european 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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The Renaissance, History World International . The Renaissance – Why it Changed the World, The Telegraph . Facts About the Renaissance, Biography Online . Facts About the Renaissance Period, Interestingfacts.org . What is Humanism? International Humanist and Ethical Union . Why Did the Italian Renaissance End? Dailyhistory.org . The Myth of the Renaissance in Europe, BBC .

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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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The Renaissance: The 'Rebirth' of science & culture

The Renaissance was a period of "rebirth" in arts, science and culture, and is typically thought to have originated in Italy.

What is the Renaissance?

Historical development.

• Characteristics

Intellectual movement

• Literature & theatre
• Society & economics

Renaissance festival

• How it changed the world

Additional resources

Bibliography.

The Renaissance, which means "rebirth" in French, typically refers to a period in European history from  A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1600. Many historians, however, assert that it started earlier or ended later, depending on the country. It bridged the periods of the Middle Ages and modern history, and, depending on the country, overlaps with the Early Modern, Elizabethan and Restoration periods. The Renaissance is most closely associated with Italy, where it began in the 14th century, though countries such as Germany, England and France went through many of the same cultural changes and phenomena. 

However, while the Renaissance brought about some positive changes for Europe, the geographical exploration that flourished during this time led to devastation for the people of the Western Hemisphere as European conquest and colonization brought plagues and slavery to the Indigenous people living there. In Africa, it also brought about the birth of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that saw Black people shipped from Africa to the Western Hemisphere to work as slaves on European colonies. 

"Renaissance" comes from the French word for "rebirth." According to the City University of New York at Brooklyn , intense interest in and learning about classical antiquity was "reborn" after the Middle Ages, in which classical philosophy was largely ignored or forgotten. Renaissance thinkers considered the Middle Ages to have been a period of cultural decline. They sought to revitalize their culture through re-emphasizing classical texts and philosophies. They expanded and interpreted them, creating their own style of art, philosophy and scientific inquiry. Some major developments of the Renaissance include astronomy, humanist philosophy, the printing press, vernacular language in writing, painting and sculpture technique, world exploration and, in the late Renaissance, Shakespeare's works.

Many historians, including U.K.-based historian and writer Robert Wilde, prefer to think of the Renaissance as primarily an intellectual and cultural movement rather than a historical period. Interpreting the Renaissance as a time period, though convenient for historians, "masks the long roots of the Renaissance," Wilde told Live Science.

During this time, interest in classical antiquity and philosophy grew, with some Renaissance thinkers using it as a way to revitalize their culture . They expanded and interpreted these Classical ideas, creating their own style of art, philosophy and scientific inquiry. Some major developments of the Renaissance include developments in astronomy, humanist philosophy, the printing press, vernacular language in writing, painting and sculpture technique, world exploration and, in the late Renaissance, Shakespeare's works.

The term Renaissance was not commonly used to refer to the period until the 19th century, when Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt popularized it in his classic, " The Civilization of Renaissance Italy " (Dover Publications, 2016). 

Contrary to popular belief, classical texts and knowledge never completely vanished from Europe during the Middle Ages. Charles Homer Haskins wrote in " The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century " (Harvard University Press, 1927) that there were three main periods that saw resurgences in the art and philosophy of antiquity: the Carolingian Renaissance, which occurred during the reign of Charlemagne, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (eighth and ninth centuries), the Ottonian Renaissance, which developed during the reigns of emperors Otto I, Otto II and Otto III (10th century) and the 12th century Renaissance. 

The 12th century Renaissance was especially influential on the later Renaissance, said Wilde. Europeans at the time studied on a larger scale Classical Latin texts and Greek science and philosophy; they also established early versions of universities. 

The  Crusades  played a role in ushering in the Renaissance, Philip Van Ness Myers wrote in "Medieval and Modern History" (Ginn & Company, 1902). While crusading, Europeans encountered advanced Middle Eastern civilizations, which had made strides in many cultural fields. Islamic countries kept many classical Greek and Roman texts that had been lost in Europe, and they were reintroduced through returning crusaders.

The fall of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of the Ottomans also played a role. "When the Ottomans sacked Constantinople in 1453, many scholars fled to Europe, bringing classical texts with them," Susan Abernethy, a Colorado-based historian and writer, told Live Science. "Conflict in Spain between the Moors and Christians also caused many academics to escape to other areas, particularly the Italian city-states of Florence, Padua and others. This created an atmosphere for a revival in learning."

