Category: Renaissance

Architecture and art have embraced the application of proportions within the natural world for years. These elements marked the Italian Renaissance period (1400-1600) that represented the classical culture in architecture. During this time, the measurements of musical intervals and the human body expressed harmony within the architectural models. Andrea Palladio, a Renaissance architect (1508-1580), pioneered the proportion rules on dimensions of the room in line with Renaissance geometry (mathematics) for the erection of structures that were purposed to demonstrate harmony to users and viewers. However, since there is inadequate data on these proportions selection, it is uncertain whether these buildings are mere geometrical presentations of the human experience or concepts or whether they have a place in influencing the social ideal and functional characteristics within the entire buildings or rooms only. This paper will address the doubts by showing how the Villa Rotonda building model is suitable to the desires of your model. It adopts composition rules that handle proportion, symmetry, and orders, which are considered essential tools in achieving harmony and beauty.

Villa Rotonda is a Palladian Villa universal icon, which takes the shape of a suburban house built close to the city walls rather than typical villas established away from cities. The architectural plan for this building is modeled in a manner that the design and topography highlight the structure’s prominence. The Villa can be regarded as a temple because its form mirrors the concept of harmony and order. This building design would consist of a hemisphere and cubicle design. The most vital part of the plan is the centralized arrangement of the building.

Several precedents for centralized designs exist before and after the Renaissance period. For example, Michelangelo, Alberti, and Bramante all described their fondness with a central model within religious structures. Another example of buildings with an initial plan includes the famous Pantheon. Whereas the Pantheon model is centrally designed, its portico generates an axial movement. Thus it is not preferably central. There is a challenge in attaching the rectangular portico to the cylindrical form. Therefore its dome and pediment contrast the façade.

Within Villa Rotunda, there is an original and effective solution, where the circle would be inserted into the square to tackle the issue of joining the straight line and the curve. Emphasis is on the four zones of the square model to ensure the structure is symmetrical in all four areas, thus creating a central plan building.

As a testament, the central plan would be fixed on the Villa’s location. The Villa will be on a hill where it is easy to change position and have a sight of the four sides, with porticos suited to the four corners to enhance the view of the scenery. In contrast, other Villas have a central hall with a cross-shape axis; however, Villa Rotunda would have a circle like the central room. The emphasis would also be laid on the center by erecting a dome on its top, to create the external form hierarchy. The dome would have clay tiles placed on its exterior corbel surface. Secondly, the lower floors would be suited with a vaulted basement that defines the height of the design. Thirdly, on the facades, the only arched openings would be the sides of the patios.

Implication

According to the Books published by Palladio, one cannot ascertain whether a Villa’s measurements are deliberately made to have any connection to harmonic proportions. No room dimensions adhere to the interpretation by Wittkower on the harmonious proportions.

The corners of these rooms would, therefore, have measurements of 15 by 26 that can be estimated to be in the ratio of 1/3. However, this does not imply the other dimensions ratio. The dimensions can be organized as 30, 28, 13, 12, 11, and 6, with the sum added to 100. This number is a third within the monad series beginning with one, and then ten follows. The set displays unity in the Villa Rotunda model. The first figures give a total of 71 and the other three 29, where the numbers correlate within the plan. They signify the √3/3 and √2/1 incommensurable (not having a common factor) ratios. From the initial three numbers, the radius is 15, and 30 becomes the radius and an inscription of 26 on the equilateral triangle on it. The second sequence correlates to a pentagon that has seven sides and 11 chords, etched within a circle with a six radius, and 12 diameter measurements.

Additionally, these numbers would bring to mind primary shapes like the equilateral triangle, square, square, pentagon, and circle. These geometrical/mathematical correlations have been there since the Renaissance for the improvement of architectural models. The analysis also takes these measurement correlations above the confined musical intervals to the more fundamental mathematical link of the triangle, square, polygon, and circle. Thus, harmony can be pursued in the broader sensation than the harmonic proportion aspect.

Correlations

Although less evidence exists on Palladio’s application of mathematical models, the technique toward space and form shows particular relationships with mathematics within geometry. Like this design in Villa Rotunda, the emphasis would be placed upon proportion dealings with a measurement that forms the fundamental Euclid theorems of the Renaissance period. This design applies simple Euclidean designs to highlight a technique for determining the vault using the breadth of the room. Likewise, to Palladio, this building would integrate the widths and heights within the plan, elevations, and segments, which form the two-dimensional projections of the structure. Two divisions, transcending along the cross-axis, define the interior spaces of Villa Rotunda. Thus, reflecting a two-dimensional methodology to space as a building complexity enhances with various sections necessitated to illustrate it. Regardless of the Renaissance architects’ perspective projection know-how, similar to Palladio, I embrace plans, elevations, and sections to be the symbol of a complete building.

