The Renaissance
Period: Late 14th – Early 17th Centuries
Origins of the Renaissance:
Why northern Italian city-states?:
1. Wealth of states such as Florence due to trade in the Mediterranean region
2. Discovery of manuscripts and other primary source material (Classical) in Greece and throughout Italy itself
3. Architectural remains of the Roman Empire spawned an interest in ‘antiquity’ i.e. history of the past.
What was the Renaissance?
– A change in artistic techniques such as the use of ‘sfumato’ & ‘perspective’ which created much more realistic, life-like and three-dimensional paintings of people
– A change in focus; whereby Medieval art focused on images & interpretations of God, the Renaissance in line with the advent of ‘Humanism’ began to focus more on the beauty and unique nature of human beings and the natural world
– An opening up of new fields of study such as anatomy, biology & astronomy; whereas these fields had always existed in limited form, superstition & religious beliefs had always dominated man’s interpretation & understanding of these areas. Now, scientific method and observation became the central methodologies of inquiry
Videos:
Click here to view a video on the ”Discovery of Leonardo’s True Face”