The Black Death helped set the stage for the Renaissance, wrote Robert S. Gottfried in "The Black Death" (Simon and Schuster, 2010). Deaths of many prominent officials caused social and political upheaval in Florence, where the Renaissance is considered to have begun. The Medici family moved to Florence in the wake of the plague and over the centuries produced business and political leaders as well as four popes. 

The Medici's, and many others, took advantage of opportunities for greater social mobility. Becoming patrons of artists was a popular way for such newly powerful families to demonstrate their wealth. Some historians also argue that the Black Death caused people to question the church's emphasis on the afterlife and focus more on the present moment, which is an element of the Renaissance's humanist philosophy. 

Many historians consider Florence to be the Renaissance's birthplace, though others widen that designation to all of Italy. From Italy, Renaissance thought, values and artistic technique spread throughout Europe, according to Van Ness Myers. Military invasions in Italy helped spread ideas, while the end of the Hundred Years War between France and England allowed people to focus on things besides conflict. 

The term "Renaissance Man," which is used today to describe someone who is talented in multiple fields, is derived from the Italian word "Uomo Universale," which means "universal man" and is often used to describe individuals like Leonardo da Vinci who thrived in multiple fields like art and science. 

Characteristics of the Renaissance

The development and growth of the printing press was perhaps the most important technical achievement of the Renaissance. Johannes Gutenberg developed it in 1440, although the technology was used in China centuries earlier. It allowed Bibles, secular books, printed music and more to be made in larger quantities and reach more people. "The demand for perfect reproductions of texts and the renewed focus on studying them helped trigger one of the biggest discoveries in the whole of human history: printing with movable type. For me, this is the easiest and single greatest development of the Renaissance and allowed modern culture to develop," said Wilde. 

Wilde said one of the most significant changes that occurred during the Renaissance was the "evolution of Renaissance humanism as a method of thinking. … This new outlook underpinned so much of the world then and now."

Renaissance humanism, Wilde said, involved "attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety." Renaissance humanism looked to classical Greek and Roman texts to change contemporary thought, allowing for a new mindset after the Middle Ages. Renaissance readers understood these classical texts as focusing on human decisions, actions and creations, rather than unquestioningly following the rules set forth by the Catholic Church as "God's plan." 

Though many Renaissance humanists remained religious, they believed God gave humans opportunities, and it was humanity's duty to do the best and most moral beings. Renaissance humanism was an "ethical theory and practice that emphasized reason, scientific inquiry and human fulfillment in the natural world," said Abernethy. 

Renaissance art

Renaissance art was heavily influenced by classical art, wrote Virginia Cox in " A Short History of the Italian Renaissance " (I.B. Tauris, 2015). Artists turned to Greek and Roman sculpture, painting and decorative arts for both inspiration and the fact that the techniques meshed with Renaissance humanist philosophy. Both classical and Renaissance art focused on human beauty and nature. People, even when in religious works, were depicted living life and showing emotion. Perspective, as well as light and shadow techniques improved; and paintings looked more three-dimensional and realistic.

Patrons made it possible for successful Renaissance artists to work and develop new techniques. The Catholic Church commissioned most artwork during the Middle Ages, and while it continued to do so during the Renaissance, wealthy individuals also became important patrons, according to Cox. The most famous patrons were the Medici family in Florence, who supported the arts for much of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Medici family supported artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, da Vinci and Raphael. 

Florence was the initial epicenter of Renaissance art, but by the end of the 15th century, Rome had overtaken it. Pope Leo X (a Medici) ambitiously filled the city with religious buildings and art. This period, from the 1490s to the 1520s, is known as the High Renaissance. 

Renaissance music

As with art, musical innovations in the Renaissance were partly made possible because patronage expanded beyond the Catholic Church. According to the  Metropolitan Museum of Art , new technologies resulted in the invention of several new instruments, including the harpsichord and violin family. The printing press meant that sheet music could be more widely disseminated.

Renaissance music was characterized by its humanist traits. Composers read classical treatises on music and aimed to create music that would touch listeners emotionally. They began to incorporate lyrics more dramatically into compositions and considered music and poetry to be closely related, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Renaissance literature & theatre

Renaissance literature, too, was characterized by humanist themes and a return to classical ideals of tragedy and comedy, according to the Brooklyn College English Department . Shakespeare's works, especially "Hamlet," are good examples of this. Themes like human agency, life's non-religious meanings and the true nature of man are embraced, and Hamlet is an educated Renaissance man. 