Villa Rotunda uses squares and circles as the geometries like Palladio applied the same in his plans. Most villas were represented by cuboids shape, with components such as vaults and domes added to the structure. The vaults express the interior ceilings of the façade. This structure’s plan strictly follows orthogonal grids. These grids are finite, open-ended, and are in square housing. Similar to Palladio’s ideas, the design of this building would have a clearly-defined central area, which forms the plan’s geometric center.

Conclusion

In conclusion, one of the vital features of Palladio’s design is the application of a range of forms he realized with finite components such as columns, vaults, pediments, fireplaces, flat ceilings, walls, and windows. These elements are arranged within an orthogonal grid and adopt axial arrangement and bilateral symmetry principles to help attain harmony. Similar to Palladio’s structures, this building embraces exact symmetry both within the elevations and plans. Palladio’s models often possess reflective symmetry with a single axis, with the exception of Villa Trosino, which like Villa Rotonda, takes the rotational symmetry.

Finally, in blend with the more sophisticated application of orders, this design aims at unifying the different elements of the plan, section, and elevation. This methodology was explained as a general maxim by Palladio: Beauty is derived from a graceful form and the correlation of the entirety of components and those components among themselves and to the entire structure. This is because structures must resemble full and well-defined bodies, where one member complements another, and all the parts are essential for the requirement.

The story, Castiglione’s The Courtier, discusses how the male courtier should be a principled man, a brave warrior, and an intellectual. Outside of the combat zone though, he should have excellent grace for everything he does to make everything look effortless. He states that the male courtier should be perfect in hand-to-hand combat as well as in handling weapons of war on both horse and foot. They cannot be having traits of feminine nature, nor can they be too emotional. He is not allowed to use any beauty supplies to alter his own attractiveness. The court also states that the perfect courtier should not be too tall nor too small as it serves the courtier poorly.

The count maintains that effeminate male courtiers are nothing more than ‘public harlots’ who should be ‘driven not merely from the courts of great lords but from the society of honest men.’ This shows the typical male stereotypes in males at that time. In that time period, males were considered superior to females, therefore, they have to show their strength in every skill they have. Castiglione also argues that they have a responsibility towards their prince. Messer Frederico states that they must leave the employ of a wicked prince before he sullies his own good name. He argues that integrity should guide their actions, whether he serves a principled or wicked prince. Castiglione also states that ladies who believe themselves to be of an unattractive nature often overuse cosmetics. Castiglione asserts that the ‘artifice’ of so much makeup takes away from a lady’s appearance of grace.

The madonna Costanza Fregosa objects to Castiglione of course. However, he states that a plain face or one with a small amount of cosmetics betrays more grace than one with a face painted on. To Castiglione, what makes a woman beautiful is being unconcerned about appearing that way. Her hair is ‘artlessly unadorned’ and unconfined while her cheeks often have a bit of color from blushing. Included in the book is also a long talk about love. For example, messer Bernardo says that a gentle lover often endures many trials, perils, and dangers for his lady’s sake. He doesn’t wish to take her but to earn her love for him. He continues to say that a lady taken for him against her own will can’t really love a man who so possesses her. Therefore, love potions and the use of force are useless to true love. Lord Gaspar, however, disagrees. He argues that a certain amount of this is necessary to win the whole woman over. For his part, Bernardo refuses to talk with Lord Gaspar any further, saying that the latter is a most ‘redoubtable warrior.’

The word renaissance means a revival or renewed interest in something, which is exactly what happened after the middle ages with the renewal of Greek and Roman culture. In contrast to the stagnation of the middle ages, the Renaissance period was full of growth and new thought. There were new ideas about astronomy, literature, technology, and especially art.

After the middle ages around the 14th century, a Florentine painter named Giotto made an important advancement in the art. He was commonly referred to as “the greatest painter in the world” and painted many famous pieces called the Ognissanti Madonna, as well as the frescos Scrovegni Chapel, and Bardi Chapel. He was famous for revolutionizing art, by putting a great deal of detail and accuracy into his human drawings.

By 1490, the focus shifted to the high Renaissance, and the painters Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo became famous and created their masterpieces. The advancement made by these painters was the ability to show shadows and create three-dimensional pictures that were unseen before this.

In addition to this technique, renaissance painters perfected perspective, which is the relation between objects and their background. They were able to identify that the smaller an object looks the farther away it is, and the larger an object looks the closer it is. Through the use of this new perspective technique, naturalism, landscapes, and religious figures were frequent subjects for paintings.

Another sculptor in this time period was Donatello. He was considered to be one of the greatest sculptors of the early Renaissance who commonly created religious pieces. He put great detail and true emotion into his sculptures, which were just like earlier sculptures in Classical Greek and Rome.

