Individualism developed into the feeling and imagination of the Romantic era, and, combined with the concept of the republic and civic virtue and public education, informed American independence and the French Revolution.
As historians Hugh Honour and John Fleming noted, Renaissance Humanism advanced "the new idea of self-reliance and civic virtue" among the common people, combined with a belief in the uniqueness, dignity, and value of human life.
As historian Charles G. Nauert wrote, "this humanistic philosophy overthrew the social and economic restraints of feudal, pre-capitalist Europe, broke the power of the clergy, and discarded ethical restraints on politics Artists like Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, and architects like Brunelleschi, Alberti, and Palladio, were viewed as masters informing subsequent generations of artists, whether reinterpreting their works or challenging them. Content compiled and written by Rebecca Seiferle.
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Kimberly Nichols. The Art Story. Ways to support us. Renaissance Humanism - History and Concepts Started: Key Artists Sandro Botticelli.
Quick view Read more. Botticelli's images represent the pinnacle of the cultural flourishing of Renaissance Florence, a prosperous society that epitomized beauty and virtue. Leonardo da Vinci. Universally lauded as one of the greatest artists of all time, Leonardo da Vinci is known for his contributions to the Renaissance period in the form of portraits and religious paintings.
Da Vinci was the eponymous "Renaissance Man," proficient not only in art, but also in mathematics, science, and technology. Michelangelo was the legendary Italian Renaissance artist famous for his sculpters of David and his Pieta, and he is perhaps best known for his large-scale painted frescos in the Sistine Chapel. The Italian Renaissance painter and architect Raphael is celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
Caravaggio was an Italian Late-Renaissance and Baroque painter who is considered a master of chiaroscuro. He is known for his hot temper and for making powerful portraits and religious scenes. Chiaroscuro, Tenebrism, and Sfumato. Emphasizing drama and depth, the Renaissance techniques of Chiaroscuro, Tenebrism, and Sfumato allowed artists like Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rembrandt to illuminate visual narratives out from the shadows.
Early Renaissance. Early in the 15th century, Florentine artists rejuvenated the arts with a more humanistic and individualistic treatment that spawned on of the most creative revolutions in the arts. High Renaissance. The High Renaissance, the epitome of Italian art before the modern era was the exemplified in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael - among others. View all Important Art. Sandro Botticelli.
Overview and Artworks Biography. Piero della Francesca. Andrea Mantegna. Summary Concepts Artworks. Cite article. For example, Petrarch struggled with the proper relation between the active and contemplative life, and tended to emphasize the importance of solitude and study.
Humanism was an intellectual movement embraced by scholars, writers, and civic leaders in 14th century Italy. Humanism, also known as Renaissance Humanism, was an intellectual movement embraced by scholars, writers, and civic leaders in 14th- and earlyth-century Italy. The movement developed in response to the medieval scholastic conventions in education at the time, which emphasized practical, pre-professional, and scientific studies engaged in solely for job preparation, and typically by men alone.
Humanists reacted against this utilitarian approach, seeking to create a citizenry who were able to speak and write with eloquence and thus able to engage the civic life of their communities. Humanism introduced a program to revive the cultural—and particularly the literary—legacy and moral philosophy of classical antiquity. While Humanism initially began as a predominantly literary movement, its influence quickly pervaded the general culture of the time, re-introducing classical Greek and Roman art forms and contributing to the development of the Renaissance.
Humanists considered the ancient world to be the pinnacle of human achievement, and thought its accomplishments should serve as the model for contemporary Europe. Humanism was an optimistic philosophy that saw man as a rational and sentient being, with the ability to decide and think for himself.
It saw man as inherently good by nature, which was in tension with the Christian view of man as the original sinner needing redemption. It provoked fresh insight into the nature of reality, questioning beyond God and spirituality, and provided knowledge about history beyond Christian history.
Renaissance Humanists saw no conflict between their study of the Ancients and Christianity. The lack of perceived conflict allowed Early Renaissance artists to combine classical forms, classical themes, and Christian theology freely. Early Renaissance sculpture is a great vehicle to explore the emerging Renaissance style. Donatello became renowned as the greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance, known especially for his classical, and unusually erotic, statue of David, which became one of the icons of the Florentine republic.
Humanism affected the artistic community and how artists were perceived. While medieval society viewed artists as servants and craftspeople, Renaissance artists were trained intellectuals, and their art reflected this newfound point of view.
Patronage of the arts became an important activity, and commissions included secular subject matter as well as religious. In painting, the treatment of the elements of perspective and light became of particular concern. He used perspective in order to create a feeling of depth in his paintings. In addition, the use of oil paint had its beginnings in the early part of the 16th century, and its use continued to be explored extensively throughout the High Renaissance.