The printing press allowed for popular plays to be published and re-dperformed around Europe and the world. A play's popularity often determined whether publishers chose to print the script, wrote Janet Clarke, an emeritus professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, U.K., in her book "Shakespeare's Stage Traffic" (Cambridge University Press, 2014). "Publishers invested in plays that were popular as theatre traffic as much as they invested in the authors" wrote Hull. 

Renaissance society & economics

The most prevalent societal change during the Renaissance was the fall of feudalism and the rise of a capitalist market economy, said Abernethy. Increased trade and the labor shortage caused by the Black Death gave rise to something of a middle class. Workers could demand wages and good living conditions, and so serfdom ended. 

"Rulers began to realize they could maintain their power without the church. There were no more knights in service to the king and peasants in service to the lord of the manor," said Abernethy. Having money became more important than your allegiances. 

This shift frustrated popes. The "Peace of Westphalia," a series of treaties signed in 1648, made it harder for the pope to interfere in European politics. Pope Innocent X responded that it was "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, and devoid of meaning for all time."

Renaissance religion

Due to a number of factors — including the Black Death, the rise in trade, the development of a middle class and the papacy's temporary move from Rome to Avignon (1309 to 1377) — the Catholic Church's influence was waning as the 15th century began. The re-emergence of classical texts and the rise in Renaissance humanism changed society's approach to religion and the authority of the papacy, said Abernethy. "[Humanism] created an atmosphere that gave rise to different movements and sects … Martin Luther stressed reform of the Catholic Church, wanting to eliminate practices such as nepotism and the selling of indulgences," Abernethy said. 

"Perhaps most important, the invention of the printing press allowed for the dissemination of the Bible in languages other than Latin," Abernethy continued. "Ordinary people were now able to read and learn the lessons of Scripture, leading to the Evangelical movement." These early Evangelicals emphasized the importance of the scriptures rather than the institutional power of the church and believed that salvation was personal conversion rather than being determined by indulgences or building works of art or architecture. 

The fracturing of Christians in western Europe into different groups led to conflicts, sometimes called the "wars of religion," that lasted for centuries in Europe. These conflicts sometimes led groups of people to leave Europe in hopes of avoiding persecution. One of these groups would become known as the Pilgrims when they came to Plymouth in 1620. 

Renaissance geography

Thirsty to learn more about the world and eager to improve trade routes, explorers sailed off to chart new lands. Columbus "discovered" the New World in 1492, and  Ferdinand Magellan  became the first person to successfully circumnavigate the globe in the early 1500s. 

For the people of the Western Hemisphere, the European exploration and colonization that occurred was disastrous. With little or no immunity to the diseases Europeans brought over, the Indigenous population was ravaged by plagues, with death rates in some areas estimated as high as 90%. The Spanish conquered the Aztec and Inca Empires, forcing the native survivors to work as slaves. 

European powers also explored more of Africa, starting to conquer and colonize parts of the continent. As their strength in Africa grew, Europeans began to take people from Africa to work as slaves — in some cases sending them to work on colonies in the Caribbean and South America — this trans-Atlantic slave trade eventually expanding to what is now the United States.

Renaissance science

As scholars studied classical texts, they "resurrected the ancient Greek belief that creation was constructed around perfect laws and reasoning," Abernethy said. "There was an escalation in the study of astronomy, anatomy and medicine, geography, alchemy, mathematics and architecture as the ancients studied them."

One of the major scientific discoveries of the Renaissance came from Polish mathematician and astronomer  Nicolaus Copernicus . In the 1530s, he published his theory of a heliocentric solar system . This places the sun, not the Earth, at the center of the solar system . It was a major breakthrough in the history of science, though the Catholic Church banned the printing of Copernicus' book.

Empiricism began to take hold of scientific thought. "Scientists were guided by experience and experiment and began to investigate the natural world through observation," said Abernethy. "This was the first indication of a divergence between science and religion. … They were being recognized as two separate fields, creating conflict between the scientists and the church, and causing scientists to be persecuted," continued Abernethy. "Scientists found their work was suppressed or they were demonized as charlatans and accused of dabbling in witchcraft, and sometimes being imprisoned."  

