AP
Est. 1300
Get Wrecked for European History
The Renaissance
Francesco Petrarch was a scholar and poet from Renaissance Florence. He was very unhappy with how people of his day acted, so he began to study ancient texts of Rome and Greece. He was one of the key people in the Renaissance to help promote the revival of ancient texts by proposing a study of Latin classics. This was called studia humanitates, or humanism. Humanism helped change the focus of study from religion to humans and their worth, which was common throughout ancient Greek and Roman works. Petrarch proposed this study as he believed the authors of his time did not reach the perfection of ancient Roman authors. He had also promoted individualism in literature through his many sonnets he had written about a woman named Laura.
Leonardo Bruni, also known as the Father of History, played a large role in the revival of ancient texts and the switch of the focus of education in the Renaissance. First, he translated mant works of Ancient Greek scholars, such as Plato and Aristotle. These translations made it more possible for people to read and understand these ancient works and begin to practise their ideas. The main way he helped to change the focus of education off of religious subjects and into the study of classic texts by translating texts. By doing this, more people read these texts and believeing in what they said. Therefore, people began to question the Roman Catholic Church as Ancient Greek and Roman texts focused on people and their goodness, not on Gods and how they must strive to be holy for their gods. So, many people started to focus on themselves instead of religion, starting the studies of humanism.
Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian writer who helped to promote non-religious models of how one should act when in political power through his book, The Prince. The Prince showed some aspects of humanism, mainly by explaining that humans were responsible for their actions and not any 'otherworldly forces' such as the gods. It was also written in the vernacular Italian, so many more people were able to read and share it. In The Prince, Machiavelli explains that a ruler is expected to provide the best for his people, but at times must act immorally for the better of his country. He may do things that are cruel, but as long as he doesn't do it often enough to encite a rebellion then he will be fine. This book is also where the saying, "It is better to be feared than loved," came from. The Roman Catholic Church banned the book for some time, deeming it immoral, and many humanists disagreed with it. But later on, it was recognised as one of the first philosophy books and many have seen it as written ironically.
Pico della Mirandola was an Italian born philosopher and writer. He helped to promote individualism by writing his Oration on the Dignity of Man. This book explains that human beings are the most wonderful of all creations, similar to medieval texts. Yet Mirandola questions as to why humans are the best. He suggests perhaps because people can reason and are close to god, but that can also be found among angels.
The first printing press was built 1445 by Gutenburg. Previous to this invention all books were copied by hand so they were hard to obtain and very few were made. But after the invention of the printing press, books were able to be mass produced and shared throughout Europe. Since anyone could buy these books, authors wrote in their vernacular language instead of Latin, so that more people could read and buy these books. So not only did people start using vernacular language as the norm, but ideas from the Renaissance were able to spread throughout all of Europe. All due to Gutenburg's printing press.
Geometric perspective, or linear perspective, was a new technique developed in the Renaissance to help make painings more life-like and nearly three-dimensional. Rapheal's works, such as the one to the righht, are good examples of the improvement in art that happened in this time period. His paintings show clear horizon lines and appear nearly life-like compared to paintings of medevial paintings.
pieter bruegel the elder
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In this painting called The School of Athens, the perspective lines, horizon line, and vanishing point are clearly highlighted. These simple lines help the painting appear more lifelike due to proper proportions being shown, which helps to show depth.
In this painting, you can clearly see linear perspective and one source of lighting from straight above the table, One interesting feature of this painting is how Jesus and the Disiciples are depicteded are rather ordinary looking people, instead of the overly tall and muscular ones often seen in religious artwork of the Renaissance.
Michelangelo had used geometric perspective in all of his paintings from the beginning. Very easily shown in one of his more famous paintings, The Last Supper. He not only used geometric perspective and knowledge of human anatomy from various dissections in his art, but also heavy religious themes. The large majority of his works, paintings and sculptures, were often depictions of biblical scenes or characters. Some examples of these works are The Drunkenness of Noah, Madonna and Child, and The First Day of Creation.
Leonardo da Vinci helped to show human centered naturalism in paintings through painting people in everyday life with proper anatomy. His paintings show life-like shading from a single light source and proper structure due to his previous time dissecting cadavers.
employed human-centered naturalism that considered everyday life appropriate objects of artistic representation.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder , also known as Peasant Bruegel, was a Dutch painter and printmaker from the early 16th century. Bruegel was well known for not only his paintings of biblical scenes, but also paintings of everyday life that often featured peasants. The picture below is called Hunters in the Winter, and portrays a villages hunters going off to hunt for food to feed their families. Because of this, many more people started creating art of people's everyday life, and helps us historians to look into an accurate representation of people's lives from the past.
In this painting, a opaq orange triangle is used to show tyou where the light source is coming from.