How Have Artists andor Patrons Tried to Use Art to Shape Life Beyond the Grave?
The Renaissance: The 'Rebirth' of science & culture
The Renaissance, which ways "rebirth" in French, typically refers to a period in European history from A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1600. Many historians, however, assert that it started earlier or ended later, depending on the state. It bridged the periods of the Middle Ages and modern history, and, depending on the country, overlaps with the Early on Modern, Elizabethan and Restoration periods. The Renaissance is almost closely associated with Italy, where information technology began in the 14th century, though countries such as Frg, England and France went through many of the same cultural changes and phenomena.
However, while the Renaissance brought almost some positive changes for Europe, the geographical exploration that flourished during this fourth dimension led to destruction for the people of the Western Hemisphere as European conquest and colonization brought plagues and slavery to the Indigenous people living there. In Africa, it likewise brought almost the birth of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that saw Black people shipped from Africa to the Western Hemisphere to work as slaves on European colonies.
"Renaissance" comes from the French discussion for "rebirth." According to the Urban center University of New York at Brooklyn, intense involvement in and learning about classical artifact was "reborn" after the Heart Ages, in which classical philosophy was largely ignored or forgotten. Renaissance thinkers considered the Center Ages to have been a menses of cultural reject. They sought to revitalize their culture through re-emphasizing classical texts and philosophies. They expanded and interpreted them, creating their own fashion of art, philosophy and scientific inquiry. Some major developments of the Renaissance include astronomy, humanist philosophy, the press press, vernacular linguistic communication in writing, painting and sculpture technique, earth exploration and, in the tardily Renaissance, Shakespeare'due south works.
What is the Renaissance?
Many historians, including U.K.-based historian and author Robert Wilde, prefer to remember of the Renaissance equally primarily an intellectual and cultural movement rather than a historical period. Interpreting the Renaissance as a time menstruum, though convenient for historians, "masks the long roots of the Renaissance," Wilde told Live Science.
During this fourth dimension, interest in classical antiquity and philosophy grew, with some Renaissance thinkers using information technology as a way to revitalize their civilization. They expanded and interpreted these Classical ideas, creating their own style of art, philosophy and scientific inquiry. Some major developments of the Renaissance include developments in astronomy, humanist philosophy, the press press, vernacular linguistic communication in writing, painting and sculpture technique, world exploration and, in the belatedly Renaissance, Shakespeare's works.
The term Renaissance was not ordinarily used to refer to the menstruum until the 19th century, when Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt popularized it in his classic, "The Civilisation of Renaissance Italy" (Dover Publications, 2016).
Historical evolution
Contrary to popular conventionalities, classical texts and noesis never completely vanished from Europe during the Middle Ages. Charles Homer Haskins wrote in "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century" (Harvard University Press, 1927) that at that place were 3 main periods that saw resurgences in the art and philosophy of antiquity: the Carolingian Renaissance, which occurred during the reign of Charlemagne, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (eighth and 9th centuries), the Ottonian Renaissance, which developed during the reigns of emperors Otto I, Otto 2 and Otto III (10th century) and the 12th century Renaissance.
The 12th century Renaissance was especially influential on the afterward Renaissance, said Wilde. Europeans at the fourth dimension studied on a larger calibration Classical Latin texts and Greek science and philosophy; they also established early versions of universities.
The Crusades played a part in ushering in the Renaissance, Philip Van Ness Myers wrote in "Medieval and Modern History" (Ginn & Visitor, 1902). While crusading, Europeans encountered advanced Middle Eastern civilizations, which had fabricated strides in many cultural fields. Islamic countries kept many classical Greek and Roman texts that had been lost in Europe, and they were reintroduced through returning crusaders.
The fall of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of the Ottomans besides played a role. "When the Ottomans sacked Constantinople in 1453, many scholars fled to Europe, bringing classical texts with them," Susan Abernethy, a Colorado-based historian and writer, told Live Science. "Conflict in Spain between the Moors and Christians besides caused many academics to escape to other areas, peculiarly the Italian city-states of Florence, Padua and others. This created an atmosphere for a revival in learning."