Galileo Galilei  was a major Renaissance scientist persecuted for his scientific experiments. Galileo improved the telescope, discovered new celestial bodies and found support for a heliocentric solar system. He conducted motion experiments on pendulums and falling objects that paved the way for Isaac Newton's discoveries about gravity . The Catholic Church forced him to spend the last nine years of his life under house arrest. 

While the term "Renaissance festival" typically refers to modern-day festivals that celebrate the art and culture of the Renaissance, there were festivals that took place during the Renaissance itself. 

For instance, Henri II, who was king of France between 1547 and 1559, held festivals periodically throughout his reign that included stages of performers and lengthy parades. The festivals included the arrivals of the king into the city or town where the festival was being held, wrote Richard Cooper, an emeritus professor of French at the University of Oxford, in a paper published in the book "Court Festivals of the European Renaissance" (Taylor & Francis, 2017). Henri II sometimes held these festivals to make an important event such as the coronation of his queen or a military victory, wrote Cooper. 

How the Renaissance changed the world

"The Renaissance was a time of transition from the ancient world to the modern and provided the foundation for the birth of the Age of Enlightenment," said Abernethy. The developments in science, art, philosophy and trade, as well as technological advancements like the printing press, left lasting impressions on society and set the stage for many elements of our modern culture. 

However, while the Renaissance had some positive impact for Europe, it had devastating impacts for people of the Western Hemisphere, as plagues decimated Indigenous populations and the survivors often found themselves enslaved and under the rule of European colonizers. This system of conquest, colonization and slavery also repeated itself in Africa as European power grew. Today, the ramifications of European colonization and slavery are still felt and hotly debated around the world. 

—Learn more about the geniuses of the Renaissance, from da Vinci and Galileo to Descartes and Chaucer on this History Channel page , with links to biographies of each.

—In this book by author Catherine Fet, kids will learn about the Renaissance and its characters through tales of adventure. 

—In this four-part BBC TV series called "Renaissance Unchained," Waldemar Januszczak gives you a peek inside the more exciting aspects of the time, from an episode on the gods and myths to one on a period of war, confusion and … "darkness."

"The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy Paperback" by Jacob Burckhardt, Dover Publications, September 16, 2010. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486475972  

"The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century" by Charles Homer Haskins, Harvard University Press, 1927. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674760751

"The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe" by Robert S. Gottfried, Free Press, March 1, 1985. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Death-Natural-Disaster-Medieval/dp/0029123704

"A Short History of the Italian Renaissance" by Virginia Cox, I.B. Tauris, 2015. https://www.amazon.com/History-Italian-Renaissance-I-B-Tauris-Histories/dp/1784530778

"Music in the Renaissance" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm

Introduction to the Renaissance by the Brooklyn College English Department. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/ren.html

Philip Van Ness Myers wrote in "Medieval and Modern History" (Ginn & Company, 1902). https://www.amazon.com/Mediaeval-Modern-History-Philip-Middle/dp/B001R6ARQI 

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

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Owen Jarus is a regular contributor to Live Science who writes about archaeology and humans' past. He has also written for The Independent (UK), The Canadian Press (CP) and The Associated Press (AP), among others. Owen has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto and a journalism degree from Ryerson University. 

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Music in the renaissance.

ex "Kurtz" Violin

Andrea Amati

Double Virginal

Hans Ruckers the Elder

Cornetto in A

possibly Georg Voll

Sixtus Rauchwolff

Claviorganum

Lorenz Hauslaib

Tenor Recorder

Rectangular Octave Virginal

Rebecca Arkenberg Department of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2002

Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400–1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments. The most important music of the early Renaissance was composed for use by the church—polyphonic (made up of several simultaneous melodies) masses and motets in Latin for important churches and court chapels. By the end of the sixteenth century, however, patronage had broadened to include the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and courts, wealthy amateurs, and music printing—all were sources of income for composers.

The early fifteenth century was dominated initially by English and then Northern European composers. The Burgundian court was especially influential, and it attracted composers and musicians from all over Europe. The most important of these was Guillaume Du Fay (1397–1474), whose varied musical offerings included motets and masses for church and chapel services, many of whose large musical structures were based on existing Gregorian chant. His many small settings of French poetry display a sweet melodic lyricism unknown until his era. With his command of large-scale musical form, as well as his attention to secular text-setting, Du Fay set the stage for the next generations of Renaissance composers.

