Many times, throughout history old ideas or past cultural aspects are often used again and are improved to mould current needs. The Renaissance is a prime example of how past ideas were used once again to create a better and a more cultured society. There was once a time in ancient Greece and Rome, where art, architecture, philosophy and writing flourished, but were later suppressed due to a greed of power between countries and male dominance. Right before the Renaissance however, the medieval ages were a time dedicated to religion and revolved around feudal aristocracies. Art was something only reserved for religious institutions and left the rest of society dull especially during the black plaque. It was not until after the mass disruption …show more content…
Poleis at the time in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome had a monumental influence on the government during the Renaissance. Due to the expanding number of Greeks moving to the coasts of the mainland, islands, and to the east coast of Aegean to participate in commercial trade, a new social and political system needed to be developed in order to accommodate the growing numbers and limited agricultural land. However, the Greeks desired a place where they could keep their "autonomy and independence, celebrate[d] their own rituals, and honour[ed] its own heroes" (Cole 61). This issue was solved with the development of the Polis or "city-state". By implementing poleis, this allowed for different states to enforce their own laws and traditions and not lose their independence. Sparta and Athens are two of the most famous poleis of the thousands found in Ancient Greece and exhibit how two city-states can be so different. Sparta was the most militarized polis, whereas Athens was best known for its agriculture and trade. Athens also was considered to be …show more content…
Great philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were all brilliant thinkers, but their works were not truly appreciated until the Renaissance where a look on past works was emphasized. This movement was called humanism and during this time, works from Ancient Greece and Rome were restored and referenced to create new, crucial writings. In particular, in ancient times Socrates' beliefs were passed on through his pupils. One of his main ideals was that one should always be aware of the consequences of one's actions. This can be highlighted in a quote by him stating, "the unexamined life is not worth living" (Cole 84). Here, Socrates stresses that those who do not have a concern of how they live their life in respect to themselves and to others, do not live a meaningful life. After his unfortunate execution for "corrupting the youth" Socrates' legacy and ideals were then continued through the life of Plato (Cole 84). Years after, Plato became most known for his dialogues regarding ethics and his challenging of current politics. It was these two classical thinkers who were the spotlight of the Renaissance. Humanists during the time of the Renaissance often put precedence of classical works like Plato over works being written at the time (Cole 294). Again, this intellectual movement stressed that Greek classics were the most
According to Theodore Rabb, author of The Last days of the Renaissance and The March to Modernity, art was the origin of the Renaissance. “Echoes broader movements and interests of the New Age”, this quote states that art began the New Age of the Renaissance (Doc A). "The evidence of the break with medieval culture comes from the visual arts. It was the essence of the Renaissance." Arts in the Renaissance was very complex but yet it was popular. People created many types of art too. They were amazed by the creativity.
According to Nicholas Mann, "Humanism is that concern with the legacy of antiquity, and in particular but not exclusively with its literary legacy... it involves above all the rediscovery and study of Greek and Roman texts, the restoration and interpretation of them, and the assimilation of the ideas and values they contain." The Studia Humanitatis (Studies of Humanity) is a Latin term used by Roman writers describing a cycle of studies in the humanities including, grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy. Francesco Petrarch, an Italian scholar and poet of the fifteenth century, is considered by many to be the father of humanism. Petrarch 's influential texts had circulated widely throughout Florence and made their way into the government. Thus, humanist learning began to shape political ideologies in Florence. By inspiring humanist philosophy, Petrarch helped pave the way for the start of the Renaissance.
During the Renaissance, people were dedicated to studying human works. They would observe from real life to gain inspiration, new ideas, and to try to recreate the world as they saw it in their art. New techniques such as scientific and atmospheric perspective were created, changing art forever. Artists would use their skills to create works for patrons, from the Church, various guilds, and other religious orders. During the High Renaissance, Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the Vatican Palace. The first of the rooms he decorated was The “Room of the Signature”, where he painted The School of Athens. Originally, this room housed Julius II’s personal library, but later on it would be the room where papal documents were signed. In 1508, Raphael began painting four frescoes that represented theology, philosophy, law, and the arts. As stated in Janson’s History of Art Volume II, This fresco “represents a summation of High Renaissance humanism, for it attempts to represent the unity of knowledge in one grand scheme.” Raphael’s The School of Athens is a prime example of humanistic art, as evidenced by the subject of the art itself, the classical elements in the piece, and it’s scientific and illusionistic rendering.
During the 15th century, Northern Europe as well as Italy witnessed a serious revival of drawing accompanied by sculpture, painting and architecture. This revival was termed as the Renaissance. The revival effected major changes onto the representation of pictorial space on these two regions. These changes on that occurred on pictorial space representation were mostly driven by new idea of “Humanism”. Humanism philosophy practically outwitted religious and secular belief. As a result, the philosophy shifted a lot f importance to the dignity and value of the individual (Prescott, 2005; Fuga, 2006).
Humanism The introduction of the concept of humanism greatly affected the Renaissance. The Humanistic influence shaped Renaissance art, writing, education and thinkers, its ideas were spread among all aspects of life. Machiavelli’s writings during the Renaissance were also affected by the ideas of humanism. His ideas reflect the thoughts of humanism in the way he thought governments and societies should be organized.
Humanism is the idea that a higher power is not superior. People who believe in humanism reject religion and instead believe that the church does not hold all the power, but people and humanity do. Humanism started during the Renaissance Period around the 14th century.
The polis emerged out of the scattered villages of early Greece, as a way of building unified states, and centralising government. The establishment of the Greek poleis was a significant political innovation throughout history because it gave rise to new government systems which have become models to the modern state structure. It was characterised by its ability to unite citizens, and through this, resulted in the growth of larger states such as Athens and Spart. Within the poleis there were constitutions, which were developed in conjunction with the purpose to achieve a unified system of government for each state. In addition, this new form of government allowed for citizens to greater participate in political and social matters, which had not been the case in previous ruling powers. Thus, both the development of the constitution and the introduction of a new political structure have both influenced and changed the nature of the state.