The Black Death helped set the stage for the Renaissance, wrote Robert Southward. Gottfried in "The Black Death" (Simon and Schuster, 2010). Deaths of many prominent officials caused social and political upheaval in Florence, where the Renaissance is considered to take begun. The Medici family moved to Florence in the wake of the plague and over the centuries produced business and political leaders too as four popes.
The Medici'due south, and many others, took advantage of opportunities for greater social mobility. Becoming patrons of artists was a popular way for such newly powerful families to demonstrate their wealth. Some historians also argue that the Black Death caused people to question the church's emphasis on the afterlife and focus more on the present moment, which is an element of the Renaissance's humanist philosophy.
Many historians consider Florence to be the Renaissance's birthplace, though others widen that designation to all of Italy. From Italy, Renaissance thought, values and creative technique spread throughout Europe, according to Van Ness Myers. Military invasions in Italy helped spread ideas, while the cease of the Hundred Years War betwixt France and England allowed people to focus on things as well conflict.
The term "Renaissance Homo," which is used today to describe someone who is talented in multiple fields, is derived from the Italian word "Uomo Universale," which means "universal man" and is often used to describe individuals like Leonardo da Vinci who thrived in multiple fields like art and science.
Characteristics of the Renaissance
The evolution and growth of the printing press was perhaps the most important technical achievement of the Renaissance. Johannes Gutenberg developed information technology in 1440, although the technology was used in China centuries earlier. Information technology allowed Bibles, secular books, printed music and more to be made in larger quantities and reach more than people. "The demand for perfect reproductions of texts and the renewed focus on studying them helped trigger ane of the biggest discoveries in the whole of human history: printing with movable type. For me, this is the easiest and single greatest development of the Renaissance and allowed mod civilization to develop," said Wilde.
Intellectual movement
Wilde said i of the near significant changes that occurred during the Renaissance was the "evolution of Renaissance humanism as a method of thinking. … This new outlook underpinned so much of the world then and at present."
Renaissance humanism, Wilde said, involved "attempts past human to master nature rather than develop religious piety." Renaissance humanism looked to classical Greek and Roman texts to change contemporary thought, allowing for a new mindset after the Middle Ages. Renaissance readers understood these classical texts equally focusing on human being decisions, actions and creations, rather than unquestioningly following the rules set forth past the Catholic Church every bit "God's programme."
Though many Renaissance humanists remained religious, they believed God gave humans opportunities, and information technology was humanity's duty to do the all-time and most moral beings. Renaissance humanism was an "ethical theory and practice that emphasized reason, scientific research and human being fulfillment in the natural world," said Abernethy.
Renaissance art
Renaissance art was heavily influenced by classical fine art, wrote Virginia Cox in "A Curt History of the Italian Renaissance" (I.B. Tauris, 2015). Artists turned to Greek and Roman sculpture, painting and decorative arts for both inspiration and the fact that the techniques meshed with Renaissance humanist philosophy. Both classical and Renaissance fine art focused on homo beauty and nature. People, even when in religious works, were depicted living life and showing emotion. Perspective, also every bit light and shadow techniques improved; and paintings looked more than three-dimensional and realistic.
Patrons fabricated it possible for successful Renaissance artists to piece of work and develop new techniques. The Catholic Church building deputed most artwork during the Middle Ages, and while it continued to practice so during the Renaissance, wealthy individuals also became important patrons, co-ordinate to Cox. The most famous patrons were the Medici family in Florence, who supported the arts for much of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Medici family supported artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, da Vinci and Raphael.
Florence was the initial epicenter of Renaissance fine art, but by the end of the 15th century, Rome had overtaken it. Pope Leo Ten (a Medici) ambitiously filled the metropolis with religious buildings and art. This flow, from the 1490s to the 1520s, is known as the High Renaissance.
Renaissance music
Equally with fine art, musical innovations in the Renaissance were partly fabricated possible because patronage expanded across the Cosmic Church. According to theMetropolitan Museum of Art, new technologies resulted in the invention of several new instruments, including the harpsichord and violin family. The printing printing meant that sheet music could exist more widely disseminated.