By about 1500, European art music was dominated by Franco-Flemish composers, the most prominent of whom was Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450–1521). Like many leading composers of his era, Josquin traveled widely throughout Europe, working for patrons in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Milan, Rome, Ferrara, and Condé-sur-L’Escaut. The exchange of musical ideas among the Low Countries, France, and Italy led to what could be considered an international European style. On the one hand, polyphony or multivoiced music, with its horizontal contrapuntal style, continued to develop in complexity. At the same time, harmony based on a vertical arrangement of intervals, including thirds and sixths, was explored for its full textures and suitability for accompanying a vocal line. Josquin’s music epitomized these trends, with Northern-style intricate polyphony using canons, preexisting melodies, and other compositional structures smoothly amalgamated with the Italian bent for artfully setting words with melodies that highlight the poetry rather than masking it with complexity. Josquin, like Du Fay, composed primarily Latin masses and motets, but in a seemingly endless variety of styles. His secular output included settings of courtly French poetry, like Du Fay, but also arrangements of French popular songs, instrumental music, and Italian frottole.

With the beginning of the sixteenth century, European music saw a number of momentous changes. In 1501, a Venetian printer named Ottaviano Petrucci published the first significant collection of polyphonic music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A . Petrucci’s success led eventually to music printing in France, Germany, England, and elsewhere. Prior to 1501, all music had to be copied by hand or learned by ear; music books were owned exclusively by religious establishments or extremely wealthy courts and households. After Petrucci, while these books were not inexpensive, it became possible for far greater numbers of people to own them and to learn to read music.

At about the same period, musical instrument technology led to the development of the viola da gamba , a fretted, bowed string instrument. Amateur European musicians of means eagerly took up the viol, as well as the lute , the recorder , the harpsichord (in various guises, including the spinet and virginal), the organ , and other instruments. The viola da gamba and recorder were played together in consorts or ensembles and often were produced in families or sets, with different sizes playing the different lines. Publications by Petrucci and others supplied these players for the first time with notated music (as opposed to the improvised music performed by professional instrumentalists). The sixteenth century saw the development of instrumental music such as the canzona, ricercare, fantasia, variations, and contrapuntal dance-inspired compositions, for both soloists and ensembles, as a truly distinct and independent genre with its own idioms separate from vocal forms and practical dance accompaniment.

The musical instruments depicted in the studiolo of Duke Federigo da Montefeltro of Urbino (ca. 1479–82; 39.153 ) represent both his personal interest in music and the role of music in the intellectual life of an educated Renaissance man. The musical instruments are placed alongside various scientific instruments, books, and weapons, and they include a portative organ, lutes, fiddle, and cornetti; a hunting horn; a pipe and tabor; a harp and jingle ring; a rebec; and a cittern .

From about 1520 through the end of the sixteenth century, composers throughout Europe employed the polyphonic language of Josquin’s generation in exploring musical expression through the French chanson, the Italian madrigal, the German tenorlieder, the Spanish villancico, and the English song, as well as in sacred music. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation directly affected the sacred polyphony of these countries. The Protestant revolutions (mainly in Northern Europe) varied in their attitudes toward sacred music, bringing such musical changes as the introduction of relatively simple German-language hymns (or chorales) sung by the congregation in Lutheran services. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26–1594), maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia at Saint Peter’s in Rome, is seen by many as the iconic High Renaissance composer of Counter-Reformation sacred music, which features clear lines, a variety of textures, and a musically expressive reverence for its sacred texts. The English (and Catholic) composer William Byrd (1540–1623) straddled both worlds, composing Latin-texted works for the Catholic Church, as well as English-texted service music for use at Elizabeth I ‘s Chapel Royal.

Sixteenth-century humanists studied ancient Greek treatises on music , which discussed the close relationship between music and poetry and how music could stir the listener’s emotions. Inspired by the classical world, Renaissance composers fit words and music together in an increasingly dramatic fashion, as seen in the development of the Italian madrigal and later the operatic works of Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643). The Renaissance adaptation of a musician singing and accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, a variation on the theme of Orpheus, appears in Renaissance artworks like Caravaggio’s Musicians ( 52.81 ) and Titian ‘s Venus and the Lute Player ( 36.29 ).