Architecture during the Renaissance was based on symmetry, proportion, and geometry. While designing these buildings, architects took much of the classical Greek and Roman architectural styles but then altered them to fit themselves. For example, arches, domes, and columns were very common, but the buildings were also square and always symmetrical, which made them somewhat unique.

One of the main architects of this time period was Filippo Brunelleschi. He used geometry and proportion in his works, which was different than any other architect that came before him.

Another major part of the change in architecture during this time was the idea of humanism. During the middle ages, a person’s main focus was on the gods, which greatly changed because of humanism. Humanism changed the way that people thought, which was also a reason why architecture started to change. People also had more money, therefore having more of a decision of what they wanted their homes to look like. They would hire architects to beautify their homes, instead of in the middle ages, where making buildings seemed like slave labor.

Literature was greatly changed because of the Renaissance. Before this time it was much harder to make a book. The paint had to be mixed by hand, and the paper had to be made by sewing together animal hides, but at the time of the Renaissance, this all changed.

The Renaissance man Gutenberg invented the printed press, which changed literacy forever. Because of the printing press literacy and information became more available, and more and more writers were established. Because of this writers became popular, but it was hard to make a living as a writer because they were not paid for the selling of their books.

Another main development of “books” was the format they were put in. Most books were written either in quartos or octavos, which were either 4 pages or 8 pages.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, draftsman, and Renaissance man. He is known for painting the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, which are among the most popular paintings of the Renaissance. He had an unstoppable wanting for learning, which guided his behavior and thinking incredibly.

When he was 15 years old his father apprenticed him to the artist Andrea De Verrocchio, who trained him in sculpture and painting, as well as some technical-mechanical arts. He then moved to Milan to work under one of the city’s Dukes, which is what he did for 17 years. During this time he was constantly kept busy sculpting and painting for court festivals, along with becoming a technical adviser for architecture and military matters. In Milan, he also created one of his most famous masterpieces, The Last Supper. Leonardo then became a master artist and moved back to Florence to take other apprentices under his wing. He was often hired to paint murals like the Battle of Anghiari and the Battle of Cascina, as well as his incredible mural in the Palazzo Vecchio.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet, also known as a Renaissance man, who had a great influence on art. He was considered to be one of the best artists of his time period and was so important that he was able to have a biography about him published while he was still alive. His most famous piece was a fresco called The Sistine Chapel, which he was hired to paint by the church.

At the age of 13, he was apprenticed to the most prominent painter in the city, Domenico Ghirlandaio. He was then taken under the wing of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was a part of the Medici family, the most wealthy family of the time period.

When the Medici family was overthrown Michelangelo decided to leave for a place named Bologna. There he created his first large surviving statue called the Bacchus. The immense detail and emotion that was put into the Bacchus was astounding and had never been seen before. He then created another amazing statue called David, which was set up in front of the entrance of the Palazzo de Priori. As well as these main statues he was making other works on the side, like madonnas for private houses. After the success of the statue David, he began working on enormous projects, usually having to do with religious matters, like the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael

Raphael was an Italian painter and sculptor, who is most famous for his Madonnas like the Sistine Madonna. He became Perugino’s apprentice in 1500, which is how he got most of his training. All in all, he was a very talented Renaissance man who created extremely astonishing pieces of artwork.

At the age of 11, his father Giovanni died, and he was forced to take over the task of managing his father’s workshop. Soon after that, it was clear that he was very successful in that role and was an extremely good painter. In 1504 he left his apprenticeship and moved to Florence where he studied the works of earlier artists like Massiaco, Michelangelo, and Leonardo Da Vinci. By studying these artworks closely he was able to identify an even more intricate personal painting style than what was ever seen before.

Later on, he developed an additional fresco style for the Vatican, which was located in the Stanza Dell’Incendio. He was then asked by the Pope to be his chief architect, which caused many offers to flow in. Much of his architectural work was related to religion, but it also extended to designing palaces.

Sadly, In 1520 on his 37th birthday, he suddenly died mysteriously to unknown causes in Rome Italy, while working on his largest painting ever called The Transfiguration. Raphael created some amazing pieces of artwork including his Madonnas and frescoes along with his intriguing painting and architectural styles. His mannerisms greatly affected painting styles during Italy’s Renaissance period, which is why he is such a well-known artist and Renaissance man.

Donatello

Donatello was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance. At an early age, he quickly learned the Gothic style of architecture and was receiving commissions for his works before he was 20. His style included the new idea of perspective, which allowed him to create sculptures that used measurable space. Arguably his most famous work is his statue of David, which is made out of bronze and stands slightly over 5 feet tall. In his later years, he lived in Florence and had a very tight relationship with the Medicis, who supplied him retirement allowance for the rest of his life. Donatello still continued his work taking on commissions from patrons of the arts until he died in 1466 because of unknown causes.

