Ancient Values Interwoven in the Renaissance

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Ancient Values interwoven in the Renaissance
The illustrious period of 14th to 17th century Italy, more commonly known as the Italian Renaissance, brought forth a cultural and intellectual movement that produced magnificent, universally known works of art, literature, music, and philosophy. There has been much debate as to what exactly the renaissance did. Did it simply reiterate the past because of a sudden, spontaneous interest in it, or did it embrace the past’s techniques and combined it with its own to make a unparalleled hybrid? The Italian Renaissance, if examined through the lense of that which it has produced, namely its works of art and literature, shows clear signs of an emphasis on innovation through the synthesis of ancient and contemporary values as opposed to mere regurgitation of the Classical past.
One of the most notable instances of synthesis between ancient and contemporary values is revealed in Raphael’s School of Athens, which clearly embraces the Classical past by placing numerous philosopher from the past on the painting -- philosophers such as Plato, A...

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