Arkenberg, Rebecca. “Music in the Renaissance.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm (October 2002)

Additional Essays by Rebecca Arkenberg

• Arkenberg, Rebecca. “ Renaissance Violins .” (October 2002)
• Arkenberg, Rebecca. “ Renaissance Keyboards .” (October 2002)
• Arkenberg, Rebecca. “ Renaissance Organs .” (October 2002)

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List of Rulers

• List of Rulers of Europe
• Central Europe (including Germany), 1400–1600 A.D.
• Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.
• France, 1400–1600 A.D.
• Great Britain and Ireland, 1400–1600 A.D.
• Iberian Peninsula, 1400–1600 A.D.
• Low Countries, 1400–1600 A.D.
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• 15th Century A.D.
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• Musical Instrument
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Artist or Maker

• Amati, Andrea
• Amati, Nicolò
• Beham, Hans Sebald
• Cuntz, Steffan
• Hauslaib, Lorenz
• Rauchwolff, Sixtus
• Ruckers, Hans, the Elder
• Vell, Georg

Online Features

• The Artist Project: “Cory Arcangel on the harpischord”
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Europe 1300 - 1800

Course: europe 1300 - 1800   >   unit 5, an introduction to the northern renaissance in the fifteenth century.

• Introduction to Fifteenth-century Flanders
• Introduction to Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century
• Northern Renaissance art under Burgundian rule
• The role of the workshop in late medieval and early modern northern Europe
• The Norfolk Triptych and how it was made
• Northern Renaissance in the fifteenth century (part 1)
• Northern Renaissance in the fifteenth century (part 2)

What was the Renaissance and where did it happen?

The renaissance in northern europe.

• invention of the printing press , c. 1450
• advent of mechanically reproducible media such as woodcuts and engravings
• formation of a merchant class of art patrons that purchased works in oil on panel
• Protestant Reformation and the translation of the Bible from the original languages into the vernacular or common languages such as German and French
• international trade in urban centers

The fifteenth century: van Eyck

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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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Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison Essay

Introduction.

Renaissance is a period in art history that represents a historical era known as rebirth. It is a period described by the renewal of classical art and culture and presents the changeover period between medieval and modern times. It was also a cultural period between the 14th and 15th centuries, it is believed to have begun in Florence in Italy before spreading to the rest of Europe. The historical era was characterized by learning using ancient sources, development in painting, and renewed scholarly efforts. It had a great influence on academic aspects such as philosophy, religion, political, and at most art among others. During this time artists were considered to have exceptional aptitude rather than craftsmen. It was also the period when artistic works became significantly popular and important in Europe.

The Italian renaissance was characterized by an artistic, cultural and intellectual explosion. Italian culture during this era has been expressed in roman architecture which is found in artifacts and ruins in many parts of Italy today. Renaissance began in Florence; artistic skills of painting and sculpturing became a common practice by the artist. Artistic works led to the development of mathematical inventions resulting from the logic portrayed by the art. The early artworks lacked logic in some aspects like some paintings appeared unreal as the arrangements in them do not obey rules of nature like gravity. The artist focused on relaying messages and demonstrating human nature in their art (Hay, 1977).

There was one famous artist known as Michelangelo, he had a great influence on Florence and Rome culture due to the dominance of his art. He was at one point hired by Pope to sculpture his tomb and a sculpture of Moses. Michelangelo was also influential in expressing religious messages to the people around him. One famous sculpture was the one on David, from the Bible David was responsible and a great king who rose from a humble small boy. His message was that people should become responsible and get focused on achieving their aim just as David did.

During the renaissance era artist became the source of revolution in architecture, painting, sculpturing and religion. Society was changed bringing a new dogma of individualism; artists gained much dignity as the educated people based on the nature of their art. The fact that artist portrayed human aspect on their art it brought a new cultural change that was demonstrated by humanitarianism. Italian renaissance had a great influence in changing human culture from then even today. It had later brought a significant change in religion; there was the emergence of Protestants from the Roman Catholic main steam religion (Hay, 1977).

Northern renaissance can be described as the renaissance that took place in Europe outside Italy. Northern renaissance can be attributed to France, Germany, England and Netherlands with its center as Flanders. Flanders can be traced to current France and Belgium. This renaissance was characterized by the alteration of style from the ancient middle ages to practical and communicative styles. It shifted from minute and illuminated art to more vivid ones. The new development was more practical and expressive through the large paintings that were to be displayed in public. It’s from Flanders that oil painting originated (Whitlock, 2000).

