The
Renaissance (
French for "rebirth";
Italian:
Rinascimento;
Spanish:
Renacimiento), was a
cultural movement that spanned roughly the
14th through the
17th century, beginning in
Italy in the late
Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of
Europe. It encompassed the revival of learning based on
classical sources, the rise of courtly and
papal patronage, the development of
perspective in painting, and advancements in science. The Renaissance had wide-ranging consequences in all
intellectual pursuits, but is perhaps best known for its
artistic aspect and the contributions of such
polymaths as
Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo, who have inspired the term "
Renaissance men".
There is a general — though by no means unchallenged — consensus that the Renaissance began in
Florence in the fourteenth century. Various theories have been proposed to explain its origin and characteristics, focusing on an assortment of factors, including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at this time including its political structure and the patronage of its dominant family, the
Medici.
The Renaissance has a long and complex
historiography, and there has always been debate among historians as to the usefulness of the Renaissance as a term and as a historical age. While nineteenth-century historians were keen to emphasise that the Renaissance represented a clear "break" from Medieval thought and practice, some modern historians have instead focused on the continuity between the two eras. The word
Renaissance has also been used to describe other historical and cultural movements, such as the
Carolingian Renaissance and the
Byzantine Renaissance.
Overview
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the
early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence was felt in
literature,
philosophy,
art,
politics,
science,
religion, and other aspects of intellectual enquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the
humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.
Artists such as
Masaccio strove to portray the human form realistically, developing techniques to render
perspective and light more naturally.
Political philosophers, most famously
Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe political life as it really was, and to improve
government on the basis of reason. In addition to studying classical Latin and Greek, authors also began increasingly to use vernacular languages; combined with the invention of
printing, this would allow many more people access to books, especially the Bible.
In all, the Renaissance could be viewed as an attempt by intellectuals to study and improve the
secular and worldly, both through the revival of ideas from antiquity, and through novel approaches to thought.
The Renaissance's origins
Most historians agree that the ideas that characterized the Renaissance had their origin in late
13th century Florence, in particular with the writings of
Dante Alighieri (
1265–
1321) and
Francesco Petrarch (
1304–
1374), as well as the painting of
Giotto di Bondone (
1267-
1337). Yet it remains unclear why the Renaissance began in Italy, and why it began when it did. Accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins.
Assimilation of Greek and Arabic knowledge
The Renaissance was so called because it was a "rebirth" of certain classical ideas that had long been lost to Europe. It has been argued that the fuel for this rebirth was the rediscovery of ancient texts that had been forgotten by Western civilization, but were preserved in some
monastic libraries and in the
Islamic world, and the translations of
Greek and
Arabic texts into
Latin. Renaissance scholars such as
Niccolò de' Niccoli and
Poggio Bracciolini scoured the libraries of Europe in search of works by such classical authors as
Plato,
Cicero and
Vitruvius. Additionally, as the
reconquest of the
Iberian peninsula from Islamic
Moors progressed, numerous Greek and Arabic works were captured from educational institutions such as the library at
Córdoba, which claimed to have 400,000 books. The works of
ancient Greek and
Hellenistic writers (such as
Plato,
Aristotle,
Euclid,
Ptolemy, and
Plotinus) and
Muslim scientists and
philosophers (such as
Geber,
Abulcasis,
Alhacen,
Avicenna,
Avempace, and
Averroes), were imported into the Christian world, providing new intellectual material for European scholars.
Greek and Arabic knowledge were not only assimilated from Spain, but also directly from the Middle East. The study of mathematics was flourishing in the Middle East, and mathematical knowledge was brought back by
crusaders in the
13th century. The decline of the
Byzantine Empire after
1204 - and its eventual
fall in
1453 - led to an exodus of
Greek scholars to the West. These scholars brought with them texts and knowledge of the classical
Greek civilization which had been lost for centuries in the West.
Social and political structures in Italy
The unique political structures of late
Middle Ages Italy have led some to theorize that its unusual social climate allowed the emergence of a rare cultural efflorescence. Italy didn't exist as a
political entity in the early modern period. Instead, it was divided into smaller
city states and territories: the
kingdom of Naples controlled the south, the
Republic of Florence and the
Papal States the center, the
Genoese and the
Milanese the north and west, and the
Venetians the east. Fifteenth-century Italy was one of the most urbanised areas in Europe. Many of its cities stood among the ruins of ancient Roman buildings; it seems likely that the classical nature of the Renaissance was linked to its origin in the Roman Empire's heartlands.
