stating, “I think; therefore I am.”
• Galileo (1564-1642): Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer whose pioneering work with telescopes enabled him to describes the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. Placed under house arrest for his views of a heliocentric universe.
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543): Mathematician and astronomer who made first modern scientific argument for the concept of a heliocentric solar system.
• Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): English philosopher and author of “Leviathan.”
• Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400): English poet and author of “The Canterbury Tales.”
• Giotto (1266-1337): Italian painter and architect whose more realistic depictions of human emotions influenced generations of artists. Best known for his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.
• Dante (1265–1321): Italian philosopher, poet, writer and political thinker who authored “The Divine Comedy.”
• Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527): Italian diplomat and philosopher famous for writing “The Prince” and “The Discourses on Livy.”
• Titian (1488–1576): Italian painter celebrated for his portraits of Pope Paul III and Charles I and his later religious and mythical paintings like “Venus and Adonis” and "Metamorphoses."
• William Tyndale (1494–1536): English biblical translator, humanist and scholar burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English.
• William Byrd (1539/40–1623): English composer known for his development of the English madrigal and his religious organ music.
• John Milton (1608–1674): English poet and historian who wrote the epic poem “Paradise Lost.”
• William Shakespeare (1564–1616): England’s “national poet” and the most famous playwright of all time, celebrated for his sonnets and plays like “Romeo and Juliet."
• Donatello (1386–1466): Italian sculptor celebrated for lifelike sculptures like “David,” commissioned by the Medici family.
• Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510): Italian painter of “Birth of Venus.”
• Raphael (1483–1520): Italian painter who learned from da Vinci and Michelangelo. Best known for his paintings of the Madonna and “The School of Athens.”
• Michelangelo (1475–1564): Italian sculptor, painter and architect who carved “David” and painted The Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Renaissance Impact on Art, Architecture and Science

Art, architecture and science were closely linked during the Renaissance. In fact, it was a unique time when these fields of study fused together seamlessly.

For instance, artists like da Vinci incorporated scientific principles, such as anatomy into their work, so they could recreate the human body with extraordinary precision.

Architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi studied mathematics to accurately engineer and design immense buildings with expansive domes.

Scientific discoveries led to major shifts in thinking: Galileo and Descartes presented a new view of astronomy and mathematics, while Copernicus proposed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system.

Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism. Artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way.

They used techniques, such as perspective, shadows and light to add depth to their work. Emotion was another quality that artists tried to infuse into their pieces.

Some of the most famous artistic works that were produced during the Renaissance include:

• The Mona Lisa (Da Vinci)
• The Last Supper (Da Vinci)
• Statue of David (Michelangelo)
• The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)
• The Creation of Adam (Michelangelo)

Renaissance Exploration

While many artists and thinkers used their talents to express new ideas, some Europeans took to the seas to learn more about the world around them. In a period known as the Age of Discovery, several important explorations were made.

Voyagers launched expeditions to travel the entire globe. They discovered new shipping routes to the Americas, India and the Far East and explorers trekked across areas that weren’t fully mapped.

Famous journeys were taken by Ferdinand Magellan , Christopher Columbus , Amerigo Vespucci (after whom America is named), Marco Polo , Ponce de Leon , Vasco Núñez de Balboa , Hernando De Soto and other explorers.

Renaissance Religion

Humanism encouraged Europeans to question the role of the Roman Catholic church during the Renaissance.

As more people learned how to read, write and interpret ideas, they began to closely examine and critique religion as they knew it. Also, the printing press allowed for texts, including the Bible, to be easily reproduced and widely read by the people, themselves, for the first time.

In the 16th century, Martin Luther , a German monk, led the Protestant Reformation – a revolutionary movement that caused a split in the Catholic church. Luther questioned many of the practices of the church and whether they aligned with the teachings of the Bible.

As a result, a new form of Christianity , known as Protestantism, was created.

End of the Renaissance

Scholars believe the demise of the Renaissance was the result of several compounding factors.

By the end of the 15th century, numerous wars had plagued the Italian peninsula. Spanish, French and German invaders battling for Italian territories caused disruption and instability in the region.

Also, changing trade routes led to a period of economic decline and limited the amount of money that wealthy contributors could spend on the arts.

Later, in a movement known as the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic church censored artists and writers in response to the Protestant Reformation. Many Renaissance thinkers feared being too bold, which stifled creativity.

Furthermore, in 1545, the Council of Trent established the Roman Inquisition , which made humanism and any views that challenged the Catholic church an act of heresy punishable by death.

By the early 17th century, the Renaissance movement had died out, giving way to the Age of Enlightenment .

Debate Over the Renaissance

While many scholars view the Renaissance as a unique and exciting time in European history, others argue that the period wasn’t much different from the Middle Ages and that both eras overlapped more than traditional accounts suggest.

Also, some modern historians believe that the Middle Ages had a cultural identity that’s been downplayed throughout history and overshadowed by the Renaissance era.

While the exact timing and overall impact of the Renaissance is sometimes debated, there’s little dispute that the events of the period ultimately led to advances that changed the way people understood and interpreted the world around them.