Some of the first Humanists were great collectors of antique manuscripts, including Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Coluccio Salutati, and Poggio Bracciolini. In Italy, the Humanist educational program won rapid acceptance and, by the midth century, many of the upper classes had received Humanist educations, possibly in addition to traditional scholastic ones.
Some of the highest officials of the church were Humanists with the resources to amass important libraries. Such was Cardinal Basilios Bessarion, a convert to the Latin church from Greek Orthodoxy, who was considered for the papacy and was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Humanism played a major role in education during the Renaissance, with the goal of cultivating the moral and intellectual character of citizens. During the Renaissance, Humanism played a major role in education.
Humanists —proponents or practitioners of Humanism during the Renaissance—believed that human beings could be dramatically changed by education. The Humanists of the Renaissance created schools to teach their ideas and wrote books all about education.
Humanists sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity, thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions.
Ford, et al. Bietenholz, Peter G. DOI: Short biographies of over 1, Renaissance and Reformation figures mentioned in the works of Erasmus; particularly useful for northern Europe. Paperback reprint published in Renaissance Society of America 3.
Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, Although neo-Latin new Latin means the Latin language from the time of Petrarch to the present, this work concentrates on neo-Latin in the Renaissance. While there is no article on humanism per se, the majority of the articles are relevant for major themes and individuals in humanism.
Grendler, Paul F. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Offers nearly 1, articles, all with bibliographies and written by experts, plus hundreds of illustrations, maps, genealogical charts, and tables, on every aspect of the Renaissance.
Hankins, James, ed. The I Tatti Renaissance Library. Provides reliable facing Latin texts and English translations of important works of Italian humanists. Very valuable source. A list of the volumes in the series is available online.
Kristeller, Paul Oskar. London: Warburg Institute, — Lists thousands of manuscripts by Italian humanists found in libraries throughout the world. An indispensable tool for the researcher. Also available online. Brill, Weiss, James Michael. Edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand, — Surveys the development of humanism, with particular reference to humanism in northern Europe.
Mentions the connections of humanism with the Protestant Reformation. Online bibliography listing articles, essays, books, dissertation abstracts, encyclopedia entries, and reviews for the Middle Ages and Renaissance, from to , based at the University of Toronto. As of January it listed more than 1,, entries, with new entries added daily.
Includes links to other online Renaissance sources and is particularly useful for recent scholarship. Available online through libraries or by individual subscription. Kohl, Benjamin G. New York: Garland, Comprehensive and useful bibliography, although limited to English-language secondary sources and translations.
Renaissance Quarterly is the leading journal in the field. It began as Renaissance News in and assumed its current title in Back issues are available online through several subscription services. Humanistica Lovaniensia has detailed studies on northern humanism in particular, while Italia Medioevale e Umanistica concentrates on the connections between late medieval and early Renaissance scholarly developments in Italy.
Humanistica Lovaniensia. An annual volume that began as a series of monographs on the history of humanism at Leuven, Belgium. It now covers humanism more broadly but focuses on humanism in northern Europe, especially the Netherlands. Publishes in several languages.
Italia Medioevale e Umanistica. An annual volume that focuses on early Italian humanism and late medieval scholarship. All articles are in Italian. Renaissance Quarterly. The leading journal in the field, with articles and reviews in all disciplines involving the Renaissance. Because it covers all fields, only a small number deal with humanism. Published by the Renaissance Society of America. The pioneering historian of humanism was Georg Voigt b.
Edited by Christopher S. Celenza and Kenneth Gouwens, — Presents a brief biography of Voigt in the context of 19th-century German scholarship and then assesses the interpretation and influence of Voigt Voigt, Georg. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, Argues that Petrarch was the father of humanism and then surveys the themes and works of all major Italian humanists and themes of the 15th century, followed by brief discussions of the influence of Italian humanism on Germany, France, and England.
Krieger , pp. The newest interpretation of the origins of humanism is found in Witt , a large study whose interpretation is based on analysis of the Latin style of many Italian scholars between about and the s. Witt, Ronald G. Argues that humanism began in the s, when a small number of Italian scholars sought to develop a classicizing Latin style based on imitation of the ancients.
They first used it to write poetry, and the new style gradually spread to other genres over several generations, culminating in Leonardo Bruni and other figures of the early 15th century. Probably the most widely accepted definition of humanism is that it was the broad educational, literary, and cultural movement involving the studia humanitatis —grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy, based on the standard ancient authors in Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek.
Humanistic studies generated a greater emphasis on man, a tendency toward concrete self expression, a fundamental classicism, and efforts to revive or restate the philosophical and other views of ancient writers by those who studied the humanities.