Masaccio

Masaccio was a Florentine artist who was most known for the painting San Geovenale Triptych. He was extremely artistically inclined from a very young age and joined a Florentine painting guild in 1422. His growing prestige finally appeared in 1425, when he painted a series of frescoes that were to be put in the Brancacci Chapel. He worked on these decorations for a long time, while still receiving other prestigious commissions.

The Renaissance Man between Antiquity and Modernity:

A Pendular Movement

The Renaissance Man, “the firstborn son of modern [emphasis added] Europe” (Burckhardt 88), who eighty years later, in 1940, becomes “the most intractable problem child of historiography” (Ferguson 2), has always wavered between antiquity and modernity. He was unable to situate himself between the past and the future or to cope with his rising sense of historical consciousness. He was also unable to situate himself in a tongue; between Latin and the rise of the vernaculars. In the vernaculars, he found a wide readership and appeal and was able to isolate himself from the preceding dark ages. Whilst in Latin, as Petrarca puts it: “He sought refuge in an idealized past, access to which was denied to the mass of the people” (Martin 55). In hindsight, historians could not decisively situate the Renaissance Man either.

However, in order to define the Renaissance Man —regardless of where he stands— the picture that Burckhardt painted of the Renaissance must be questioned. His picture: “full of delicacy and mystery” (Burckhardt 186), painting the age and its results as “enough to fill us with everlasting thankfulness” (Burckhardt 188), neglects the layman of the Renaissance. Therefore, it is important to note that when the Renaissance Man is mentioned, it is meant for those who were privileged enough to have light shed on and/or to dictate history. The Renaissance Man then was constantly fluctuating between an imitation of the antiquity he so much admired, and the modernity he yearned for. This essay aims to trace his fluctuation as a pendular movement that never chose a side and never settled.

Revival, Imitation, Modernity, and Sense of Historical Distance in Renaissance Europe:

The Renaissance in Europe marked a revival of antiquity in various fields. Most notably the Arts like architecture, painting, and portraiture —and the studio humanitatis: an ancient Roman phrase to describe an academic package of five subjects: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, ethics, and history; roughly what is known today as humanities. According to Leonardo Bruni, these humanities “perfect man”, as they focus on language which is what distinguishes man from animal. The Italian Renaissance Man, in particular, added a familial sense to his imitation and revival of Romans. “In a metaphorical sense, the humanists were discovering their ancestors” (Burke 23), they were reviving their fathers’ days; some noble families even claimed literal descent from ancient Romans. This imitation, however, was imbued with modernity. It was not slavish, its aim was not to ape the ancients but was rather assimilation and remodeling.

With the rise of humanities, rose literature encompassed the revival and imitation of many ancient literary genres: the epic, the comedy, the ode, the pastoral, etc. This imitation, like that of the arts, was also imbued with modernity. In secular translations, for example, the more domesticized, modernized, or assimilated, the better: “The less faithful the translations, the more valuable they are” (Burke 33). Imitation in original texts was more complicated, not only was slavish copying the only concern but also the growing sense of historical distance from the imitated while feeling strongly related to them. This historical distance in itself was problematic, for the Renaissance Man saw himself closer to the ancients than he was to the dark ages (Burke 18); which is chronologically illogical. He was so strongly appalled by the idea of closeness to the dark ages that he only referred to this closeness with irony. Yet, this irony and strong resentment unintentionally proved the closeness more than anything else: “Ironic detachment is the only possible stance for someone with a foot in both camps” (Gombrich). This idea of a foot in both camps —echoing the idea of a pendular movement— reflects how the Renaissance Man couldn’t situate himself between both ends.

Political Purpose of Imitation in England and Market Economy’s Influence on Writing (and its Language):

Imitation of antiquity in England, unlike the aforementioned in Italy and parts of Europe, was purely related to politics. It was the desire to create a national image à la that of the Romans and Greeks. Poets were encouraged by many English rulers and patrons to write epics of England like those written of ancient Rome and Greece (Burke 9), partially because it was the zeitgeist and partially because of a desire for glory. In English architecture for example, Maurice Howard, a British art historian examines it saying: “In England too the imitation of Serlio, […] involved modifications for practical reasons as well as to express the architect’s own creativity or the patron’s self-image” (Burke 34). This imitation —regardless of its cause— also fluctuated between both antiquity and modernity.

In literature, the epics and texts, in general, were not written in English vernaculars, but mostly in Latin as per the patrons’ request. Patronage was not the only factor affecting the production of English literature —considering the influence of the printing press, the rise of the vernaculars (vis-à-vis Latin), a new erudition, and a much wider circulation of books— an awareness of the market economy also began to be influential. In the introduction to Utopia, Thomas More writes:

“For men’s tastes are so various, the tempers of some are so severe, their minds so ungrateful, their tempers so cross, that there seems no point in publishing something […] The pedant dismisses as mere trifling anything that isn’t stuffed with obsolete words. Some readers approve only of ancient authors.”