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A Beginner's Guide to the Renaissance

What was the renaissance.

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The Renaissance was a cultural and scholarly movement which stressed the rediscovery and application of texts and thought from classical antiquity, occurring in Europe c. 1400 – c. 1600. The Renaissance can also refer to the period of European history spanning roughly the same dates. It's increasingly important to stress that the Renaissance had a long history of developments that included the twelfth-century renaissance and more.

There remains debate about what exactly constituted the Renaissance. Essentially, it was a cultural and intellectual movement, intimately tied to society and politics, of the late 14th to early 17th centuries, although it is commonly restricted to just the 15th and 16th centuries. It is considered to have originated in Italy. Traditionally people have claimed it was stimulated, in part, by Petrarch, who had a passion for rediscovering lost manuscripts and a fierce belief in the civilizing power of ancient thought and in part by conditions in Florence.

At its core, the Renaissance was a movement dedicated to the rediscovery and use of classical learning, that is to say, knowledge and attitudes from the Ancient Greek and Roman eras. Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’, and Renaissance thinkers believed the period between themselves and the fall of Rome, which they labeled the Middle Ages , had seen a decline in cultural achievement compared with the earlier eras. Participants intended, through the study of classical texts, textual criticism, and classical techniques, to both reintroduce the heights of those ancient days and improve the situation of their contemporaries. Some of these classical texts survived only amongst Islamic scholars and were brought back to Europe at this time.

The Renaissance Period

“Renaissance” can also refer to the period, c. 1400 – c. 1600. “ High Renaissance ” generally refers to c. 1480 – c. 1520. The era was dynamic, with European explorers “finding” new continents, the transformation of trading methods and patterns, the decline of feudalism (in so far as it ever existed), scientific developments such as the Copernican system of the cosmos and the rise of gunpowder. Many of these changes were triggered, in part, by the Renaissance, such as classical mathematics stimulating new financial trading mechanisms, or new techniques from the east boosting ocean navigation. The printing press was also developed, allowing Renaissance texts to be disseminated widely (in actual fact this print was an enabling factor rather than a result).

Why Was This Renaissance Different?

Classical culture had never totally vanished from Europe, and it experienced sporadic rebirths. There was the Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth to ninth centuries and a major one in the “Twelfth Century Renaissance”, which saw Greek science and philosophy returned to European consciousness and the development of a new way of thinking which mixed science and logic called Scholasticism. What was different in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was that this particular rebirth joined together both the elements of scholarly inquiry and cultural endeavor with social and political motivations to create a much broader movement, albeit one with a long history.

The Society and Politics Behind the Renaissance

Across the fourteenth century , and perhaps before, the old social and political structures of the medieval period broke down, allowing new concepts to rise. A new elite emerged, with new models of thought and ideas to justify themselves; what they found in classical antiquity was something to use both as a prop and a tool for their aggrandizement. Exiting elites matched them to keep pace, as did the Catholic Church. Italy, from which the Renaissance evolved, was a series of city-states, each competing with the others for civic pride, trade, and wealth. They were largely autonomous, with a high proportion of merchants and artisans thanks to the Mediterranean trade routes.

At the very top of Italian society, the rulers of the key courts in Italy were all “new men”, recently confirmed in their positions of power and with newly gained wealth, and they were keen to demonstrate both. There was also wealth and the desire to show it below them. The Black Death had killed millions in Europe and left the survivors with proportionally greater wealth, whether through fewer people inheriting more or simply from the increased wages they could demand. Italian society and the results of the Black Death allowed for much greater social mobility, a constant flow of people keen to demonstrate their wealth. Displaying wealth and using culture to reinforce your social and political was an important aspect of life in that period, and when artistic and scholarly movements turned back to the classical world at the start of the fifteenth century there were plenty of patrons ready to support them in these endeavors to make political points.

The importance of piety, as demonstrated through commissioning works of tribute, was also strong, and Christianity proved a heavy influence for thinkers trying to square Christian thought with that of “pagan” classical writers.

The Spread of the Renaissance

From its origins in Italy, the Renaissance spread across Europe, the ideas changing and evolving to match local conditions, sometimes linking into existing cultural booms, although still keeping the same core. Trade, marriage, diplomats, scholars, the use of giving artists to forge links, even military invasions, all aided the circulation. Historians now tend to break the Renaissance down into smaller, geographic, groups such as the Italian Renaissance, The English Renaissance, the Northern Renaissance (a composite of several countries) etc. There are also works which talk about the Renaissance as a phenomenon with global reach, influencing – and being influenced by – the east, Americas, and Africa.

The End of the Renaissance

Some historians argue that the Renaissance ended in the 1520s, some the 1620s. The Renaissance didn’t just stop, but its core ideas gradually converted into other forms, and new paradigms arose, particularly during the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. It would be hard to argue we are still in the Renaissance (as you can do with the Enlightenment), as culture and learning move in a different direction, but you have to draw the lines from here back to then (and, of course, back to before then). You could argue that new and different types of Renaissance followed (should you want to write an essay).

