Renaissance
Renaissance of What?
The term "Renaissance" indicates a movement of rejuvenation of Western society, which – according to the image suggested by those who first employed the term – resurrected the fates of European nations from the dark age of Medieval period. With Renaissance we witness an exceptional intellectual renovation, that subsequently touched all aspects of society, from mathematics to painting, sculpting, and architecture.
Renaissance first originated in central and northern Italy. Its roots can be traced as far back as fourteenth century, with the emergence of Humanism, led by the work of authors such as Boccaccio and Dante as well as the cultural movements that gathered in major cities, including Florence, Rome, Milan, Urbino, or Ferrara. The last traces of the movement can be placed in sixteen-hundreds, during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).
Renaissance of the Arts
The Renaissance movement marked a revolution in the arts. Drawing inspiration from the remaining of Greek figurative arts, the human perspective was now privileged. The theory of visual perspective was indeed perfected and applied, starting from authors such as Leon Battista Alberti. This comported a revolution in architecture, sculpture, and painting, among others. In architecture, a perfect balance of the elements so to please human eyes was now the most sought after characteristic; this is to contrast to the Gothic style, where the individual was to be overcome by the majesty of the heights and di-proportionate elements were ordinary.
Analogous considerations hold for sculpture and painting. Even just watching the most celebrated works of Michelangelo Buonarroti, such as the David and the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, all the expressive tension is concentrated in the representation of human bodies, now seen as the closest expression of God. This is the core of Renaissance: what is rediscovered is the centrality of humanity to the world, inspired by Ancient Greek culture.
Renaissance of the Sciences
Many of the protagonists of the Renaissance were at once artists and scientists. This is the case, for instance, of Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. When we talk of science, however, we are still far from the modern science introduced by figures such as Descartes and Galileo in sixteen-hundreds. Rather, the most distinguishing trait of Renaissance scientists was their inventiveness. Leonardo, for once, was a great inventor; similar considerations can be made for Alberti or Michelangelo, for instance. Thus, the Renaissance revolution in the sciences was most importantly a technological revolution. A technologically-loaded food as ice-cream, for example, was re-invented in 1527 in Florence by Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti, then crucially perfected in the 1680s by Procopio de’ Coltelli, a Sicilian living in Paris.
The Philosophy of Renaissance
In line with the arts and the sciences, the philosophy of Renaissance is not a modern philosophy yet, but it is heavily influenced by the Ancient Greek tradition infused with esoteric elements. Among its earliest protagonists, the Platonist circle of Florence, which included figures such as Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) and, in northern Europe, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 circa-1536) and Thomas Moore (1478-1535). Later figures include Bernardino Telesio (1509-1588), Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). What unites each of these figures was a rebuttal of Medieval philosophy, most chiefly in its interpretation of the works of classic philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. In Telesio, Bruno, and Campanella the originality of perspective brought also to a novel attention for natural phenomena such as decomposition and putrefaction, which much relevance will have for the subsequent development of chemistry and biology.
Further Online Readings
The term "Renaissance" indicates a movement of rejuvenation of Western society, which – according to the image suggested by those who first employed the term – resurrected the fates of European nations from the dark age of Medieval period. With Renaissance we witness an exceptional intellectual renovation, that subsequently touched all aspects of society, from mathematics to painting, sculpting, and architecture.
Renaissance first originated in central and northern Italy. Its roots can be traced as far back as fourteenth century, with the emergence of Humanism, led by the work of authors such as Boccaccio and Dante as well as the cultural movements that gathered in major cities, including Florence, Rome, Milan, Urbino, or Ferrara. The last traces of the movement can be placed in sixteen-hundreds, during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).
Renaissance of the Arts
The Renaissance movement marked a revolution in the arts. Drawing inspiration from the remaining of Greek figurative arts, the human perspective was now privileged. The theory of visual perspective was indeed perfected and applied, starting from authors such as Leon Battista Alberti. This comported a revolution in architecture, sculpture, and painting, among others. In architecture, a perfect balance of the elements so to please human eyes was now the most sought after characteristic; this is to contrast to the Gothic style, where the individual was to be overcome by the majesty of the heights and di-proportionate elements were ordinary.
Analogous considerations hold for sculpture and painting. Even just watching the most celebrated works of Michelangelo Buonarroti, such as the David and the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, all the expressive tension is concentrated in the representation of human bodies, now seen as the closest expression of God. This is the core of Renaissance: what is rediscovered is the centrality of humanity to the world, inspired by Ancient Greek culture.
Renaissance of the Sciences
Many of the protagonists of the Renaissance were at once artists and scientists. This is the case, for instance, of Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. When we talk of science, however, we are still far from the modern science introduced by figures such as Descartes and Galileo in sixteen-hundreds. Rather, the most distinguishing trait of Renaissance scientists was their inventiveness. Leonardo, for once, was a great inventor; similar considerations can be made for Alberti or Michelangelo, for instance. Thus, the Renaissance revolution in the sciences was most importantly a technological revolution. A technologically-loaded food as ice-cream, for example, was re-invented in 1527 in Florence by Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti, then crucially perfected in the 1680s by Procopio de’ Coltelli, a Sicilian living in Paris.
The Philosophy of Renaissance
In line with the arts and the sciences, the philosophy of Renaissance is not a modern philosophy yet, but it is heavily influenced by the Ancient Greek tradition infused with esoteric elements. Among its earliest protagonists, the Platonist circle of Florence, which included figures such as Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) and, in northern Europe, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 circa-1536) and Thomas Moore (1478-1535). Later figures include Bernardino Telesio (1509-1588), Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). What unites each of these figures was a rebuttal of Medieval philosophy, most chiefly in its interpretation of the works of classic philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. In Telesio, Bruno, and Campanella the originality of perspective brought also to a novel attention for natural phenomena such as decomposition and putrefaction, which much relevance will have for the subsequent development of chemistry and biology.
Further Online Readings
- "Renasssance Idea of the Dignity of Man"
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- The entry on Renaissance at the Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- The Medieval and Renaissance History page at About.com
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