The Renaissance was a cultural, economic and political movement, which emerged in Italy in the 14th century and extended throughout Europe until the 17th century.
Inspired by the values of Classical Antiquity and generated by economic changes , the Renaissance reshaped medieval life and ushered in the Modern Age.
Origin of the Renaissance:concept, changes and renaissance cities
The term Renaissance was coined in the 16th century to describe the art movement that emerged a century earlier. It later ended up designating the economic and political changes of the period as well, and it is much contested today.
The concept "Renaissance" carries the idea that this period brought profound and drastic changes to the European context. However, despite having been a moment of considerable changes for the old continent, there was not a total rupture with the characteristics existing in the Middle Ages.
After all, even considering urban and trade changes, cities never completely disappeared and people did not stop trading among themselves or using currency. There was, indeed, a decrease in these activities during the Middle Ages.
We observe, however, that in the Italian Peninsula several cities such as Venice, Genoa, Florence, Rome, among others , benefited from trade with the East.
These regions became rich with the development of trade in the Mediterranean Sea, giving rise to a rich mercantile bourgeoisie. In order to assert themselves socially, these merchants sponsored artists and writers - a practice called patronage - who inaugurated a way of making art.
The Church and nobility were also patrons of artists such as Michelangelo, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pietro della Francesa, among many others.
Renaissance Culture
We highlight five outstanding features of Renaissance culture:
- Rationalism - reason was the only way to get to knowledge. Everything could be explained by reason and science.
- Scientism - all knowledge should be demonstrated through scientific experience.
- Individualism - human beings sought to assert their own personality, show their talents, achieve fame and satisfy their ambitions, through the conception that individual rights were above collective rights.
- Anthropocentrism - man is seen as the supreme creation of God and the center of the universe. Man is now the center of man's own thinking.
- Classicism - artists draw their inspiration from Classical Greco-Roman Antiquity to make their works.
Artistic Renaissance
The main artists of the renaissance were:
Leonardo da Vinci: Mathematician, physicist, anatomist, inventor, architect, sculptor and painter, he was the stereotype of the Renaissance man who dominates several sciences - this characteristic we call universalism . Hence, he is considered an absolute genius. The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are his masterpieces.
Rafael Sanzio: was a master of painting and famous for knowing how to convey delicate feelings through his images of Our Lady. One of his main works is the Madonna of the Prado.
Michelangelo: Italian artist whose work was marked by humanism. In addition to being a painter, he was one of the greatest sculptors of the Renaissance. Among his works are Pietá, David, The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgment. He was also responsible for painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Renaissance Humanism
Humanism was a movement to glorify man and human nature, which emerged in the cities of the Italian Peninsula, in the mid-14th century.
Man, the most perfect work of the Creator, would be able to understand, modify and even dominate nature. Therefore, humanists sought to interpret Christianity, using writings by ancient authors, such as Plato.
Religion has not lost importance, but has become much questioned. Thus emerged new Christian currents, such as Protestantism.
The study of ancient texts also aroused a taste for historical research and knowledge of classical languages, such as Latin and Greek.
In this way, humanism became a reference for many thinkers in the following centuries, such as the Enlightenment philosophers of the 17th century.
Literary Renaissance
The Renaissance gave rise to great literary geniuses, among them:
- Dante Alighieri:Italian writer, author of the great poem "Divine Comedy ".
- Machiavelli:author of "The Prince ", a precursor work of political science, where the author gives advice to the governors of the time.
- Shakespeare:considered one of the greatest playwrights of all time. In his work, he approached human conflicts in the most diverse dimensions:personal, social, political. He wrote comedies and tragedies such as "Romeo and Juliet ", "Macbeth ", "The Tamed Shrew ", "Othello " and several others.
- Miguel de Cervantes:Spanish author of the work "Don Quixote ", a scathing critique of medieval chivalry.
- Luís de Camões:he was prominent in Renaissance literature in Portugal, author of the great epic poem "Os Lusíadas".
Scientific Renaissance
The Renaissance was marked by important scientific discoveries, notably in the fields of astronomy, physics, medicine, mathematics and geography.
Pole Nicolaus Copernicus, who denied the geocentric theory defended by the Church, stating that "Earth is not the center of the universe, but simply a planet that revolves around the Sun l".
Galileo Galilei discovered Saturn's rings, sunspots, Jupiter's satellites. Persecuted and threatened by the Church, Galileo was forced to publicly deny his ideas and discoveries.
In medicine, knowledge has advanced with works and experiments on blood circulation, cauterization methods and general principles of anatomy.
Commercial renaissance
All these innovations were only possible thanks to the commercial growth that took place in the Middle Ages.
When the crops were good and there was food left over, it was sold at traveling fairs. With the commercial increase, the sellers started to settle in certain places that became known as burgos. Thus, those who lived in the burg were called bourgeois.
At fairs it was easier to use coins than the barter system. However, as each manor had its own currency, it was difficult to know what the correct value would be. In this way, people specialized in monetary exchange (exchange) and others in making loans and guaranteeing payments, giving rise to banks in the future.
Money, then, came to be more valued than land and this inaugurated a way of thinking and relating in society, where products would be measured by the amount of money they cost.
Rebirth - All MatterExpand your knowledge by reading the articles :
- Phases of Rebirth
- Characteristics of the Renaissance
- Cultural Renaissance
- Urban Renaissance
- Anthropocentrism