The Interpretation of the Renaissance

The term ‘renaissance’ actually dates from the nineteenth century and has been heavily debated ever since, with some historians questioning whether it’s even a useful word anymore. Early historians described a clear intellectual break with the medieval era, but in recent decades scholarship has turned to recognize growing continuity from the centuries before, suggesting that the changes Europe experienced were more an evolution than a revolution. The era was also far from a golden age for everyone; at the start, it was very much a minority movement of humanists, elites, and artists, although it disseminated wider with printing. Women , in particular, saw a marked reduction in their educational opportunities during the Renaissance. It's no longer possible to talk of a sudden, all changing golden age (or no longer possible and be considered accurate), but rather a phase that wasn't entirely a move 'forward', or that dangerous historical problem, progress.

Renaissance Art

There were Renaissance movements in architecture, literature, poetry, drama, music, metals, textiles and furniture, but the Renaissance is perhaps best known for its art. Creative endeavor became viewed as a form of knowledge and achievement, not simply a way of decoration. Art was now to be based on observation of the real world, applying mathematics and optics to achieve more advanced effects like perspective. Paintings, sculpture and other art forms flourished as new talents took up the creation of masterpieces, and enjoying art became seen as the mark of a cultured individual.

Renaissance Humanism

Perhaps the earliest expression of the Renaissance was in humanism, an intellectual approach which developed among those being taught a new form of curriculum: the studia humanitatis, which challenged the previously dominant Scholastic thinking. Humanists were concerned with the features of human nature and attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety.

Humanist thinkers implicitly and explicitly challenged the old Christian mindset, allowing and advancing the new intellectual model behind the Renaissance. However, tensions between humanism and the Catholic Church developed over the period, and humanist learning partly caused the Reformation . Humanism was also deeply pragmatic, giving those involved the educational basis for work in the burgeoning European bureaucracies. It is important to note that the term ‘humanist’ was a later label, just like “renaissance”.

Politics and Liberty

The Renaissance used to be regarded as pushing forward a new desire for liberty and republicanism - rediscovered in works about the Roman Republic —even though many of the Italian city-states were taken over by individual rulers. This view has come under close scrutiny by historians and partly rejected, but it did cause some Renaissance thinkers to agitate for greater religious and political freedoms over later years. More widely accepted is the return to thinking about the state as a body with needs and requirements, taking politics away from the application of Christian morals and into a more pragmatic, some might say devious, world, as typified by the work of Machiavelli. There was no marvelous purity in Renaissance politics, just the same twisting about as ever.

Books and Learning

Part of the changes brought by the Renaissance, or perhaps one of the causes, was the change in attitude to pre-Christian books. Petrarch, who had a self-proclaimed “lust” to seek out forgotten books among the monasteries and libraries of Europe, contributed to a new outlook: one of (secular) passion and hunger for the knowledge. This attitude spread, increasing the search for lost works and increasing the number of volumes in circulation, in turn influencing more people with classical ideas. One other major result was a renewed trade in manuscripts and the foundation of public libraries to better enable widespread study. Print then enabled an explosion in the reading and spread of texts, by producing them faster and more accurately, and led to the literate populations who formed the basis of the modern world.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Renaissance — Causes And Effects Of The Renaissance

Causes and Effects of The Renaissance

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Causes of the renaissance, effects of the renaissance.

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Renaissance Period Essay

The Renaissance is one of the most fascinating periods in European history. It was a time of great rebirth and cultural flowering, as well as political and social change.

The Renaissance began in Italy in the 14th century and spread to the rest of Europe over the following two centuries. This period marked a dramatic change from the preceding Middle Ages. People began to value individualism and reason more than tradition and religion. Art and literature flourished, as did scientific discoveries.

During the Renaissance, Europeans made significant advances in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and anatomy. The Printing Press was invented, which allowed for widespread dissemination of knowledge. New ideas about government and society emerged, including concepts such as democracy and human rights.

The French term renaissance means “rebirth.” The Renaissance was a period in European history that took place between 1300 and 1600, according to modern historians. Significant changes occurred during the Italian Renaissance, which is when I began studying art.

The Renaissance was a time of significant innovation and change. This era was characterized by substantial contrasts with the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the church dominated politics and had a primarily agricultural economy. Exploration and learning came close to being halted entirely.

Renaissance means rebirth, everything starts to reborn during Renaissance. means people were full of energy and ambitions. They wanted to achieve something great in their life. This era was different from the Middle Ages in many ways such as art, literature, science, religion, and ways of thinking.

In the Renaissance, artists used light and shadow to give more realistic depictions of their subjects. Renaissance painters also began using a technique called perspective to create the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface. Renaissance writers created works that celebrated individual achievement and humanity’s potential for greatness.

During the Renaissance, Europeans became more interested in studying classical texts from Greece and Rome. Renaissance scholars rediscovered the writings of Aristotle, who had a major influence on scientific thought during this time. The Renaissance was also a time of religious reform. Protestant leaders such as Martin Luther challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They believed that people could have a personal relationship with God without the help of priests.