During the renaissance, there was a renewed interest in the arts, and the traditional views of society came into question. People began to explore the power of the human mind. A term often used to describe the increasing interest in the powers of the human mind is humanism. Generally, humanism stresses the individual's creative, reasoning, and aesthetic powers. However, during the Renaissance, individual ideas about humanism differed.
The Renaissance was the rebirth of Europe and it all started in the city of Florence. Florence and everything that made a standard Renaissance city: painters, sculptors, writers, architects, and a vivid culture. Soon all of Europe would follow in Florence’s footsteps and “the setting is so rich, varied, rambunctious, and inventive as Italy in the Renaissance” (Cohen 1). The painters and sculptors defined Renaissance culture and could actually make a living because they were being sponsored.
The shift between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was characterized by great socio-economic, political, and religious changes. Politically, the feudal system of the Middle Ages was exchanged for a more stable centralized republic/monarchy system that gave the people more freedom and input. Religiously, secularism became more important as stability gave people a chance to concern themselves with the “here and now” rather than simply the “hereafter.” Socially, there was a shift from dogma and unshakeable belief to humanism and the ability to interpret things for oneself. The Middle Ages began around 400 CE and lasted until 1400 CE while the Renaissance began around 1200 and continued until 1600. The 200 years that overlap between these two periods contain many pieces of “transition” art in which it is obvious that the change is beginning to take place. These collective changes that took place in this period dictated change in art as well. There were changes in iconography, style, purpose, and patronage that facilitated the overall transformation of art from a sense of illustrating what you are told to believe is true to optical realism and conveying how you yourself interpret that “truth”.
The ancient Greece was divided among several hundreds of city-states called “Poleis”. Within this poleis, Athens and Sparta were the most powerful, significant, largest and significant states.
The Italian Renaissance included some of the greatest artists we have ever seen from Leonard Da Vinci, to Michelangelo, and Raphael. The Renaissance took place from the late thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and is know as the ‘rebirth’. The idea that the rebirth of the arts after being asleep for a thousand years is an amazing thing to grasp. This time brought back light to liberal arts, which were on the brink of being extinct. (Murray 2) What is also interesting about art during this time was that most of the art had Christian in its roots, for example, Botticelli’s The Allegory of Spring (Faure 1) is said to have had a Christian interpretation. (Murray) “Every Italian artist, willingly took the title of architect, sculptor, and painter” (Faure 2). At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Italian painters had asked the Flemish painters for their secret techniques because the Italians felt like the language of painting was one that was always meant for them. (Faure 4) The sculptors claimed their inspiration from ancient works. Lastly the Renaissance introduced idea of individualism, which helped the Italians get away from everything that was going on during that time. Art during the Renaissance included painting, sculpting and architecture, all of which were an important part in expressing the idea of individualism and making art what is is today.
The Renaissance was a time when people began to think and see things differently. It was a time for new innovations. People wanted to study the past and learn more about culture. People began to see important in human emotion, and they began to see that there was much more rather than just religion. Europe was facing many problems like the Black Death. But the problems caused a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy. During the early 1400’s, Europe witnessed a major rebirth of fine art painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. Early Renaissance art had its birth of creativity and development in Florence, Italy, which eventually spread to Western Europe. Italy contained the status of being the richest trading nation with both Europe and the Orient, Italy was fortunate to be left with a huge repository of classical ruins and artifacts. In almost every town and city, examples of Roman architecture and sculpture, including copies of sculptures from Ancient Greece, had been familiar for centuries. The decline of Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire caused many Greek scholars to go to Italy, bringing knowl...
Perhaps one of the most influential artists characterizing Renaissance Humanism in their work is William Shakespeare. He produced as many as thirty-seven plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and miscellaneous verse before his death in 1616 (Gaines). In studying his work, numerous authors have found that it is one of the truest representations of the Renaissance Humanism movement. This movement identifies with a shift from the medieval movement, which mostly focused on god and faith, to a more individual approach to life. The focus was more about the human experiences and the optimistic attitude about what people really understood about themselves. In "Renaissance Humanism" Michelle Lee puts together numerous quotes from many authors analyzing the work produced during the humanism movement. The cited material in the article consistently continues to refer back to Shakespeare; how most of his work embodies the humanist thought process. For a Humanist the purpose of cultivating reason was to lead a better understanding of how to act. Many of the reasons cited throughout the article focus on two subjects, divine providence and human free will. Both Paul Siegel and Richard Mallette quote that Shakespeare's work is a reflection of the Elizabethan worldview of his time. Mike Pincombe states that in the play Hamlet, the character of Hamlet is a literary humanist, a man of the theater and a Dane and all three of these traits would evoke a certain stereotype to the audience in the Elizabethan Era. To the audience they would see the man as one who had classical learning, a refinement about oneself, respectable, highly educated, kind, and urbanized. All of these traits are ones that come through the character of Hamlet. Calvinism and ...
Many diverse ideas flourished during the European Renaissance which had a lasting impact on the world. Humanism is a worldview and a moral philosophy that considers humans to be of primary importance. The aspect of humanism first thrived in 14th century Italy, and later spread north in the 15th century. Initially humanistic ideas about education were quickly adopted by the Italian upper class. The Italian ideas and attitudes towards life and learning impacted nobility in other parts of Europe. They were able to accept and adapt to this new lifestyle. Humanism during the Renaissance helped to spread ideas about the basic nature of human beings, how people should be educated to become well rounded individuals, and how education impacts an individual’s life.