Italy at this time was notable for its merchant
Republics, including the
Republic of Florence and the
Republic of Venice. Although in practice these were
oligarchical, and bore little resemblance to a modern
democracy, the relative political freedom they afforded was conducive to academic and artistic advancement. Likewise, the position of Italian cities such as Venice as great trading centres made them intellectual crossroads.
Merchants brought with them ideas from far corners of the globe, particularly
the Levant. Venice was Europe's gateway to trade with the East, and a producer of fine
glass, while Florence was a capital of
silk and
jewelry. The wealth such business brought to Italy meant that large public and private artistic projects could be commissioned and individuals had more leisure time for study. It has also been argued that the Black Death prompted a new wave of piety, manifested in the
sponsorship of religious works of art. However, this doesn't fully explain why the Renaissance occurred specifically in Italy in the 14th century. The Black Death was a pandemic that affected all of Europe in the ways described, not only Italy. The Renaissance's emergence in Italy was most likely the result of the complex interaction of the above factors.
Cultural conditions in Florence
It has long been a matter of debate why the Renaissance began in Florence, and not elsewhere in Italy. Scholars have noted several features unique to Florentine cultural life which may have caused such a cultural movement. Many have emphasized the role played by the
Medici family in patronizing and stimulating the arts.
Lorenzo de' Medici devoted huge sums to commissioning works from Florence's leading artists, including
Leonardo da Vinci,
Sandro Botticelli, and
Michelangelo Buonarroti. Da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo were all born in
Tuscany. Arguing that such chance seems improbable, other historians have contended that these "Great Men" were only able to rise to prominence because of the prevailing cultural conditions at the time.
The Renaissance's characteristics
Humanism
Humanism wasn't a philosophy per se, but rather a method of learning. In contrast to the medieval
scholastic mode, which focused on resolving contradictions between authors, humanists would study ancient texts in the original, and appraise them through a combination of reasoning and empirical evidence. Humanist education was based on the study of
poetry,
grammar,
ethics and
rhetoric. Above all, humanists asserted "the genius of man... the unique and extraordinary ability of the human mind."
Humanist scholars shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern period. Political philosophers such as
Niccolò Machiavelli and
Thomas More revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers, and applied them in critiques of contemporary government. Theologians, notably
Erasmus and
Martin Luther, challenged the
Aristotelian status quo, introducing radical new ideas of
justification and
faith (
for more, see Religion below).
Art
One of the distinguishing features of Renaissance art was its development of highly realistic linear perspective.
Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) is credited with first treating a painting as a window into space, but it wasn't until the writings of architects
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) and
Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) that perspective was formalized as an artistic technique. The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts (
for more, see Renaissance Classicism). To that end, painters also developed other techniques, studying light, shadow, and, famously in the case of
Leonardo da Vinci,
human anatomy. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature, and to unravel the axioms of
aesthetics, with the works of
Leonardo,
Michelangelo and
Raphael representing artistic pinnacles that were to be much imitated by other artists.
Concurrently, in the
Netherlands, a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed, the work of
Hugo van der Goes and
Jan van Eyck having particular influence on the development of painting in Italy, both technically with the introduction of oil paint and canvas, and stylistically in terms of naturalism in representation. (
for more, see Renaissance in the Netherlands). Later, the work of
Pieter Brueghel the Elder would inspire artists to depict themes of everyday life.
In
architecture,
Filippo Brunelleschi was foremost in studying the remains of ancient Classical buildings, and with rediscovered knowledge from the 1st century writer
Vitruvius and the flourishing discipline of
mathematics, formulated the Renaissance style. Brunelleschi's major feat of engineering was the building of the dome of
Florence Cathedral. The outstanding architectural work of the High Renaissance was the rebuilding of
St. Peter's Basilica, combining the skills of
Bramante,
Michelangelo,
Raphael,
Sangallo and
Maderno.