This period of time was also a time of exploration and discovery. European explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama sailed to new parts of the world in search of wealth and new trade routes. The Renaissance was an exciting time to be alive! There were many changes happening and people were eager to learn and explore new things.

During the Renaissance period, society was revolutionized into a society that became more and more dominated by central political institutions with an urban commercial mentality. Furthermore, people’s interest overcame their anxiety, and many individuals began to explore the new world. Many rich Italian cities, such as Florence, Ferrara, Milan, and Venice, started the Renaissance.

Some of the most famous Renaissance artists were Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Renaissance art was often very detailed and realistic. Renaissance architects also designed beautiful buildings, such as the Florence Cathedral and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Renaissance scholars studied ancient Greek and Roman texts and came up with new ways of thinking about the world. They believed that people could improve their lives through education and hard work. This period is known as the rebirth or Renaissance because many new things were invented or discovered during this time.

The Renaissance was a time of rebirth for Europe’s culture, art, politics, and economy following the Middle Ages. The term “Renaissance” is used to describe a period that spanned roughly the 14th century to the 17th century.

It also saw the development of new technologies in fields such as banking, navigation and printing. Renaissance thinkers championed humanism – an emphasis on the value of the individual – and scientific inquiry, laying the groundwork for the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century.

The Renaissance was a time of great creativity and change. Artistic movements like the Renaissance Mannerist and Baroque evolved, as did architectural styles like Gothic and Renaissance. In literature, Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare were among the most famous authors of the period.

Science advanced with discoveries such as Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion and Harvey’s discovery of blood circulation. Banking became more sophisticated with the invention of double-entry bookkeeping, and exploration expanded with the discovery of new continents.

Despite its many achievements, the Renaissance was not without its problems. Inequality and social unrest increased, as did religious tensions. The period also saw a number of devastating natural disasters, including the Black Death pandemic and the Great Fire of London. Nevertheless, the Renaissance remains one of the most significant periods in European history. It heralded a new era of creativity, intellectualism and progress that would have a lasting impact on the world.

Artisans discovered that mathematics and art could be combined to make their measurements more accurate and ensure that an item was adequately supported both logically and proportionally.

Painters, in order to make their works “a window into the world,” frequently attempted but rarely succeeded. Artists also studied how light hits objects and how our eyes perceive light. Oil paint was introduced as a new type of paint. This permitted the artist to create texture, combine hues, and give themselves more time for adjustments before it dried.

Renaissance artists also started to create paintings with perspective. This gave the illusion of depth and made their paintings more realistic.

The Renaissance was a time when people were questioning everything that had been done in the past and looking for new ways to do things. They started to explore the world around them and learn about other cultures. This was also a time of great advances in science and technology. People began to use reason and observation instead of relying on what they were told by the church. The Renaissance was a time of great change and progress.

The Renaissance Period was a time of rebirth and new beginnings in European history. It was a time when people started to question the old ways of thinking and explore new ideas. This led to many advancements in art, science, and other fields. The Renaissance Period is often considered to be one of the most important times in human history.

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Art During the Renaissance Essay

Introduction.

The word renaissance refers to a change of state or a revival. It is in context the change in cultural activities recorded among the European countries in the early times beginning from fourteenth century to the seventeenth century. The cultural change brought transformation in many aspects of lives.

Among the aspects transformed were economics, politics, social dynamics, religion, art and philosophy. This paper seeks to discuss a defining aspect of renaissance in a personal perspective. The paper will examine the state of art as a defining element of the renaissance period. It will examine the changing aspects of art that took place during the period.

Art- The Defining Element of Renaissance

Art is the category of elements that are “subject to aesthetic criteria”. It refers to the things that pertain to skills and techniques, involving emotional appeal in a significant way. Renaissance in general took place in the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. [1] It was a moment of change that saw the transformations of the historical middle period human beings to the current modern man.

Though the artistic revolution is considered in this article as the major element of the renaissance, it was a result of the revolutions in the other elements such as the scientific, philosophical and the linguistic advancements. The advancement of knowledge and themes was a motivation to the development of better techniques and styles in the field of art.

The identity of the art as a form of creation and respect accorded to the artists for their skills became a boost to the development of art during the period. The artistic renaissance can be distinguished into three categories: the first category is known as the early renaissance followed by high renaissance and lastly the late renaissance. [2]

The new era of art in Italy was marked in Florence. The developments saw the inclusion of mathematical aspects that enabled a three dimensional representation in painting. This development was achieved as early as the fifteenth century. The then early painting methods were at best crude. There were two commonly used methods: tempera and fresco. One technique, the tempera, involved painting on a dry plane.

Colors from items like vegetables and eggs were used to copy expressions from drawings. Another technique, the fresco, was done on wet surface. This latter technique was mostly used in paintings for church use. On drying of the plaster used, the drawing colors became part of the painting.

