Renaissance

Florence, birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. The architectural perspective and new systems of banking and accounting were introduced during the time.

The Renaissance (UK: /rɪˈnsəns/ rin-AY-sənss, US: /ˈrɛnəsɑːns/ REN-ə-sahnss)[1][a] is a period in history and a cultural movement marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity, covering the 15th and 16th centuries and characterized by an effort to revive and surpass the ideas and achievements of classical antiquity; it was associated with great social change in most fields and disciplines, including art, architecture, politics, literature, exploration and science. It began in the Republic of Florence, spread to the rest of Italy and later throughout Europe. The term rinascita ("rebirth") first appeared in Lives of the Artists (c. 1550) by Giorgio Vasari, while the corresponding French word renaissance was adopted into English as the term for this period during the 1830s.[3][b]

The Renaissance's intellectual basis was its version of humanism, derived from the concept of Roman humanitas and the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, such as that of Protagoras, who said that "man is the measure of all things". Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the revived knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe: the first traces appear in Italy as early as the late 13th century, in particular with the writings of Dante and the paintings of Giotto.

As a cultural movement, the Renaissance encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, which contemporaries credited to Petrarch; the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting; and gradual but widespread educational reform. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, and in science to an increased reliance on observation and inductive reasoning. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual and social scientific pursuits, as well as the introduction of modern banking and the field of accounting,[4] it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".[5][6]

  1. ^ Wells, John (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Pearson Longman. ISBN 978-1405881180.
  2. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary: "Renaissance"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  3. ^ Brotton, Jerry (2006). The Renaissance: a very short introduction (1. publ ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-19-280163-0.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference jkdiwan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ BBC Science and Nature, Leonardo da Vinci Retrieved May 12, 2007
  6. ^ BBC History, Michelangelo Retrieved May 12, 2007


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).