Hence, a humanist was a scholar, teacher, or student of the humanities based on the classics. This is the definition proposed by Paul Oskar Kristeller b. Kristeller and Kristeller offer synoptic treatments of his understanding of humanism, while Kristeller — provides many concrete examples of his scholarship on particular topics. Celenza, Christopher S.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Chapter 2, pp. Studies in Renaissance Thought and Letters. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, — Some articles are conceptually broad; others present detailed research based on manuscript sources.
New York: Harper and Row, Has articles on humanism, Platonism, Aristotelianism, and the influence of humanism on vernacular literature, music, and painting. Renaissance Thought and Its Sources. Edited by Michael Mooney.
New York: Columbia University Press, Monfasani, John, ed. New York: Italica, Humanism included a positive evaluation of civic and worldly values, the primacy of the will, the dignity of man, Platonism, a sense of historical anachronism, and a new investigation of nature.
Garin, Eugenio. Translated by Peter Munz. Oxford: Blackwell, This book was first published in German in Switzerland in and then in Italian in Garin fits all the major Italian intellectual figures from Petrarch through Galileo Galilei into his interpretation.
Science and Civic Life in the Italian Renaissance. Garden City, NY: Anchor, English translation of Scienza e vita civile nel Rinascimento italiano plus two other essays from Essays on the interpretation of the Renaissance, the ideal city, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei and the scientific culture of the Renaissance, and magic and astrology.
Portraits from the Quattrocento. Translated by Victor A. Velen and Elizabeth Velen. English translation of several essays published in Italian in the s. Astrology in the Renaissance: Zodiac of Life. London and New York: Arkana, English translation of Lo zodiaco della vita Essays that emphasize the influence of astrology, magic, Neoplatonism, and hermeticism on astronomy and other scientific disciplines in the Italian Renaissance. Hans Baron b.
Petrarch b. Humanism became civic during the political crisis of as the Florentine Republic struggled for its existence against Milan, ruled by a duke. At this time, Florentine intellectuals, especially Leonardo Bruni b. Civic humanism included a new understanding of history, an affirmation of the ethical value of the conditions of the civic life, and a new understanding of Cicero, the classical writer most admired by humanists.
Baron a and Baron b articulate the basic argument, while Baron and Baron add important elements. Baron, Hans. Argues by means of close analysis and dating of numerous humanistic texts that Bruni and other Florentines created civic humanism during the political crisis of the war against Milan at the beginning of the 15th century.
Most readers will prefer the one-volume revised edition, available in paperback, because it streamlines and sharpens the argument. Supplements Baron a with detailed, somewhat technical chapters concerning the genesis and dating of humanist texts in the early 15th century.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Important additional articles that round out the interpretation. In the s Baron published important articles on 14th- and 15th-century humanism that stand independently of Baron a.
These articles many revised, plus some new ones are collected here. Seigel and Hankins are critical; Witt, et al. Renaissance Civic Humanism: Reappraisals and Reflections. Molho, Anthony. Edited by David S. Peterson and Daniel E. Bornstein, 61— Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, Fascinating combination of biography and historiography.
Seigel, Jerrold E. Argues for a strong rhetorical element in humanist thought, and that humanists were not necessarily personally committed to civic values. Witt, Ronald, John N. Najemy, Craig Kallendorf, and Werner Gundersheimer. While noting some criticisms, they accept his view about the importance of Florentine civic humanism and its links to republicanism. Petrarch strongly criticized medieval approaches and values, proposed ancient texts as sources of wisdom and models of style, and anticipated humanist pronouncements about the dignity of man.
By Hans Baron, 51— Bishop, Morris. Petrarch and His World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, An attractive and well-written biography that brings Petrarch alive. Foster, Kenelm. Petrarch: Poet and Humanist. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Short introduction to Petrarch and his works; emphasizes his life and poetry more than his philosophy.
Trinkaus, Charles. Emphasizes Petrarch as a humanist and a philosopher, as well as his role in shaping Renaissance views on man.
On pp. After Hans Baron see Civic Humanism , most scholars, especially in the English-speaking world, have accepted that there was a connection between humanism and politics. While humanism everywhere had as its base a knowledge and respect for classical texts as inspiration and models of deportment and learning, it took on different coloration and attitudes in different political and social settings.
In Florence, major humanists filled the chancellorship, a high civil-service position; chancellors were both intellectual leaders and politically involved. Black, Robert. Benedetto Accolti and the Florentine Renaissance. Study of Accolti b. Brown, Alison. Study of another Florentine chancellor and humanist. Sees Scala, who was chancellor from to , as combining his humanism with a focus on the centralization of political authority in Florence.
Bruni, Leonardo. This work provides a summary of his life and translates selections from his most important writings. Field, Arthur. The Origins of the Platonic Academy of Florence. Study of the Platonic Academy, a group of Florentine humanists and philosophers who studied the writings of Plato and other ancient texts in the s and s.