The evolution saw the establishment of a painting school that trained on a two dimensional picture production. The religious paintings at that moment brought about sense of respect and nobility and triggered peoples’ emotions and interest on the painted pictures; most of this was in respect to religion.

High Renaissance

The high renaissance began in the time of the renowned Leonardo da Vinci. The paintings of the time were more enhanced with more identifiable originality. The artistic qualities like landscaping and expression of attitude and gesture was then evident in the paintings.

The paintings were expressed in “simplicity; austere rejection of the incidental and the merely pretty; nobility and grandeur in the figures involved in actions of depth and significance.” [3] The art of painting was taken a notch higher by the introduction of oil paints. Further developments followed into the spread of art revolution to outside Italy. [4]

According to Paoletti and Radke, the field of art had developed significantly by the fifteenth century. They depict a painted picture of an organized scene that involved quite a number of aspects.

The description, according to the authors, was a painting of the 15 th century. This illustrates how drastic the developments were during the renaissance period. The evolution by this time had taken a totally different dimension with clarity in the paintings. Other important developments were the introduction of tempera, oil paintings, mosaic and stained glass among others.

The developments also saw a variety of styles and tone to express emotions and situations. Different styles were introduced on different subjects depending on whether they were devotional or narrative. The art renaissance was an effective element during the 14 th century in urban centers where Christian religious monuments and designs of structures was a necessity. [5]

According to Brotton, a study in England indicates that art and individuality were celebrated as “defining features of renaissance.” [6] Elements like politics, science and economics have dismissed on the grounds of being irrelevant to the aspect of renaissance.

Art has been accredited by appraisal words like “the pleasure of the sense and the imagination.” [7] Art in its aspects was more identified as an element of the change than the other aspects.

During the renaissance artists represented the observable features of the world in a more precise and natural way. Though in a negatively perceived way, the artistic monuments that were put in churches were the major reason for the protestant movement that saw the revolt against the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church however still used the artists to make appeals to people.

The protestant movement was perceived as a break through to real worship among Christians and the perceived freedom of worship can be attributed to the art presentations that were put in the catholic churches.

Besides the religious revolution, art is still being used to pass religious information in terms of paintings even at the current time. [8]

Graham also recounted that the patrons of renaissance in Italy competed among themselves in artistic works that, in their opinion, would give them immortality. A very important aspect about art was raised; patrons of renaissance themselves identified art as a tool to immortality.

The association of the patrons, not just of art but of the entire renaissance, to associate with art is enough credibility. The association of art to immortality can also be seen as the status that was accorded to art at that time. The interaction of these patrons with the artists accorded status not only to the artists, but to the entire field of art. [9]

Another credit to the art aspect of renaissance is the information about Filippo Breunelleschi. Fillippo who is identified as the first great architect of renaissance was an artist. The status accorded to him and the fact that renaissance is considered to have origins in Italy is an indication that art was the origin of renaissance.

It can therefore be argued that art was the basis for the movement and a credit to art over the positive effects of the cultural movement that followed. [10] In a probably personalized view, art was identified as a way that was used to represent God and the earthly elements that he created. Art was also used to express science for example the concepts of anatomy. The events of renaissance also led to discoveries and triggered pleasure among people.

Renaissance was an event of advancement in different aspects of life. It is believed to have originated in Italy as early as the 13 th century. It was a continuous process categorized into three periods. The development of art as well has its origin was associated with the city of Florence in Italy.

The development of art was not an exclusive or independent aspect but it incorporated within itself aspects of mathematics. The products of the art like paintings also became significantly valuables in religion. The artists were accorded status for their work and this is an indication of how important art was.

Its inclusion in scientific representation of anatomy and religious representation gives it diverse backgrounds that originate from its origin. Art can also be identified as a source of information.

It has emotional and intellectual attachments that elicit reactive actions like the religious revolution that was as a result of artistic placements in churches. Art was therefore a central element of renaissance and the other elements can be seen to have been products of the development in art.

Brotton, Jerry. The Renaissance: a very short introduction. New York, NY: Cengage, 2006.

Eurasia, Carrie. “ Italian Renaissance Art. ” The World Wide Web Virtual Library, 1999. Web.

Fitzpatrick, Anne. The Renaissance. Mankato, MN: The Creative Company, 2005.

Graham, Andrew. Renaissance . California: University of California Press, 1999.

Hay, Denys. The Italian Renaissance in its historical background . Cambridge: Cambridge, 1977.

Paoletti, John & Radke, Gary. Art in Renaissance Italy . London, UK: Laurence King, 2006.

Pioch, Nicholas. “ La Renaissance: Italy. ” The Public Library and Digital Archive, 2002. Web.

Putatunda, Rita. “Italian Culture: Renaissance Art and Artists.” Buzzle, 2011. Web.

