Renaissance Movement Essay

The Renaissance was a movement of great creativity and art, and was an important time in Europe’s history. It lasted from around 1300 through 1600, and gave birth to many new ideas and led to a time of prosperity. This era had to first be set in motion before it swept across Italy and then spread northward, changing many lives and ideas as it went. The beginning of the Renaissance movement came from the end of another period of history. For years, feudalism had reigned, trade with Asia had not been fully recognized, and the church’s word had been taken without question. The end of all these ideals and notions helped set the Renaissance in motion in a chain reaction. Feudalism was weakened by the rise of unified nations (which removed power

With Humanism stirring a desire for learning and the need to express individualism, outlets for creativity were quickly being sought out. Italian cities were already filled with the classical art left over from the dead Roman Empire. Artists surrounded by this fine architecture and art could very easily find inspiration and begin working to resurrect the artistic styles around them. Elegance and grace in art and ideas flourished as a result, and the Renaissance took hold of the Italians. The success of the new invigoration of the country’s spirit contributed to a wealthy economy, particularly in cities such as Florence, which became a center for banking. A rich merchant class came to be, and this produced patrons of the Renaissance artists—encouraging even more of the prosperity that the movement had started. Naturally, Italy grew into a center of trade for Europe, which would launch the Renaissance’s

Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the eruption of great thinking and creativity began to cascade over places like England, France, Spain, and Germany. The concepts and beliefs behind the Renaissance were dispersed through the lands through many different mediums. For example, with the wealth of Italy stemming from the Renaissance, trade effectively exchanged ideas from country to country. This led artists from the north to travel down to Italy in quest of knowledge, wanting to learn the new styles and techniques. Italian artists also travelled northward, escaping a war that had broken out between Italian kingdoms. Once they made the move to the north, they were able to start distributing the teachings of new ideas. Renaissance artists and sculptors were also supported by the monarchs of France and England: these rulers had a great love of art, and so they would purchase artists’ pieces and offer financial backing to them. One more thing that helped with the expansion of the Renaissance movement was the invention of the printing press. This new technology allowed for books, containing valuable information about art and philosophy, to be produced quickly and in large quantities. This advancement allowed for new ideas and values to be shared with many people, promoting the spread of the