Although seemingly revolting against the ancients and leaning towards modernity, More wrote Utopia in Latin to reach a wider humanist audience. He was aware of the hegemony of Latin and its far reach. This applies in general to the stance of imitation in Renaissance England: fluctuating and unsettled. Moreover, intellectuals of the time (who influenced England) were divided into two parties that resemble the pendular movement: the first fully admiring Latin’s complexity: “Petrarch wrote letters to Cicero and others, while Machiavelli described himself as conversing with the ancients.” (Burke 16). While the others, like Lorenzo Valla, longing for modernity, protested Latin’s hegemony saying that: “’Not only has no one spoken Latin correctly for many centuries, but no one has even understood it properly when reading it” (Burke 19).

Conclusion:

The Renaissance Man, evidently, struggled to situate himself between the ancients and a more modern calling. Whether exalted or renounced by historians, he remains an influential mark in history that has served a tangible advancement in many ways. The confusion he felt embodied in the historical distance, assimilation, and a spirit of revival —in England and all over Europe— produced a discourse of the classics that is empirically affected by the spirit of modernity and experimenting.

Works Cited

1. Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Edited by Irene Gordo. Translated by S.G.C Middlemore, The New American Library of World Literature, 1960.²
2. Ferguson, Wallace K. The Renaissance. H. Holt and Company, 1940.
3. Martin, Alfred Von. Sociology of the Renaissance. Edited by Karl Mannheim. Translated by W. L. Luetkens. Butler & Tanner Ltd, 1944.
4. Schapiro, Meyer, et al. Gombrich. “Criteria of Periodization in the History of European Art.” New Literary History, vol. 1, no. 2, 1970, pp. 113–125. JSTOR. www.jstor.org/stable/468623.
5. Burke, Peter. The Renaissance. 2nd ed., Macmillan, 1997.
6. More, Thomas. Letter Prefacing Thomas More’s Utopia: Thomas More to Peter Giles, http://www2.idehist.uu.se/distans/ilmh/Ren/hum-more-to-giles.html.

The English Renaissance was a movement of social culture and creativity in European nations ranging from the first sixteenth century to the first seventeenth century. Many cultural historians believe that it is related to the Pan-European Renaissance which originated in Tuscany in the 14th century. Elizabeth became the queen in 1558, during her rule English Renaissance achieved its highest peak.

The era of Elizabeth is a time of the English Renaissance which brought interest in national pride through classical ideals, naval triumph, and international expansion. During this time English Renaissance saw the showering of poetry, literature, and music. The most famous element of the Renaissance in the Elizabethan era is the theatre, as William Shakespeare and many other famous poets composed plays that we still watch and admire today. This era was also important for great literary creativity and prolific writing which included varieties of works ranging from idealism to romance to repulsive realism. A rise in Humanist Philosophy, and radical changes in politics, religion, and science are the most significant characteristics of the Renaissance in the Elizabethan era.

Humanism is another important feature of the Renaissance of the Elizabethan era. Education was a main proposition, supported by the expansion in the number of colleges and schools – another development that started in Italy. Step by step, the idea of a ‘humanistic’ educational program started to harden: focusing not on Christian religious writings, which had been pored over in medieval seats of adapting, but on old-style ‘humanities’ subjects, for example, theory, history, dramatization, and verse. Students – not many young ladies were allowed to get instruction now – were penetrated in Latin and Greek, implying that writings from the antiquated world could be considered in the first dialects. Printed course books and preliminaries empowered understudies to retain bits from quotable writers, hone their utilization of pugnacious talk and build up an exquisite composing style – one reading material by the Dutch humanist teacher Undersides Erasmus from 1512 broadly incorporates a few hundred different ways to state ‘thank you for your letter’.

In England, humanism was spread by a fast increment in the quantity of ‘sentence structure’ schools (as their name shows, language was their essential center, and understudies were frequently required to talk in Latin during school hours), and the hop in the number of youngsters presented to the best old style learning. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, Jonson, Bacon: pretty much every significant English Renaissance scholarly one can name got humanist training. Shakespeare’s plays and lyrics are saturated with essayists he experienced at school – the mysterious changes of Ovid’s verse invade the universes of A Midsummer Night’s Fantasy and The Storm, his Roman narratives are cribbed from the Greek student of history Plutarch, The Parody of Mistakes is demonstrated intently on a Greek dramatization by Plautus, while Hamlet incorporates a whole area – the Player’s record of the passing of Priam – acquired from Virgil’s Aeneid.