Renaissance music was characterized by its humanist traits. Composers read classical treatises on music and aimed to create music that would touch on listeners emotionally. They began to comprise lyrics more dramatically into compositions and considered music and poetry to be closely related, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Renaissance literature & theatre
Renaissance literature, too, was characterized by humanist themes and a return to classical ethics of tragedy and one-act, according to the Brooklyn College English Department. Shakespeare's works, especially "Hamlet," are good examples of this. Themes similar human agency, life's non-religious meanings and the truthful nature of human being are embraced, and Hamlet is an educated Renaissance homo.
The printing press allowed for pop plays to be published and re-dperformed effectually Europe and the globe. A play'due south popularity ofttimes determined whether publishers chose to print the script, wrote Janet Clarke, an emeritus professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, U.Chiliad., in her book "Shakespeare's Phase Traffic" (Cambridge University Printing, 2014). "Publishers invested in plays that were popular every bit theatre traffic as much every bit they invested in the authors" wrote Hull.
Renaissance society & economics
The most prevalent societal modify during the Renaissance was the fall of feudalism and the rise of a capitalist market economic system, said Abernethy. Increased trade and the labor shortage caused by the Black Death gave rise to something of a middle class. Workers could demand wages and expert living conditions, and so serfdom ended.
"Rulers began to realize they could maintain their power without the church. In that location were no more than knights in service to the king and peasants in service to the lord of the manor," said Abernethy. Having coin became more than important than your allegiances.
This shift frustrated popes. The "Peace of Westphalia," a series of treaties signed in 1648, made it harder for the pope to interfere in European politics. Pope Innocent X responded that it was "nothing, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, and devoid of meaning for all time."
Renaissance organized religion
Due to a number of factors — including the Black Decease, the rise in trade, the development of a eye class and the papacy's temporary move from Rome to Avignon (1309 to 1377) — the Catholic Church's influence was waning as the 15th century began. The re-emergence of classical texts and the rise in Renaissance humanism changed society's approach to organized religion and the authority of the papacy, said Abernethy. "[Humanism] created an atmosphere that gave ascent to different movements and sects … Martin Luther stressed reform of the Catholic Church, wanting to eliminate practices such every bit nepotism and the selling of indulgences," Abernethy said.
"Perhaps most important, the invention of the press press immune for the dissemination of the Bible in languages other than Latin," Abernethy connected. "Ordinary people were now able to read and learn the lessons of Scripture, leading to the Evangelical motion." These early Evangelicals emphasized the importance of the scriptures rather than the institutional power of the church building and believed that salvation was personal conversion rather than being determined by indulgences or building works of art or architecture.
The fracturing of Christians in western Europe into different groups led to conflicts, sometimes called the "wars of religion," that lasted for centuries in Europe. These conflicts sometimes led groups of people to leave Europe in hopes of fugitive persecution. One of these groups would get known as the Pilgrims when they came to Plymouth in 1620.
Renaissance geography
Thirsty to learn more virtually the world and eager to amend merchandise routes, explorers sailed off to chart new lands. Columbus "discovered" the New Globe in 1492, and Ferdinand Magellan became the offset person to successfully circumnavigate the world in the early 1500s.
For the people of the Western Hemisphere, the European exploration and colonization that occurred was disastrous. With little or no amnesty to the diseases Europeans brought over, the Ethnic population was ravaged by plagues, with death rates in some areas estimated as high equally 90%. The Castilian conquered the Aztec and Inca Empires, forcing the native survivors to work equally slaves.
European powers besides explored more of Africa, starting to conquer and colonize parts of the continent. As their forcefulness in Africa grew, Europeans began to take people from Africa to work as slaves — in some cases sending them to work on colonies in the Caribbean and South America — this trans-Atlantic slave merchandise somewhen expanding to what is now the United States.
Renaissance science
As scholars studied classical texts, they "resurrected the ancient Greek conventionalities that creation was constructed around perfect laws and reasoning," Abernethy said. "There was an escalation in the study of astronomy, beefcake and medicine, geography, alchemy, mathematics and architecture as the ancients studied them."