Science
The upheavals occurring in the arts and humanities were mirrored by a dynamic period of change in the sciences. Some have seen this flurry of activity as a "
scientific revolution," heralding the beginning of the modern age. Others have seen it merely as an acceleration of a continuous process stretching from the ancient world to the present day. Regardless, there's general agreement that the Renaissance saw significant changes in the way the universe was viewed and the methods with which philosophers sought to explain natural phenomena.
Science and art were very much intermingled in the early Renaissance, with artists such as
Leonardo da Vinci making observational drawings of anatomy and nature. Yet the most significant development of the era wasn't a specific discovery, but rather a
process for discovery, the
scientific method. However, the Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporary
theology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God. While the schism was resolved by the
Council of Constance (
1414), the fifteenth century saw a resulting reform movement know as Conciliarism, which sought to limit the pope's power. While the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical matters by the
Fifth Council of the Lateran (
1511), it was dogged by continued accusations of corruption, most famously in the person of Pope Alexander VI, who was accused variously of
simony,
nepotism and fathering four
illegitimate children whilst Pope, whom he married off to gain more power.
Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed reform to the Church, often based on humanist
textual criticism of the New
Testament. Vasari divides the age into three phases: the first phase contains
Cimabue,
Giotto, and
Arnolfo di Cambio; the second phase contains
Masaccio,
Brunelleschi, and
Donatello; the third centers on
Leonardo da Vinci and culminates with
Michelangelo. It wasn't just the growing awareness of classical antiquity that drove this development, according to Vasari, but also the growing desire to study and imitate nature.
The Renaissance spreads
In the 15th century the Renaissance spread with great speed from its birthplace in Florence, first to the rest of Italy, and soon to the rest of Europe. The invention of the
printing press allowed the rapid transmission of these new ideas. As it spread, its ideas diversified and changed, being adapted to local culture. In the twentieth century, scholars began to break the Renaissance into regional and national movements, including:
The Northern Renaissance
The Renaissance as it occurred in Northern Europe has been termed the "Northern Renaissance". It arrived first in
France, imported by King
Charles VIII after his invasion of Italy.
Francis I imported Italian art and artists, including
Leonardo Da Vinci, and at great expense built ornate palaces. Writers such as
François Rabelais,
Pierre de Ronsard,
Joachim du Bellay and
Michel de Montaigne, painters such as
Jean Clouet and musicians such as
Jean Mouton also borrowed from the spirit of the Italian Renaissance.
In the second half of the 15th century, Italians brought the new style to
Poland and
Hungary. After the marriage in 1476 of
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, to
Beatrix of Naples,
Buda became the one of the most important artistic centres of the Renaissance north of the
Alps. The most important humanists living in Matthias' court were
Antonio Bonfini and
Janus Pannonius. This was supported by temporarily strengthened monarchies in both areas, as well as by newly-established universities.
The spirit of the age spread from France to the
Low Countries and
Germany, and finally by the late
16th century to England,
Scandinavia, and remaining parts of Central Europe. In these areas
humanism became closely linked to the turmoil of the
Protestant Reformation, and the art and writing of the
German Renaissance frequently reflected this dispute.
In England, the
Elizabethan era marked the beginning of the
English Renaissance with the work of writers
William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe,
John Milton, and
Edmund Spenser, as well as great artists, architects (such as
Inigo Jones), and composers such as
Thomas Tallis,
John Taverner, and
William Byrd.
The Renaissance arrived in the Iberian peninsula through the Mediterranean possessions of the
Aragonese Crown and the city of
Valencia. Early Iberian Renaissance writers include
Ausiàs March,
Joanot Martorell,
Fernando de Rojas,
Juan del Encina,
Garcilaso de la Vega,
Gil Vicente and
Bernardim Ribeiro. The late Renaissance in Spain saw writers such as
Miguel de Cervantes,
Lope de Vega,
Luis de Góngora and
Tirso de Molina, artists such as
El Greco and composers such as
Tomás Luis de Victoria.
In Portugal writers such as
Sá de Miranda and
Luís de Camões and artists such as
Nuno Gonçalves appeared.