Another important element of the Renaissance is The Reformation which played an important role in the Elizabethan era. Humanism created a weird paradox. European culture was still overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, yet the journalists and masterminds now in vogue originated from traditional, pre-Christian occasions. The conflict was made progressively evident in 1517, when a maverick German monk called Martin Luther, horrified by defilement in the Congregation, propelled a dissent development against Catholic lessons. Luther contended that the Congregation had a lot of intensity and should have been changed, and advanced a religious philosophy that focused on a more straightforward connection between devotees and God.

Another focal board of his reasoning was that the Book of Scriptures ought to be accessible in Latin, spoken by the first class, yet justly accessible in nearby dialects. Luther distributed a German interpretation of the Holy Book in 1534, which – helped by the development of the print machine – realized interpretations in English, French, and different dialects. Thus, this expanded proficiency rates, implying that more individuals approached instruction and new reasoning. Yet, the political ramifications for Europe were vicious, as war seethed and Protestant and Catholic countries and residents competed for control.

As much as the rediscovery of old culture was significant, it’s difficult to comprehend the European Renaissance without alluding to the manner by which its points of view expanded – both logically and geologically. In 1492, the Italian pilgrim Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas while looking for a westward passage to Asia, starting a fast surge by European forces for assets and regions in this supposed ‘New World’. All through the sixteenth century, sea powers, for example, Spain, Portugal, and – later – Britain fought for control of what became America and the West Nonmainstream players, while travelers and brokers likewise drove eastwards, around Africa, towards East Asia. Cash was the main thrust (there were fortunes to be made in minerals, flavors, fabric, and different merchandise, also the slave exchange), yet so was political and strict philosophy, with frontier development introduced as a Christian campaign to carry illumination to ‘graceless’ populaces. While the expense for indigenous individuals was tremendous – it is as yet being tallied – Europe benefitted colossally from these experiences, with new riches streaming into significant populace focuses and fascinating products, for example, silk, flavors, and pottery accessible for the first time.

Geographical revelations reflected scientific ones. The Clean cosmologist Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) set that the Earth moved around the Sun, not a different way, been expected for a considerable length of time – a hypothesis demonstrated through close perception by the Italian polymath Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), who additionally refined the mechanical clock. The attractive compass (first utilized by Chinese mariners in the eleventh century) was belatedly rediscovered in mid-fourteenth century Italy, altering the route. The utilization of another Chinese innovation, black powder, additionally spread crosswise over Europe, with an emotional and severe impact on fighting. Furthermore, – once more – the print machine helped in inestimable manners, spreading thoughts quicker and quicker.

The Renaissance influenced culture in endless manners. In painting, figure, and design, Italian craftsmen, for example, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael explored different avenues regarding naturalism and point of view and pushed visual structure to more expressive statures than had at any point been seen. Essayists, for example, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Montaigne utilized bits of knowledge gathered from Latin and Greek writings to create writing that had the clean and polish of traditional writers, yet was strongly close to home than any other time in recent memory. Arrangers including Palestrina, Lassus, Victoria, and Gabrieli tried different things with interlacing polyphony and lavishly shaded harmonies, unmistakably more officially complex than their medieval forerunners. Political scholars, for example, Machiavelli sharpened statecraft dependent on realpolitik, while masterminds, for example, Galileo and Francis Bacon focused on the significance of science dependent on true analysis and perception. The way that such a significant number of these individuals were polymaths – talented in music just as craftsmanship, composing just as science – is itself a demonstration of Renaissance demeanors to life and learning.

In spite of the fact that the Renaissance landed in Britain in the mid-1500s, right around two centuries after it started in Italy, a portion of its most prominent accomplishments happened in the Elizabethan era, especially in Literature. Retainer writers, for example, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Sir Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser changed Italian structures into lavishly adaptable English sections, while authors including Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and Orlando Gibbons gained from the symphonic tests being directed in terrain Europe to produce a consonant language exceptionally their own.

Dramatists, for example, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson put their punctuation school instructions to fine impact in the open performance centers of London by making dramatization more refined and mentally ground-breaking than all else in Europe. Marlowe’s screw-up Tamburlaine, a startlingly goal-oriented shepherd from a focal Eurasian backwater who ascends to be an almighty ruler, is one sort of Renaissance man. Shakespeare’s Hamlet – a still, small voice racked Danish revenger who is instructed in the Lutheran town of Wittenberg, and who conveys an existential way of thinking deserving of Montaigne – is another. The word ‘renaissance’ might be dubious to characterize, however, the impression it left on culture is difficult to botch.

Renaissance was not just a rebirth, it played a huge part in uprooting new geographical and intellectual discoveries. These discoveries resulted in great changes in antiquity and Western Civilization.