Similarities between Italian and northern European renaissance

There are similarities between the northern European and Italian renaissance. Both shared a common or practiced similar religion, Christianity. Christianity was the main focus of the two renaissances since it was the guiding principle to both artists. Christian historical stories become the predominant artwork in both cases.

In both renaissance’s artists were grouped together in guilds. This was a self-policing arrangement where all the gains got by a particular guild were shared among its members; this showed that artists had social groupings. Both renaissances had printed materials as part of their art through the help of the printing press. In both they had an artistic center, in the Italian renaissance, it was Florence while in the northern European renaissance it was in Flanders. In both, they allowed a social system known as feudalism to continue. In both renaissances was contributed and driven by economic growth (Benton and DiYanni, 1999).

Differences between Italian and northern European renaissance

Between the Italian and northern European renaissance, there are social and cultural differences. One of the differences arises from the language used. Italian renaissance used Latin and Greek while the northern used local vernacular languages. The use of local languages made the art to be widely sued by people familiar with a particular language. The application of different languages had a great influence on the formation of countries that used similar languages.

Relationship between arts and culture in Italian and Northern European renaissance

Other than the northern European renaissance came later after the Italian renaissance, it was much tied to the gothic art and architecture than the Italian. The rate of change in the northern renaissance was quite lower based on the fact that the artists were fewer and scattered than the Italian renaissance complement. The north had few commercial centers compared to the Italian one; these centers were often visited by wealthy business people who spent a considerable amount of their money on art.

Italian renaissance was tied to humanism with most of the artists being philosophers and writers who studied the past in order to determine man’s fate in the future. Italians renaissance general course was towards human self-esteem and value. The north had no historical material to use but could only focus on religion, which they had quite some historical evidence. The north renaissance focused on religious culture since they believed that Rome had deviated from the core Christian doctrines. This led to the emergence of religious rebellion from Rome with the emergence of cults what today is known as Protestants (Whitlock, 2000).

The relationship between arts and culture in both Italian and northern renaissance is similar. Italian culture is related to its art. Italian artists were concerned with the scientific and philosophical doctrines behind their art while the north was just concerned with the appearance of their art. The fact that Italy and northern Europe are in different geographical positions, it is evident the materials used were different. Italian artists used frescoes, egg tempera, and marble while the northern artists used oil paints and wood.

Reflection of cultural and social differences in art

Social and cultural differences are reflected in the arts between Italian and northern renaissance. The north embraced religion very much than the Italians it is reflected in the dominance of the religious inclination of their arts. An example of an artistic work is the last judgment; the Italian was drawn by Michelangelo while the northern was drawn by Bosch. Michelangelo shows more of the saints on the upper part of the painting while Bosch shows more of the human suffering at the bottom. The difference shows that the northern renaissance was more practical human suffering than imaginary the saints hanging at the altar. Another artistic work is the famous painting ‘haymaking’ it focused on what peasant farmers were doing in plantations. This was reflected well in the cultural focus of the northern renaissance on daily life (Benton and DiYanni, 1999).

Finally, both Italian and northern European renaissance have both similarities and differences. It is well understood the reasons why there were differences based on the fact that the two were on different geographical locations. Renaissance in both cases can be attributed to social, cultural, and even to some religious advancement. Renaissance is also responsible for scholarly advancement from medieval to modern philosophy and religion.

Reference list

Benton, J. R., & DiYanni R. (1999). Arts and Culture; an Introduction to Humanities . Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Hay Denys (1977). The Italian Renaissance in its historical background. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Whitlock Keith (2000). The Renaissance in Europe: a reader. New Haven: Yale University Press.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, November 28). Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison. https://ivypanda.com/essays/italian-and-northern-european-renaissance-comparison/

"Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison." IvyPanda , 28 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/italian-and-northern-european-renaissance-comparison/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison'. 28 November.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/italian-and-northern-european-renaissance-comparison/.

1. IvyPanda . "Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/italian-and-northern-european-renaissance-comparison/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Italian and Northern European Renaissance Comparison." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/italian-and-northern-european-renaissance-comparison/.

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The Influence of China on The European Renaissance

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