Renaissance Art, Humanism, and Historical Definitions

Renaissance Art and Humanism

Renaissance Painting

The Renaissance saw a profound shift in artistic expression, with painters mastering new techniques and themes.

The Quattrocento (15th Century)

• Masaccio and Piero della Francesca: Pioneered the use of perspective.
• Botticelli: Known for his distinctive sense of movement and graceful figures.

The Cinquecento (16th Century)

• Leonardo da Vinci: Brilliantly represented nature, mastering sfumato and blurring outlines. One of his masterpieces was the Mona Lisa.
• Michelangelo Buonarroti: Painted the iconic frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
• Raphael: Achieved perfection in his use of color, drawing, and composition. One of his notable artworks is the Madonnas.
• Titian: As a Venetian painter, he created highly colorful works of art, including portraits and paintings of religious and mythological themes.

Humanism

Humanism was a pivotal intellectual movement that reshaped thought across Europe.

Philological and Philosophical Humanism

The first humanists in Italy started translating and analyzing classical texts, using original sources from Plato, Aristotle, or Virgil. Example: Francesco Petrarca.

Religious Humanism

Some humanists in Northern Europe tried to assimilate their admiration for classical antiquity with Christian religion. Example: Thomas More.

Scientific Humanism

Observation of reality and independent reasoning were two of the core principles of Humanism. Example: Nicolaus Copernicus formulated the heliocentric theory.

The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1448 significantly accelerated the spread of humanist ideas and knowledge.

Key Historical Terms

Humanism

An intellectual movement that admired the Classical Age, considered human beings to be the center of the universe, and used reason to explain reality.

Reformation

A religious movement begun by Martin Luther in the 16th century as a result of corruption in the Church. It led to the split of the Church into Protestantism and Catholicism.

Counter-Reformation

An internal reform of the Catholic Church to combat the rise of Protestantism.

Renaissance

A 15th and 16th-century artistic style inspired by the classical art of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Theocentrism

A philosophical concept that considers God to be the central focus of all things.

Fresco

A technique in which colors are dissolved in water and applied to a wet plaster wall.

Perspective

A system in which three-dimensional objects are projected onto a flat surface.

Madonna

An Italian word used to describe representations of the Virgin and Child.

Corregidor

A representative of the monarchs in the city councils.

Santa Hermandad

An institution created to keep order in rural areas.

Inquisition

An ecclesiastical tribunal that persecuted false converts.

Flemish

Coming from Flanders (Belgium).

Bankruptcy

A situation in which a person, a company, or the state is unable to pay their debts.

Grotesque

A decoration that combines foliage with monstrous figures.

Casa de Contratación

An institution founded in 1503 and based in Seville, responsible for governing Spanish trade with America.

Consejo de Indias

A body that advised kings on matters related to America.

Viceroyalty

An extensive land governed by a viceroy or a king's representative in the early centuries of Spain's colonization of America.

Mestizo

A person of mixed race or culture.