One of the major scientific discoveries of the Renaissance came from Smooth mathematician and astronomerNicolaus Copernicus. In the 1530s, he published his theory of a heliocentric solar system. This places the lord's day, non the Earth, at the centre of the solar organization. It was a major breakthrough in the history of scientific discipline, though the Catholic Church building banned the printing of Copernicus' book.
Empiricism began to take hold of scientific thought. "Scientists were guided by experience and experiment and began to investigate the natural world through observation," said Abernethy. "This was the first indication of a departure between science and religion. … They were being recognized as two separate fields, creating disharmonize between the scientists and the church, and causing scientists to be persecuted," continued Abernethy. "Scientists establish their piece of work was suppressed or they were demonized every bit charlatans and accused of dabbling in witchcraft, and sometimes being imprisoned."
Galileo Galilei was a major Renaissance scientist persecuted for his scientific experiments. Galileo improved the telescope, discovered new celestial bodies and found support for a heliocentric solar system. He conducted motion experiments on pendulums and falling objects that paved the way for Isaac Newton's discoveries nigh gravity. The Catholic Church forced him to spend the terminal ix years of his life under business firm abort.
Renaissance festival
While the term "Renaissance festival" typically refers to modernistic-twenty-four hour period festivals that celebrate the fine art and culture of the Renaissance, there were festivals that took place during the Renaissance itself.
For instance, Henri II, who was king of France betwixt 1547 and 1559, held festivals periodically throughout his reign that included stages of performers and lengthy parades. The festivals included the arrivals of the rex into the city or town where the festival was beingness held, wrote Richard Cooper, an emeritus professor of French at the Academy of Oxford, in a newspaper published in the book "Courtroom Festivals of the European Renaissance" (Taylor & Francis, 2017). Henri II sometimes held these festivals to brand an important issue such every bit the coronation of his queen or a war machine victory, wrote Cooper.
How the Renaissance changed the world
"The Renaissance was a time of transition from the ancient world to the modern and provided the foundation for the nascency of the Age of Enlightenment," said Abernethy. The developments in science, art, philosophy and trade, as well equally technological advancements similar the printing press, left lasting impressions on gild and set the phase for many elements of our modern culture.
However, while the Renaissance had some positive affect for Europe, it had devastating impacts for people of the Western Hemisphere, equally plagues decimated Indigenous populations and the survivors oftentimes found themselves enslaved and nether the rule of European colonizers. This arrangement of conquest, colonization and slavery besides repeated itself in Africa as European power grew. Today, the ramifications of European colonization and slavery are notwithstanding felt and hotly debated around the earth.
Additional resources
—Learn more near the geniuses of the Renaissance, from da Vinci and Galileo to Descartes and Chaucer on this History Channel page, with links to biographies of each.
—In this book by author Catherine Fet, kids volition learn well-nigh the Renaissance and its characters through tales of gamble.
—In this iv-part BBC Television series called "Renaissance Unchained," Waldemar Januszczak gives y'all a peek inside the more than heady aspects of the time, from an episode on the gods and myths to one on a period of war, confusion and … "darkness."
Bibliography
"The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy Paperback" past Jacob Burckhardt, Dover Publications, September 16, 2010. https://world wide web.amazon.com/dp/0486475972
"The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century" by Charles Homer Haskins, Harvard University Press, 1927. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674760751
"The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe" by Robert S. Gottfried, Free Printing, March 1, 1985. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Death-Natural-Disaster-Medieval/dp/0029123704
"A Short History of the Italian Renaissance" past Virginia Cox, I.B. Tauris, 2015. https://www.amazon.com/History-Italian-Renaissance-I-B-Tauris-Histories/dp/1784530778
"Music in the Renaissance" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hard disk drive/renm/hd_renm.htm
Introduction to the Renaissance by the Brooklyn Higher English language Section. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/ren.html
Philip Van Ness Myers wrote in "Medieval and Modernistic History" (Ginn & Company, 1902). https://www.amazon.com/Mediaeval-Mod-History-Philip-Centre/dp/B001R6ARQI
Source: https://www.livescience.com/55230-renaissance.html
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