• Time of rebirth 1300 - 1600
• The Renaissance began in wealthy northern Italian trade centers like Venice and Florence where contact with Byzantine and Moslem Empires Flourished
• Trade
  • Created a wealthy class who became patrons of the arts
  • The Medici Family of Florence became patrons of arts. Michelangelo was among the artists who benefited from Medici patronage
• Classicism
  • Revival of Greek and Roman achievements and writngs
  • Michelangelo’s sculpture of David reflects the blending of religious ideals with greek and roman humanist philosophy
  • Note the idealized figure and accurate proportions
• Questioning Spirit
  • Writers and thinkers begain to criticize the “old” ways
  • Erasmus wrote “Praise of Folly” which ridiculed the church, corrup officials and the Clergy
  • “Don Quixote”
• Intellectual Artistic Creativity
  • John Gutenberg invented the moveable type printing press, making written materials available to multitudes
  • Nicholas Copernicus wriote that the Earth rotates around the sun
  • “THe end justifies the means”
  • Leonardo DaVinci was the ultimate Renaissance man. He not only produced paintings but also had great accomplishments in the fields of science, engineering and architecture
  • Boticelli — notice the use of point perspective and dimension to draw the viewer into the painting
  • Secular and classic themes turned into religious topics
• Secularism
  • Other than religion
  • Writers begain writing in vernacular languages
  • Dante Alighieri wrote “The Divine Comedy” telling the epic journey through hell
• Humanism
  • Glorification of people and human reason
  • The detail of Raphael’s sistine Madonna shows humanism, where the characters look like real people with individual differences, muscle tone. You can see their humanity
  • Michelangelo’s knowledge of anatomy is used to show the details of the human form. Naked people = humanism
  • Humanists believed that human reason and logic were as important in understanding the world as religion and intuition
• Individualism
  • emphasis on the importance of the individual and achievements

Personally Approved Research Question by Ms. Sunanda :

Examine how the Renaissance's emphasis on individualism lead to the development of new social, cultural, and artistic movements during the 14th to 16th centuries in Italy?

In Italy between the 14th and 16th centuries, new social, cultural, and artistic movements originated as a result of the Renaissance's emphasis on individualism. Artists were given the chance to explore their own ideas and unique abilities with the rise of the wealthy class and the patronage system. Due to the freedom to experiment with novel methods and styles of art, there was a significant creative surge.

New perspectives on the world and how people conform into it were made possible by the emphasis on humanism and secularism. New literary genres like the sonnet and the epic poem appeared during the Renaissance, along with novel concepts in philosophy, politics, and science. New artistic styles and techniques such as point perspective, dimension, and accurate proportions were developed. Classicism was also revived, leading to a blending of religious ideals with Greek and Roman humanist philosophy.

Ultimately, the emphasis on individualism during the Renaissance paved the way for the emergence of modernity, as the individual became increasingly important in art, literature, and society.