Analysis Of Jacob Burckhardt 's The Civilisation Of The Renaissance

The Renaissance is a period in Europe, from the 14th to the 17th century, considered the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe, marking the beginning of the Early Modern Age. The Renaissance changed the view of man on the world from how man viewed the world during the middle ages. The purpose of this essay is to show how the Renaissance changed the way man viewed the world. The world was changed in the views of Art, Literature, and Science.

The political stability and prosperity of the Renaissance Period created an atmosphere where people’s interests returned to the ancient teachings of Rome and Greece. This resulted in an increased interest in art, especially art that highlighted an individual’s experience. During this time there was little turmoil and the economy was flourishing, so people could live more extravagantly. The art of the Renaissance Period reflected this extravagance as well as the time period’s return to an interest in humanism. Humanism arose out of classical thinking in Rome and Greece and was based on the importance of the overall human experience.

The Renaissance describes the period of European history from the 14th century to the late 16th century. During this time The Renaissance was only seen as a form of rebirth, it wasn’t until later in time where people viewed the period differently. Some say it was one of the greatest ages of human cultural achievement. Jules Michelet and Jakob Burckhardt, for example, view the period as being characterized by the rise of an individual, scientific inquiry, and geographical exploration, and the growth of secular values (La Renaissance). “Nicola “said that he had personally broken some tablets that had been placed as a decoration in a church not far from Porcia, declaring it was wrong, and that they did not belong there and were...merchandise...and that figures should not be placed in church.”” (The Cheese and the Worms, Page 20) The Renaissance gave birth to many artistic views and skills. Much of the art involved religion in which Ginzburg points out that no one is supposed to worship any images of God. This points to one thing that Menocchio learned from

A critical point in European history was the Renaissance period, which took place between 1300-1700. The term Renaissance stands for ‘rebirth’, and in this context refers to the increased interest that was taken in learning from Greek and Roman classical writing. Recent exploration by historians into the Renaissance period has seen a fixation on the discussion of the role of gender during the Renaissance. A variety of historians, such as Joan Kelly and Merry E. Weisner, believe that women didn’t experience any form of a Renaissance during this period. It can be widely acknowledged that during this period society did experience a ‘rebirth’, especially in terms of the role of the men in Europe. Women, on the other hand, weren’t as fortunate.

The Middle Ages were a time when the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope possessed tremendous power in Europe, illiteracy was common, and both art and literature were primarily based off of religious ideas. However, from 1300 to 1700, people’s way of thinking dramatically evolved. Some of the major changes in man’s view of man during the Renaissance were the increased portrayal of expression, a more positive view of human nature, and a greater emphasis on the accuracy of human anatomy.

Lisa Sigel’s, urge towards more historiography within the realm of pornography appears to be a vital response to the contestations concerning a comprehensive understanding of such a chaotic topic. To begin with, Sigel explores the discord revolving periodisation and delineation. She particularly looks at debates around the period the genre was formed as well as the challenges to formulate a single universal definition of pornography (pp. 223-224). Subsequently, her article veers towards research that has been conducted by other disciplines in the field, but it does so in correlation to what work historians should initiate in clearing the gaps that are left behind. Here, Sigel talks of the issues power and censorship has imbued on the research of pornography but she, moreover, examines how this could be corrected. She exemplifies the analyses of literary and art scholars, including Bradford Mudge, Sarah Leonard and Alyce Mahon, as a way forward for historians (pp. 227-231). Sigel goes on to argue that the result of historian work would help align pornography to specific socio-political contexts. She goes on to explore some of these contexts and insists that by continuing this contextualisation process a better understanding of pornography will be obtained (pp.231-233).

1. Discuss Jacob Burkhardt’s interpretation of the Renaissance. What criticisms have been leveled against it? How would you define renaissance in the context of fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy?

In the Renaissance period women are almost invariably shown as completely passive and as an object for contemplation. The reclining female nude in the Renaissance raises questions of the male gaze more often than any other artistic stereotype. Female nudes were only an open acknowledgement of not only male desire but also the right males had to express that desire. A woman’s feelings when looking at such images of members of their own gender were never discussed or asked until recently.

The Renaissance was a huge time for growth. Humanism, the praising of the intelligence and beauty of a person, spread very widely in this time and not only did it improve how people thought about themselves, but it improved how people thought about others. (Background Essay) The Renaissance changed the concept of what it meant to be human as seen in art, literature and science.

The reading claims that nudes throughout artistic history have been an important source of beauty and controversy. Nudes began to spike during the Baroque period as they were used for the more expressive and emotional arts of the time. In the nineteenth century, nudes became more common, yet became more sensitive. Artists would train by drawing nudes of ancient Greek statues and figures from myth. However, many artists would then move on to create works depicting prostitutes or peasant naked women. This would not please patrons as they were extremely societally taboo. However, this did not start artists from making them, as they moved into the twentieth and twenty-first century. This shows the importance of artistic nudes and their impact

The Renaissance era served as an impact to the development of our modern day American society including the cultures plus the creative expressions we have today. The influence gave light to individualism of humans providing unique approach to every idea set forth and side tracked the dominant ideals that were heavily followed by the church. Although religion has always been a major part of all civilizations and cultures even throughout the Renaissance period, the potential that every individual has was acknowledged and when science came into existence it shaped western civilizations which it is still carried out in today’s contemporary American culture (Teaford, 1990). Main beliefs of impracticality in areas like art, culture and literature

Commedia dell’arte was established during the sixteenth century at a time when theatre flourished in Italy. Despite such a rich time for the arts, a divide in the church as well as

During the shift from the middle ages into the Renaissance period new conceptions of the individual and the human mind quickly came to light. Although art in the Middle Ages was centered predominantly on religion and faith, the incoming art of the Renaissance underwent a drastic change. A vast amount of these changes mainly focused on individualism, secularism, and humanism. Following the collapse of the feudal system, thoughts of individualism quickly rose when people realized that they didn’t have to adhere to a specific group.Throughout the beginning of the Renaissance, religious figures and the Catholic Church began to lose authority which conducted in new ideas of secularism. Comparably, humanistic art and notions became preeminent when individuals focused on glorifying the human body, learning more about it and inclined more towards realistic art.

Beginning with the Renaissance (1400-1600) we see a change in the subject matter being portrayed by artists of the time. We can attribute this change not only to the change in patrons, from the Christian church to wealthy bankers and politicians, but also to the growing body of scientific knowledge. “The Renaissance was

Would it not be nice if we could go back in time to experience the Renaissance for ourselves? Being able to walk down the streets of Florence, Italy and experience this time period that not only gave rebirth to old values and artistic ways of statement, but also were a period of great individualism. (make this into a sentence…add a subject and a verb to make it flow). Indeed, Renaissance was a period of great individualism based on old traditional values.