Source Analysis: Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England

• Picard, L. (2016). Crime and punishment in Elizabethan England. [online] The British Library. Available at: https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/crime-and-punishment-in-elizabethan-england [Accessed 20 Jan. 2019].

Summary

During the Elizabethan era, many different crimes were performed and as a result of the crimes, the people had to be punished. There were many different types of punishments; depending on the intensity of the crime a certain punishment would be given. A minor punishment given to a criminal who was responsible for fornication and incest was called ‘carting’. This involved the criminal riding backward on a horse or being carried through the city in a horse-drawn cart, with a banner around their neck that described their offense and the citizens saw the criminal in the streets and shouted at them. (Picard, L 2016)

Value

Horses’ role in the punishing of criminals during the Elizabethan era. How horses fulfilled another duty in a completely different field, assisting to deface criminals in the city.

Reliability

This source is trustworthy as Liza Picard is a well-known and registered historian researcher and writer. Her main focus was on the history of London, she has written many novels based on London’s history.

Validity

The findings in this source help further the investigation and provide another aspect of which horses were used during the Elizabethan Era provided by an author who is a historian and has focused her profession around London history.

Limitations

This source only addresses one role horses fulfilled during the Elizabethan era, one of which was a negative job for the horse. This source has only provided me with information about the different types of punishments performed and not all of them included horses.

The Renaissance began in the early 14th Century and ended in the 17th century (History.com editors, 2018). It originated in Italy, with Florence often being hailed as the birthplace of the Renaissance (Migiro 2019). “The Renaissance art evolved through three main stages; Early Renaissance (1400-1475 AD), High Renaissance (1475-1525 AD) and Late Renaissance or Mannerism (1525-1600 AD)”. (hearty n.d)

Renaissance means “re-birth” (Mingren, 2019) where art combined an individualistic view of man with an awareness of nature and classical learning (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia,2020), “new thinking” was partly due to the social and political breakdown of medieval structures (Wilde 2020). There was an increased interest in a realistic depiction of the human form and emotional expression as well as space, using light and shadow to create an illusion of depth (hearty n.d). The Renaissance rejected the Byzantine style of religious paintings that were common in the previous medieval eras (lumen learning n.d), often viewing them as “discarding high artistic standards set by the ancient Romans and Greeks” (art factory n.d). New concepts arose from the Renaissance period, such as humanism. Humanists challenged the ideologies of the dominant Catholic church, focusing instead on “the features of human nature and attempts by man to master nature”. (Wilde 2020)

Exploring art beyond religion and worship was brought about by an amalgamation of factors. However, the patronage of the wealthy Medici Family and subsequent rich individuals allowed art to look beyond the Catholic church to other areas (Rebecca Kling, 2017). After the black death, mobility increased across all of Europe so trade and tourism contributed to the wealth of Italian courts. Patrons also wanted to support the arts to make political and social points, they also used it as a not-so-subtle way of demonstrating their wealth and power to their citizens and rival courts (Robert Wilde, 2020). Many famous and world-renowned artists emerged during the Renaissance, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael, who were the leading artists of this period. Within this essay, I will analyze “The School of Athens” by Raphael, Florence Cathedral by Brunelleschi, and “La Pieta” by Michelangelo.

School of Athens By Raphael

Raphael’s “School of Athens” is one of the four Fresco paintings in the “Stanze di Raffaello” commissioned by the Vatican (Graduateway, 2019). Like Florence Cathedral, most of the Renaissance art and architecture was commissioned by the Church. Painted between 1510-1511, (totally history n.d) it showcases the “High Renaissance” style of art. It displays a “renewed interest in ancient Graeco-Roman philosophies” (StudyDriver, n.d) that characterized the Renaissance. The “Stanze di Raffaello” represents the four branches of knowledge: “philosophy, theology, poetry, and justice” (Awkward42, 2015) with “The School of Athens” exhibiting philosophy. This life-like Fresco seems to prize human intellect and there is a sense of eagerness to learn within this painting, shown through the lively discussions and intense reading and writing. This emotive body language is typical of the High Renaissance era and is an excellent example of humanism.

The Painting depicts many famous philosophers and thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and Euclid (Sightseeingtoursitaly, n.d). Aristotle and Plato are placed in the middle center of the painting, highlighted with an arch above their heads, so that they are not lost in the detail. Raphael has done this to emphasize their importance. Although the painting includes 58 people (Nitin, 2014), most of them hypothetical, it is not overcrowded. They are spread out across the painting, at different levels, giving the painting depth as well as creating order and balance, and a story is told through movement and expression. Raphael paints idealized body figures, which seem to be inspired by ancient Graeco-Roman statues, which is a stark contrast to the flat, Byzantine religious idols painted in the Medieval era. It seems that Raphael is celebrating humankind and its achievements through realistic, idealized figures (which he almost shows in the same light as religious idols) and romanticized depictions of education.