While Renaissance ideas were moving north from Italy, there was a simultaneous southward spread of innovation, particularly in
music. The music of the
15th century Burgundian School defined the beginning of the Renaissance in that art and the
polyphony of the
Netherlanders, as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy, formed the core of what was the first true international style in
music since the standardization of
Gregorian Chant in the
9th century.
The Renaissance's historiography
Conception
It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the French word
Renaissance achieved popularity in describing the cultural movement that began in the late 13th century. The Renaissance was first defined by French historian
Jules Michelet (1798-1874), in his 1855 work,
Histoire de France. For Michelet, the Renaissance was more a development in science than in art and culture. He asserted that it spanned the period from
Columbus to
Copernicus to
Galileo; that is, from the end of the fifteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth century. Moreover, Michelet distinguished between what he called, "the bizarre and monstrous" quality of the Middle Ages and the
democratic values that he, as a vocal
Republican, chose to see in its character. His book was widely read and was influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance. However, Buckhardt has been accused of setting forth a linear
Whiggish view of history in seeing the Renaissance as the origin of the modern world.
More recently, historians have been much less keen to define the Renaissance as a historical age, or even a coherent cultural movement. As Randolph Starn has put it,
Johan Huizinga (
1872–
1945) acknowledged the existence of the Renaissance but questioned whether it was a positive change. In his book
The Waning of the Middle Ages, he argued that the Renaissance was a period of decline from the
High Middle Ages, destroying much that was important. He claims that the gap between 1453 and 1564 was in fact a period when thought declined significantly, bringing to an end a
period of advance near the end of the Middle Ages. He sees the medieval
Twelfth-century Renaissance as the "real, true, and unqualified renaissance", noting for example that the
rediscovery of ancient knowledge, which the later Italian humanists claimed for themselves, was actually accomplished in the twelfth century. Franklin concedes that painting was an area where the Renaissance really did excel, but unfortunately, he says, the skill of the Renaissance in art covered up its incompetence at anything else.
Historians have begun to consider the word
Renaissance as unnecessarily loaded, implying an unambiguously positive rebirth from the supposedly more primitive "
Dark Ages" (Middle Ages). Many historians now prefer to use the term "
Early Modern" for this period, a more neutral designation that highlights the period as a transitional one between the Middle Ages and the modern era.
Other Renaissances
The term Renaissance has also been used to define time periods outside of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Charles H. Haskins (1870–1937), for example, made a convincing case for a
Renaissance of the 12th century. Other historians have argued for a
Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth and ninth centuries, and still later for an
Ottonian Renaissance in the tenth century. Other periods of cultural rebirth have also been termed "renaissances", such as the
Bengal Renaissance or the
Harlem Renaissance.
References and sources
References and notes
Sources
Brotton, Jerry, The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction ISBN 0-19-280163-5
Burckhardt, Jacob (1878), The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
, trans S.G.C Middlemore, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-044534-X
Burke, P, The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries ISBN 0-631-19845-8
The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902)
Cronin, Vincent (1967), The Florentine Renaissance, ISBN 0-00-211262-0; (1969), The Flowering of the Renaissance, ISBN 0-7126-9884-1; (1992), The Renaissance, ISBN 0-00-215411-0
Ergang, Robert (1967), The Renaissance, ISBN 0-442-02319-7
Ferguson, Wallace K.] (1962), Europe in Transition, 1300-1500, ISBN 0-04-940008-8
Haskins, Charles Homer (1927), The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, ISBN 0-674-76075-1
Huizinga, Johan (1924), The Waning of the Middle Ages, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-013702-5
Jensen, De Lamar (1992), Renaissance Europe, ISBN 0-395-88947-2
Lopez, Robert S. (1952), Hard Times and Investment in Culture
Strathern, Paul (2003), The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, ISBN 1-844-13098-3
Stephens, John, The Italian Renaissance: The Origins of Intellectual and Artistic Change before the Renaissance ISBN 0-582-49337-4
Thorndike, Lynn (1943) 'Renaissance or Prenaissance?' in "Some Remarks on the Question of the Originality of the Renaissance", Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 4, No. 1, Jan. 1943 (Subscription required for JSTOR link.)
Weiss, Roberto (1969) The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity, ISBN 1-597-40150-1
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