• Hay, Denys., The Italian Renaissance in its historical background , Cambridge: Cambridge, 1977.
• Pioch, Nicholas. La Renaissance: Italy, (The Public Library and Digital Archive, 2002).
• Eurasia, Carrie. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART , (The World Wide Web Virtual Library, 1999).
• Paoletti, John & Radke, Gary., Art in Renaissance Italy , London, UK: Laurence King, 2006.
• Brotton, Jerry., The Renaissance: a very short introduction, New York, NY: Cengage, 2006.
• Fitzpatrick, Anne., The Renaissance, Mankato, MN: The Creative Company, 2005.
• Graham, Andrew, Renaissance, California: University of California Press, 1999.
• Putatunda, Rita. Italian Culture: Renaissance Art and Artists , (Buzzle, 2011).
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• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, November 26). Art During the Renaissance. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/

"Art During the Renaissance." IvyPanda , 26 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Art During the Renaissance'. 26 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Art During the Renaissance." November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

1. IvyPanda . "Art During the Renaissance." November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Art During the Renaissance." November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

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Essay Samples on Renaissance

The impact of technology on art: a modern renaissance.

Introduction The influence of technology on art is an evolving narrative that reflects the symbiotic relationship between human creativity and innovative tools. From the early use of simple tools to create cave paintings to the digital art technologies of today, the integration of technology in...

• Art History
• Impact of Technology
• Renaissance

Europe's Cultural Mosaic: Exploring the Diverse Traditions and Beliefs

Europe, or The Old Continent during the Exploration Era, has been a relatively small home compared to other mainlands. Although taking up only one-fifteenth of the world’s land area, it holds some of the most sophisticated and advanced technology and culture at some point in...

Renaissance: Niccolo Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei

The Renaissance fostered great people, art, and ideas, to say the least. A movement that arose within the period was humanism. Humanism emphasizes practice and scientific studies of human nature and relays the idea of man as the measure of all things. Humanism focuses on...

• Galileo Galilei

The Invention Of The Pocket Watch During The Renaissance Period

“The Renaissance was a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and 17th centuries and marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The traditional view focuses more on the early modern aspects of the Renaissance and argues that it was...

Impact of The Crusades During the Renaissance Period

The Renaissance wouldn't have occurred without the Crusades. Labeled in history as one of the most significant events to happen in History developed in Europe. They entitled religious wars impacting many Christians throughout Europe during the middle ages. The groundwork for developing towards the Crusades...

• Religious Beliefs

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Analysis of Hans Holbein’s The French Ambassadors

The French Ambassadors is a Renaissance era oil painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Painted in 1533, it is a portrait of Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, french ambassadors to the court of english King Henry VIII. Holbein, a Lutheran, came from a...

Hans Holbein’s The French Ambassadors: A Masterful Legacy of the Renaissance Period

Personal Voice I chose this painting, first and foremost, because of its subject matter. I think it offers a tangible window into the past, it gives insight into a period I very much find fascinating. Having seen the painting in person, I was impressed by...

Characteristics of the Work The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein

Characteristics of the work The Ambassadors is a work of Renaissance style painted in oil on oak board, with dimensions of 209 cm. high by 207 cm. wide. It is one of the first standing portraits, complete, almost life-size. The work has the characteristics of...

Philosophy of Humanism In Renaissance Period

The Renaissance was a time of “rebirth” and, for art, that meant a change in style. Humanism is the philosophy emphasizing the worth of the individual, the rational abilities of humankind, and the human potential for good (1111). The concept of humanism is complicated; everyone...

The Renaissance Value of Humanism

As a leader living during the Renaissance, I am focused on the qualities of humanism, individualism and secularism based on Machiavelli’s book. The Prince, written by Niccolò Machiavelli, is a guide for successful monarchial rule. From its origins in 14th-century Florence, the Renaissance spread across...

Michelangelo Buonarroti And His World Famous Works

The Sistine Chapel in Rome is certainly one of the most famous monuments of the Italian high Renaissance. The images which adorn the altar wall of this chapel are so engrained into our culture, all thanks to Michelangelo Buonarroti. Michelangelo’s best-known paintings are on the...

• Italian Renaissance
• Michelangelo

Michelangelo As A Great Figure Of Renaissance

Michelangelo was born in the middle and late Renaissance period, who drew Renaissance art to its peak. Among varieties of Michelangelo’s biographers, much ink was spilled in the work The Last Judgement most of the writers. Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi, who are both presents...

The Renaissance: the Defining Era of Art

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were vital times for the development of a modern society. After the subsequent shift away from the Middle Ages, it became apparent that this era in world history would re-examine values that the ancient Greeks and Romans created. These values,...

The Renaissance and the Humanists: Revival of Classics

The Darkness of 1300s was a time of famine, plague, continuous wars, and ignorance. There were very few achievements in science and art due to the crisis. The Renaissance (1350-1550s) is an epoch of the world significance in the history of European culture, which replaced...

Italy as the Birthplace and Center of Renaissance

In Italian the Renaissance is pronounced “Il Rinascimento” and Italy was a primary place when it came to the Rinascimento, but what made Italy the destination of the Renaissance? Other countries such as France, Germany, and England went through similar culture changes, but Italy was...

