The Renaissance Research Paper

The Renaissance, which is French for the word “rebirth” or “revival”, was the cultural bloom for Europe. Before this era, life was an everyday battle, facing warfare, poverty, and disease. Starting in around 1400 C.E and lasting until about 1700 C.E, the Renaissance brought about new philosophies, lifestyles, and ideas that changed the world forever. The Renaissance changed the way people saw the world and their place in it by focusing more on education and decreasing religion’s importance.

The renaissance was period of rebirth in Europe in the 14th to 17th century that began to change the views of philosophy, politics, and arts. This was a significant change that was spread throughout Europe and shaped everyone’s views. The Renaissance was a movement of cultural revival which sought to rediscover and redeploy the languages, learning and artistic achievements of the classical world. It used to be claimed as the 'dawn of modernity '. The idea of the Renaissance as an age of gold after an age of darkness was actually a tale spun by the humanists themselves, and makes the important point that this was a very self-conscious movement, which shaped its own reputation. (Biow)

“No painter can paint well without a thorough knowledge of geometry” (qtd. in Butterfield 27). The Italian Renaissance is famous for its art which includes unique style of painting and sculpting, however, the Renaissance made significant remark on the use of scientific techniques which also can be considered as the influence of classical ideas. Although, classical ideas were not advanced like in the Renaissance, it provided the foundation for the Renaissance to revive it again. The Italian Renaissance transformed the manner of viewing the arts. Before, most people in Italy were bounded by religious thoughts and beliefs. Renaissance helped people to shift their mind and behavior towards the secular ideas, instead of vague ideology like

Another major idea during the Renaissance was discovering new techniques that allowed artists to portray more accurate and realistic works instead of fanciful and abstract supernaturals. Perspective was the biggest discovery of the time period, but many aspects went into such work. Proportion and foreshortening were two crucial skills needed to achieve perspective. Proportion is the correspondence of a singular part to the entire whole, and foreshortening is the shortening of lines used to create depth. Sfumato, the blending of varying tones, was also utilized in artwork to create depth. In the famous painting “Mona Lisa”, artist Leonardo Da Vinci used sfumato to project a three dimensional illusion to the viewer. Other techniques such as chiaroscuro, the contrasting of light and dark, were

Immediately following the middle Ages, between the 14th and 16th century, the period characterized as The Renaissance Period began. The word Renaissance literally means “new-birth” and this period of time is believed to have been defined by a renewal of interest in classical learning and values of the Greeks and Romans by scholars of that day (“Renaissance”), The Renaissance period produced a flourishing age with many long lasting and famous accomplishments in the areas of art, literature, and science.

The renaissance, meaning 're-birth', was a time of reformation of culture to the ideals of society. The people of the time, tired of the war and fear during the Middle Ages, looked to the ancient Romans and Greeks for direction in civilized life. As the Renaissance progressed, the purposes and values of education experienced major reformations.

Renaissance art created standards and principles that every painting and artist had to utilize in order to even be considered good, let alone great. Characteristics such as the phenomenon of natural light, one-point and linear perspective, and highly idealized religious or mythological figures changed into the Baroque techniques of manipulating light to create emphasis, dramatizing the illustrated allegory, and unidealized realism. Additionally, “… the Baroque trend dominated and gave its name to the age… [but it was the presence of both styles] that give the Italian seventeenth century its richness and diversity.” (4) Italy, and Rome especially, is home to what can

Neoclassical Art was an art form that followed the Baroque and Rococo art periods. Neoclassicism was a way for artists to display their wish to return to meaningful art, to escape the frivolity of landscapes and still life paintings, and paint something that had a moral, educational or inspirational value to the viewer. Neoclassical art was an attempt to return knowledge and purity back to art. Neoclassicism was mainly focused on Greek and Roman arts and stories of the classical era with some new advancement. It was a revival of antiquity.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance where worlds apart in every aspect of life. In areas of art, tools such as perspective, realism, and individualism showed the great leap in creativity during the Renaissance. Likewise, the worldly individual, or the “Renaissance Man”, was an improvement over the ignorant, spiritual man of the Middle Ages. Also, the revival of classical learning and education that occurred in the Renaissance was the exact opposite of the suppression of learning during the Middle Ages. The amount of unique advances made in the Renaissance in all areas cannot be paralleled by the progress set forth during the Middle Ages. The word Renaissance itself means rebirth, or the start of something new. Thus, with all these great