Godman, Peter. Emphasizes that Florentine humanism was secular, and sees tensions between the thought of the humanists and Machiavelli. Martines, Lauro. The Social World of the Florentine Humanists, — Studies the social, political, and economic situations of forty-five Florentines strongly committed to humanism. Demonstrates that they came from the elite ranks of Florentine society, and notes the congruence between their social positions and some of the values of civic humanism.
Fundamental study of Salutati b. While Salutati was the most important early leader of Florentine humanists, Witt also emphasizes medieval and religious tendencies in his thought. Humanism in Rome differed from Florentine humanism.
The pope was an elected monarch who, with the aid of the Roman Curia, governed both an international church and the Papal States in central Italy. The humanists were clergymen rather than heads of families and civic office holders.
Hence, Roman humanism did not celebrate republicanism or duties to family. Rather, Roman humanists, most of whom were born elsewhere and moved to Rome, emphasized the links between imperial Rome and the papacy, between the ancient city and Renaissance Rome. Historical research since the late 20th century demonstrates that Roman humanism was just as intellectually rich as that of Florence, but distinct.
Stinger and Rowland offer more-general surveys, while Celenza translates an interesting text. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Introduction, Latin text, and English translation of a humanist treatise on the papal Curia, written in It praises the institution and criticizes its members. Emphasizes the Roman humanist themes, including Ciceronian Latin style and humanistic theology, from the s to Explains the operation of the Curia. McGinness, Frederick J. Continues the study of sacred oratory in Rome in the late 16th century, as preachers blended spirituality, humanistic rhetorical style, and the symbolic value of Rome.
Emphasizes the humanistic revival of classical rhetoric in preaching at the papal court. Rowland, Ingrid D. Emphasizes the enthusiasm for the classical period in papal Rome among scholars, artists, and bankers, and the connections among them between and Stinger, Charles L. The Renaissance in Rome. A cultural survey of Rome from to , with material on humanism.
It emphasizes the importance of the example of ancient Rome. Venice, the longest-lasting republic in Renaissance Italy, had a strong humanist culture. Its humanists were almost always Venetian patricians and citizens who emphasized unanimity, civic responsibility, and allegiance to Aristotelian philosophy, as King and King point out. Bouwsma deals with late Venetian humanism and cultural values in conflict with the papacy.
Bouwsma, William J. Berkeley: University of California Press, Although it probably overstates the Renaissance-versus-papacy theme, the book demonstrates the continued importance of humanistic and civic themes in the late Renaissance in Venice. Large and wide-ranging study. King, Margaret L. Venetian Humanism in an Age of Patrician Dominance. Major survey of the themes of Venetian humanism in the 15th century, with extensive bio-bibliographical information about ninety-two leading Venetian humanists.
The starting point for study of Venetian humanism. Has twelve studies of Venetian and female humanists of the 15th century. Offers detailed investigations of the humanist Giovanni Caldiera and several female humanists. In Naples, humanists developed notions of magnanimity and other social virtues within a princely context, as Bentley demonstrates, while Milanese humanists glorified their rulers; see Ianziti Bolognese humanism developed in the intersecting circles of the university and the Bentivoglio family and made contributions in philology, as Raimondi and Beroaldo show.
Bentley, Jerry H. Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples. Examines the roles and views of Neapolitan humanists, especially Giovanni Pontano b. Neapolitan humanism revolved around the court and articulated princely values to some extent. Beroaldo, Filippo, the Elder. Annotationes centum. Edited with introduction and commentary by Lucia A. Reprints brief Latin philological studies of classical texts in which Beroaldo b. Excellent introduction explains his method.
Ianziti, Gary. Oxford: Clarendon, Studies the writing of humanistic historiography that praised the Sforza dukes of Milan. Raimondi, Ezio. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, Originally published in Bernstein offers an excellent introduction to German humanism as a whole. Spitz studies the first important German humanist, and Spitz extends the analysis to others; Spitz surveys broader issues.
Akkerman and Vanderjagt studies Rudolph Agricola, Rummel surveys a humanist-Scholastic clash, and Rummel looks at the broader reasons for the quarrels between humanists and Scholastics. Watts studies Nicholas of Cusa, an original and provocative thinker. Akkerman, Fokke, and A.
Vanderjagt, eds. Excellent collection of studies, the majority in English, about the life and writings of Agricola, who studied in Italy and wrote an enormously influential humanist rhetoric manual first published in , as well as other works.
Bernstein, Eckhard. German Humanism. Boston: Twayne, Excellent survey of German humanism from to Discusses origins, themes, and major figures and provides excellent bibliography. Does not take strong interpretive stances. Rummel, Erika. Surveys the sharp debates between humanists and Scholastic theologians, beginning in Italy and passing to Germany between roughly and An attempt to destroy Hebrew books, which humanists defended as important for the correct interpretation of the Bible, became a struggle between humanists and Scholastics between and
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