Edgar Allan Poe, Innovator in Literature of New England Renaissance

“And so being young and dipped in folly I fell in love with melancholy”. This quote by Edgar Allan Poe hints at the estranged life he lived. Edgar Allan Poe was a poet who suffered a life of hardships and whose only solace came from...

• Edgar Allan Poe
• New England

Self-Portrait By Leonardo Da Vinci – A True Renaissance Man

The puzzling self-portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci was drawn using Sanguine which is a blood red colour and has been fading. According to researchers it was drawn on paper of linen and cotton fibers and hemp rags. We got it straight from Turin where it...

• Leonardo Da Vinci

Best topics on Renaissance

1. The Impact of Technology on Art: A Modern Renaissance

2. Europe’s Cultural Mosaic: Exploring the Diverse Traditions and Beliefs

3. Renaissance: Niccolo Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei

4. The Invention Of The Pocket Watch During The Renaissance Period

5. Impact of The Crusades During the Renaissance Period

6. Analysis of Hans Holbein’s The French Ambassadors

7. Hans Holbein’s The French Ambassadors: A Masterful Legacy of the Renaissance Period

8. Characteristics of the Work The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein

9. Philosophy of Humanism In Renaissance Period

10. The Renaissance Value of Humanism

11. Michelangelo Buonarroti And His World Famous Works

12. Michelangelo As A Great Figure Of Renaissance

13. The Renaissance: the Defining Era of Art

14. The Renaissance and the Humanists: Revival of Classics

15. Italy as the Birthplace and Center of Renaissance

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Anatomy in the renaissance.

Battle of the Nude Men

Antonio Pollaiuolo

Standing Youth with Hands Behind His Back, and a Seated Youth Reading (recto); Two Studies of Hands (verso)

Filippino Lippi

Fasciculo di medicina

Possibly Johannes de Ketham

Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso)

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Two Flayed Men and Their Skeletons

• Domenico del Barbiere

The Academy of Baccio Bandinelli

De humani corporis fabrica (Of the Structure of the Human Body)

Andreas Vesalius

Anatomical Studies: a left forearm in two positions and a right forearm

Peter Paul Rubens

Carmen Bambach Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2002

Italian Renaissance artists became anatomists by necessity, as they attempted to refine a more lifelike, sculptural portrayal of the human figure. Indeed, until about 1500–1510, their investigations surpassed much of the knowledge of anatomy that was taught at the universities. Opportunities for direct anatomical dissection were very restricted during the Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists states that the great Florentine sculptor, painter, and printmaker Antonio Pollaiuolo (ca. 1432–1498) was the “first master to skin many human bodies in order to investigate the muscles and understand the nude in a more modern way.” Giving credence to Vasari’s claim, Pollaiuolo’s highly influential engraving of the Battle of Naked Men ( 17.50.99 ) displays the figures of the nude warriors with nearly flayed musculature, seen in fierce action poses and from various angles.

The later innovators in the field, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Michelangelo (1475–1564), who are known to have undertaken detailed anatomical dissections at various points in their long careers, set a new standard in their portrayals of the human figure ( 24.197.2 ). The patrons commissioning art in this period also came to expect such anatomical mastery. In the words of the Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli (1493–1560), who was trying to impress a duke to hire him, and who also appears to have run an academy for the teaching of young artists, “I will show you that I know how to dissect the brain, and also living men, as I have dissected dead ones to learn my art” ( 17.50.16-35 ). Circumstantial evidence suggests that a number of other artists also attempted direct dissections. Some later great masters produced écorchés , studies of the peeled away or ripped apart forms of muscles, to explore their potential for purely artistic expression ( 49.95.181 ; 1996.75 ). The majority of artists, however, limited their investigations to the surface of the body—the appearance of its musculature, tendons, and bones as observed through the skin—and recorded such findings in exquisitely detailed studies after the live nude model ( 36.101.1 ).

To their enormous credit, Italian Renaissance artists also pioneered a consistent vocabulary of anatomical illustration with which new discoveries could be precisely recorded. Until the 1490s, the most authoritative anatomical treatise was still crudely illustrated. This was a compendium entitled the Fasciculus medicinae to which the name of Johannes de Ketham is usually attached as author. The Latin edition of “Ketham,” published in Venice in 1491, includes woodcuts in a traditional medieval style representing a “Urine Chart” as well as the main medieval anatomical figures (the “Blood-Letting Man,” the “Zodiac Man,” the “Gravida” or pregnant woman, the “Wound Man,” and the “Disease Man”). However, an edition of “Ketham” published in the Italian language almost three years later ( 38.52 ) incorporates a new Renaissance figural style inspired by Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, and Antonio Pollaiuolo.