To recognize how the Renaissance applies to the humanities, a depiction of each must be understood. The word Renaissance, or rebirth, is a derived form of the word naissance, the French word for birth. The meaning of the term Renaissance refers to a period in history between the beginnings of the fifteenth century up until the mid-sixteenth century. During this time,

The Renaissance was a period of discovery, and one of the most important ideas was just how monotonous we were in so many ways, yet just how unique we were in others. During the Renaissance, the church was the center of attention, and instead of a philosophical view of the world, beliefs were centered around basic logic. Inspiration from the ancient Greek and Roman people led to humanism beliefs and encouraged man to become multi-talented. Therefore, the Renaissance man, “an individual who has interests and skills in a wide range of activities”, became prominent (B.E. 433). Also, the ideals of the people changed, and religion no longer ruled their lives like in the Middle Ages. Advancements in all aspects of life virtually improved which caused

The word rebirth describes a complete and dominating change in the way something is done, or a fresh start. This word perfectly and appropraitely fits with the theme of the renaissance, meaning exactly that, rebirth, which followed the middle ages. The entire way that society and the world functioned changed fairly abruptly, and the world was different forever. These changes could be seen in the newly rediscovered passion for classical styles and learning that had been almost completely abandoned in the Middle AGes. Suddenly systems of government changed, people became more interested in learning and invention, with astronomy being a new public fascination.

According to Oxford Dictionary rebirth is the action of reappearing, and the Renaissance period is known for exactly that. Renaissance actually means rebirth, referring to classic Roman views reoccurring during this period after disappearing throughout the Middle Ages. It is said to have began in Italy during the fourteenth century, but spread throughout Europe as the period continued on. The rebirth of the Roman views led to changes in society such as the decline in religious practices and the study of life as it was at the moment. Thus, Renaissance art, architecture, and literature was greatly influenced by the rise of secular humanism.

The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy around the 1500’s to about the 1700’s. Florence, Italy was the mecca of this rebirth because at the time Florence was extremely wealthy and the people of the city had political freedom and those new ideals of the Renaissance were not being condemned in Florence as they were other cities. This was a time where the arts and the logic of one’s own mind was valued rather than criticized, the antiquated medieval ideals no longer matched the needs of those who were living during the early Renaissance. Eventually, a term for this way of thinking arose and was called Humanism, and what humanism is, is an ideology where humans can lead themselves to create a prosperous life and instead of leaning on supernatural forces for answers. Humanists believe that humans have enough logic to create conclusions themselves. This brand-new way of thinking caused a lot of controversy because it did question God’s ability and the church’s power, but the ideas behind it are still heavily used today, even in the 21st century. Humanism in the early Renaissance is important because it called for thinking with reason, it allowed an appreciation for human body and mind, inspired authors and caused a shift in power.

With the continuous growth of paintings and artists, prestige for art increased dramatically to the point in which religious aspects were shown through landscapes, portraits, and temperas. This then allowed the creation of new styles and mathematical input that manifested everyday life with religious aspects. One such artist was Giovanni Bellini who introduced bright, rich, strong colors into his palette and landscapes that expressed the happiness, calmness, and prosperity that Italy carried throughout the Renaissance. These characteristics and styles of paintings subsequently became a popular Venetian cornerstone. Other important figures in the Italian Renaissance that demonstrated the movement?s ideas through their ingenious paintings and architectural methods were Pier Della Francesca and Leon Battista Alberti. Francesca, who was and expert in mathematics, developed the art form of perspective. Alberti, on the other hand, as an architect developed the pediment which became popular throughout the entire Renaissance. His monasteries and churches depicted many of the religious ideas, as evident in one of his famous works, the Santa Maria Novella. All in all, the use of the common religious themes such as the annunciation, adoration, Crucifixion, and the popular Madonna