Renaissance

~5 mins

The word Renaissance comes from French, meaning "rebirth." It describes the cultural movement in Europe between about 1300 and 1600 that revived classical learning, art, and science after the Middle Ages. It began in Italy, where wealth, trade, and ancient ruins inspired artists and scholars to look back to Greece and Rome.

1) Humanism was the guiding philosophy of the Renaissance. The word comes from Latin humanitas, meaning culture, education, and refinement. Humanists studied grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy, called the "studia humanitatis." They emphasised human potential and achievements rather than only divine matters. The city of Florence in Italy became the cradle of the Renaissance. Wealthy banking families like the Medici sponsored artists and thinkers. Patronage, meaning financial support for creative work, gave Florence its burst of architecture, sculpture, and painting.

2) Petrarch, known as the "Father of Humanism," rediscovered ancient manuscripts and wrote sonnets that influenced European poetry. He believed studying classical authors improved morality and wisdom. His work helped coin the sense of Renaissance as a "rebirth" of lost knowledge. Perspective in art was rediscovered during the Renaissance. Linear perspective, with parallel lines converging at a vanishing point, was first used by Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence around 1420. It created depth and realism, seen in Masaccio's Holy Trinity fresco.

3) Fresco, meaning "fresh" in Italian, is painting on wet plaster so colours soak in as the wall dries. It became central in Renaissance decoration. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512) in Rome is the most famous example. Oil painting became popular in the Renaissance. Unlike tempera, oil dried slowly, allowing blending and glazing. Jan van Eyck, a Flemish painter, used oil to create luminous portraits like the Arnolfini Portrait (1434), with intricate detail in mirrors and fabrics.

Related: Fresco | Sistine Chapel | Jan van Eyck

4) Leonardo da Vinci embodied the idea of the Renaissance man — someone skilled in many areas. He painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, studied anatomy, designed machines, and kept notebooks full of sketches. His name means "Leonardo from Vinci," his birthplace. Michelangelo was another towering figure. He sculpted David (1501–1504), carved from marble, showing contrapposto (a lifelike stance with weight on one leg). He also painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, filling it with muscular biblical figures. His name means "Michael-angel," reflecting Christian naming traditions.

5) Raphael, younger than Leonardo and Michelangelo, painted the School of Athens (1511), showing Plato and Aristotle surrounded by philosophers. His work harmonised perspective, composition, and ideal beauty. His name comes from Hebrew, meaning "God has healed." Printing revolutionised the Renaissance. Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press in Mainz, Germany, around 1450. Books could now be reproduced quickly, spreading knowledge. The first major book printed was the Gutenberg Bible.

Related: Raphael | School of Athens | Gutenberg

6) The word "print" comes from the Latin premere, meaning to press. Printing allowed Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517), which criticised church practices, to spread rapidly, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Without the press, the Reformation might have remained local. Renaissance architecture revived classical styles. Domes, columns, and arches replaced medieval Gothic forms. Brunelleschi built the dome of Florence Cathedral using double shells and ribs, inspired by Roman engineering. The word dome comes from Latin domus, meaning house, but in architecture it referred to grand sacred roofs.

7) In Venice, artists like Titian used rich colour and light. Venice's location on the sea gave its art a shimmering quality. Titian's portraits influenced European painting for centuries. His name comes from Latin Titius, an ancient Roman family name. Northern Renaissance art developed in the Low Countries (modern Belgium, Netherlands). Artists like Hieronymus Bosch painted surreal, moralising scenes, while Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted peasants and landscapes, making everyday life worthy of art.

8) Music in the Renaissance became more polyphonic, meaning multiple melodies woven together. Composers like Josquin des Prez and Palestrina wrote masses and motets that balanced harmony and clarity. The word motet comes from French mot, meaning word, since they were vocal pieces with sacred texts. Science advanced through observation and experiment. Nicolaus Copernicus proposed heliocentrism — that the earth orbits the sun — in 1543. The name heliocentric comes from Greek helios (sun) and kentron (centre). This challenged centuries of geocentrism (earth-centred models).

9) Andreas Vesalius revolutionised anatomy by dissecting bodies and publishing De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body, 1543). The word anatomy comes from Greek ana (up) and temnein (to cut). His work corrected errors from ancient medical texts. Exploration expanded Europe's horizons. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic, reaching the Americas. Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa to India (1498). Ferdinand Magellan's expedition circumnavigated the globe (1519–1522). The word navigate comes from Latin navis (ship) and agere (to drive).

