The European Renaissance - What is it all about?
The Renaissance (French for "rebirth"), 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. It was not 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. Many dramatic changes happened during the Renaissance. It was a period of new inventions and beliefs.
The Renaissance was drastically different from the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the church held most of the power and its economy was agriculturally based. Exploration and learning was almost put to a stop. During the Renaissance society was transformed into a society increasingly dominated by central political institutions with an urban commercial attitude. Also, people's curiosity overcame their fear and many people started to venture out and explore. New schools and colleges became increasingly common.
The Renaissance was started by many rich Italian cities, such as Florence, Ferrara, Milan, and Venice. Because these cities were very wealthy, many merchants started to spend money on different things, such as painting, learning, new banking techniques, and new systems of government. These things gave rise to a new type of scholar, the humanist. Humanism was a subject concerned with humankind and culture. They studied various things such as Latin, Greek language, literature and philosophy. Music and mathematics were also studied as well.
The Renaissance gave way to new forms of painting, art and sculpture. During the Renaissance, artist were no longer regarded as mere artisans, as they had been to the medieval past, but for the first time emerged as independent personalities, compared to poets and writers. Many artisans merge mathematics with art, in order to become more precise in their measurements and to make sure an object was supported both rationally and proportionally. Therefore painters tried and often succeeded in making their painting a window into the world. Artists also studied the way light hits objects and the way our eyes perceive light. A new kind of paint called oil paint was used. This allowed the artist to create texture, mix colors, and allow more time for corrections before it dried.
More emphasis is being laid not just on the nature of the new learning and of the changes in art, but on the way these innovations were received. So the study of the Renaissance takes in the culture of the court and of the urban elites, with whom artists and humanists found work. It looks at the priorities of patrons; as these priorities differed from place to place, so the Renaissance took different forms. The creative absorption and transformation of classical values throughout Europe and even in the new societies of the Americas is all part of the understanding of the Renaissance and also is the relationship between the Renaissance and other major contemporary cultural changes, religious, technological and scientific.