Leonardo da Vinci, who is without doubt the most significant artist-anatomist of all time, first undertook a series of detailed studies of the human skull in 1489, borrowing from the architect’s rigorous technique of representing three-dimensional forms in plan, section, elevation, and perspectival view. He thereby invented a new vocabulary for the history of scientific illustration. Leonardo produced his most precisely drawn dissections of the human body in 1510–11, probably working under the direction of the young professor of anatomy, Marcantonio della Torre, from the University of Pavia. None of Leonardo’s discoveries were published in his lifetime. However, his methods of illustrating the dissection of muscles in layers, as well as some of his “plan, section, and elevation” techniques, seem to have become widely disseminated, and were incorporated in the first comprehensively illustrated Renaissance treatise, Andreas Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica , published in Basel in 1543 ( 53.682 ). Some of Vesalius’ images of partially dissected bodies, set dramatically in a landscape, appear to have been designed by Titian’s pupil, John of Calcar (1499–1546/50).

Bambach, Carmen. “Anatomy in the Renaissance.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/anat/hd_anat.htm (October 2002)

Further Reading

Cazort, Mimi, et al. The Ingenious Machine of Nature: Four Centuries of Art and Anatomy . Exhibition catalogue. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1996.

Park, Katherine. "The Criminal and the Saintly Body: Autopsy and Dissection in Renaissance Italy." Renaissance Quarterly 47, no. 1, pp. 1–33. 1994.

Additional Essays by Carmen Bambach

• Bambach, Carmen. “ Renaissance Drawings: Material and Function .” (October 2002)
• Bambach, Carmen. “ Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) .” (October 2002)

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A New African American Identity: The Harlem Renaissance

With the end of the Civil War in 1865, hundreds of thousands of African Americans newly freed from the yoke of slavery in the South began to dream of fuller participation in American society, including political empowerment, equal economic opportunity, and economic and cultural self-determination.

Unfortunately, by the late 1870s, that dream was largely dead, as white supremacy was quickly restored to the Reconstruction South. White lawmakers on state and local levels passed strict racial segregation laws known as “Jim Crow laws” that made African Americans second-class citizens. While a small number of African Americans were able to become landowners, most were exploited as sharecroppers, a system designed to keep them poor and powerless. Hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) perpetrated lynchings and conducted campaigns of terror and intimidation to keep African Americans from voting or exercising other fundamental rights.

With booming economies across the North and Midwest offering industrial jobs for workers of every race, many African Americans realized their hopes for a better standard of living—and a more racially tolerant environment—lay outside the South. By the turn of the 20th century, the Great Migration was underway as hundreds of thousands of African Americans relocated to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York. The Harlem section of Manhattan, which covers just three square miles, drew nearly 175,000 African Americans, giving the neighborhood the largest concentration of black people in the world. Harlem became a destination for African Americans of all backgrounds. From unskilled laborers to an educated middle-class, they shared common experiences of slavery, emancipation, and racial oppression, as well as a determination to forge a new identity as free people.

The Great Migration drew to Harlem some of the greatest minds and brightest talents of the day, an astonishing array of African American artists and scholars. Between the end of World War I and the mid-1930s, they produced one of the most significant eras of cultural expression in the nation’s history—the Harlem Renaissance. Yet this cultural explosion also occurred in Cleveland, Los Angeles and many cities shaped by the great migration. Alain Locke, a Harvard-educated writer, critic, and teacher who became known as the “dean” of the Harlem Renaissance, described it as a “spiritual coming of age” in which African Americans transformed “social disillusionment to race pride.”

The Harlem Renaissance encompassed poetry and prose, painting and sculpture, jazz and swing, opera and dance. What united these diverse art forms was their realistic presentation of what it meant to be black in America, what writer Langston Hughes called an “expression of our individual dark-skinned selves,” as well as a new militancy in asserting their civil and political rights.

Among the Renaissance’s most significant contributors were intellectuals W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Cyril Briggs, and Walter Francis White; electrifying performers Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson; writers and poets Zora Neale Hurston, Effie Lee Newsome, Countee Cullen; visual artists Aaron Douglas and Augusta Savage; and an extraordinary list of legendary musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ivie Anderson, Josephine Baker, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and countless others.

Josaphine Baker

At the height of the movement, Harlem was the epicenter of American culture. The neighborhood bustled with African American-owned and run publishing houses and newspapers, music companies, playhouses, nightclubs, and cabarets. The literature, music, and fashion they created defined culture and “cool” for blacks and white alike, in America and around the world.

As the 1920s came to a close, so did the Harlem Renaissance. Its heyday was cut short largely due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and resulting Great Depression, which hurt African American-owned businesses and publications and made less financial support for the arts available from patrons, foundations, and theatrical organizations.

However, the Harlem Renaissance’s impact on America was indelible. The movement brought notice to the great works of African American art, and inspired and influenced future generations of African American artists and intellectuals. The self-portrait of African American life, identity, and culture that emerged from Harlem was transmitted to the world at large, challenging the racist and disparaging stereotypes of the Jim Crow South. In doing so, it radically redefined how people of other races viewed African Americans and understood the African American experience.

Most importantly, the Harlem Renaissance instilled in African Americans across the country a new spirit of self-determination and pride, a new social consciousness, and a new commitment to political activism, all of which would provide a foundation for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In doing so, it validated the beliefs of its founders and leaders like Alain Locke and Langston Hughes that art could be a vehicle to improve the lives of the African Americans. 

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