10) The Age of Exploration was fuelled by the search for trade routes to Asia, especially for spices like pepper and cinnamon. Colonisation followed, with European powers claiming lands in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The word colony comes from Latin colonia, meaning a settlement of farmers. The Protestant Reformation was a major religious movement. Martin Luther, a German monk, criticised indulgences — payments for forgiveness — in 1517. The word Protestant comes from Latin protestari, meaning to declare publicly. Protestants opposed certain Catholic teachings and formed new churches.

11) John Calvin in Geneva promoted ideas of predestination, the belief that God had already chosen the saved. His strict moral code shaped communities. His name comes from the Latin calvinus, meaning bald. The Catholic Counter-Reformation responded with reforms. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) clarified doctrines and improved priestly training. The Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola, became missionaries and educators. The word Jesuit comes from Jesus, reflecting their devotion.

12) Renaissance literature blossomed. Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in Italian, imagining a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. The word comedy here means a story with a positive ending, not humour. Petrarch wrote sonnets, while Boccaccio wrote The Decameron, tales told during the Black Death. In England, William Shakespeare (1564–1616) wrote plays like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. His works explored human ambition, love, and tragedy. His surname means "spear-shaker," possibly hinting at a warrior ancestor.

Related: Dante | Shakespeare | Divine Comedy

13) Cervantes in Spain wrote Don Quixote (1605), often called the first modern novel. It follows a deluded knight who tilts at windmills, parodying chivalric romances. Cervantes' name comes from the Spanish word for stag. Renaissance politics included the rise of nation-states. Kings centralised power, reducing feudal nobles' independence. Diplomacy developed as states negotiated through ambassadors, a word from Latin ambactus, meaning servant or messenger.

Related: Cervantes | Don Quixote | Nation-states

14) Machiavelli wrote The Prince (1513), a manual on power. He argued rulers should be pragmatic, even ruthless, to maintain stability. The term Machiavellian now means cunning and manipulative politics. His name comes from the Italian Machiavello. Renaissance warfare changed with gunpowder, introduced from China. Cannons and firearms made castles less effective, ending medieval-style fortresses. The word artillery comes from Old French artillier, meaning to equip.

15) Renaissance maps improved with exploration. Cartography, the art of mapmaking, comes from Greek chartēs (map) and graphein (to write). Maps by Gerardus Mercator (1569) used new projections that sailors relied on for navigation. Women in the Renaissance faced limits but also opportunities. Some noblewomen became patrons, like Isabella d'Este, who supported artists and writers. Writers like Christine de Pizan argued for women's education.

16) Renaissance art valued realism. Artists studied anatomy and used perspective to create natural spaces. Portraits captured individuality, while religious art placed sacred figures in earthly, recognisable settings. The Renaissance spread from Italy to Northern Europe, France, England, and Spain. Each region adapted it differently: Northern artists focused on detail and texture, English thinkers blended it with humanist reform, and Spain tied it to Catholic identity.

17) Trade flourished with Renaissance economies. Banking families like the Medicis in Florence pioneered financial tools such as bills of exchange, early forms of credit. The word bank comes from Italian banco, meaning bench, where moneylenders sat in markets. Education broadened beyond monasteries. Humanists taught in universities and schools, promoting classical texts and languages. Latin remained the language of scholarship, but vernacular languages (local speech) grew in literature.

18) The Renaissance challenged medieval worldviews. Science emphasised observation, politics focused on statecraft, and art celebrated human achievement. This shift is why the era is seen as the bridge to modernity. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottomans sent Greek scholars fleeing to Italy, bringing classical manuscripts. Their knowledge of Greek language and philosophy fed the Renaissance. The word "classical" comes from Latin classicus, meaning of the highest rank. It referred to Greek and Roman culture, which Renaissance thinkers saw as models to imitate and revive.

19) The late Renaissance blended into Mannerism, an art style with elongated figures and artificial poses, reacting to the harmony of earlier masters. This showed that even within the Renaissance, change and experimentation never stopped. The Renaissance ended gradually by the early 1600s, giving way to the Baroque era. By then, printing, exploration, Reformation, and science had transformed Europe. The name Renaissance endures because it marked a rebirth of classical spirit that reshaped art, knowledge, and society.

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