Raphael uses tone to increase the “Trompe l’oeil” effect. You can see light highlighting statues, such as Apollo and Athena (Awkward42,2015), and shadows pooling in the domes, making you feel as if you can almost step into the painting. The bright blue sky and clean, crisp hall they are standing in our tranquil and almost heavenly, the contrast between indoors and outdoors could symbolize philosophy and nature (which represents God and theology) working in unison. I believe that Raphael is suggesting that philosophy and education are as important as religion. The building is also clearly inspired by ancient Roman architecture, showing how the Renaissance idealized that ancient culture. Raphael’s use of bright colors not only highlights important figures but also increases the busyness in the painting giving a sense of hope and excitement for the future, after the dark of the medieval era. The monumental size of the painting (5m by 7.7m) (Visitvatican, n.d) increases the feeling of awe, the same effect you would get from religious paintings.

Florence Cathedral by Filippo Brunelleschi

Florence Cathedral, originally designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, was structurally completed in 1436 by Filippo Brunelleschi, who designed the dome which dominates most of the cathedral (Wikipedia, 2021). Due to the long construction period (140 years) (Senatore, 2015), Florence Cathedral has a variety of architectural influences and includes both Gothic and Renaissance architecture (Senatore, 2015). The Cathedral was built mainly using marble and brick (Wikipedia, 2019) and is covered in geometric, decorative designs.

The Dome that dominates most of the Cathedral, represents the early Renaissance style (Archinomy, n.d), as well as “marking the beginning of Renaissance architecture” (Norbert, 2020). The Dramatic exterior contains elements of ancient Greek and Roman architecture typical of the Renaissance period, as it includes methodical arrangements of domes, arches, and columns (Wikipedia, 2021). The height and size of the dome have a spiritual significance, as it is closer to heaven than any other building in the city, which would explain why the upper floors of the cathedral don’t serve a practical purpose.

Florence Cathedral was built to “outshine” neighboring towns, such as Siena and Pisa to demonstrate the wealth and power of their city-state (Carol Senatore, 2015), its purpose was also to rebuild “the grandeur of Rome” (Gombrich, 1989), a common theme among Renaissance art and architecture. The Cathedral towers above the rest of the city and can be seen from a far distance. This suggests that Catholicism was the dominant religion at the time, as it also has the facilities to hold a lot of people for Mass. Its size suggests that the patron had an ego and wanted to demonstrate and flaunt their wealth, suggesting a sense of civic pride. Florence Cathedral would have also been beneficial for the patron, as they were giving back to the community so would have gained popularity. It has a similar color palette to the buildings surrounding it, giving the Cathedral a sense of belonging, as well as presenting Florence as united.

Inside the Cathedral, the huge space echoes the grandeur of the ancient Romans and Greeks. The Dome is covered in Fresco paintings (Arthistoryproject, n.d) and, like “The School of Athens”, uses the “Trompe l’oeil” effect. The intricate details and finishes, as well as the complex construction of the Dome rival that of ancient Rome and Greece, in my opinion. Florence Cathedral really demonstrates how the Renaissance was able to “bridge the gap between the Middle Ages and modern-day civilization”. (History, 2020)

La Pieta by Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s “La Pieta” was completed in 1499 (Archcityreligion, n.d) and depicts The Virgin Mary cradling Jesus, after his crucifixion. This sculpture was commissioned by Cardinal Jean de Billheres as a funeral monument (Totallyhistory, n.d). Again, this shows, like in “The School of Athens” and Florence Cathedral, the impact that the church had at the time on the development of Renaissance artwork and architecture, as they were often the patrons. “La Pieta” is an example of High Renaissance artwork, as it is an “Ideal balance between stillness and movement” (Wikipedia, 2021). This can be seen in Mary’s intricately sculpted dress flowing around Jesus.

“La Pieta”, meaning “Pity” in Italian, and “Piety” in Latin (Fernandes, 2018), is made from Carrara marble (Totallyhistory, n.d) which gives the sculpture an ageless elegance and a regal status to Mary and Jesus. The marble is light in color, suggesting the purity and cleanliness of God. The smooth surface of the sculpture would have taken time and care. This could symbolize the affection Mary felt for Jesus, and the love that she felt for him is reflected in the effort that Michelangelo put into the sculpture. The smooth surface appears to me to be like still water reflecting the calmness that Mary feels and the trust that she has placed in God, who has just taken away her only child.

Mary and Jesus are out of proportion in this sculpture. Michelangelo has purposefully done this to suggest that Jesus will forever be Mary’s child. This makes us pity Mary, the sculpture creating a quiet sorrow. However, Michelangelo chose not to show anguish or suffering on either of their faces (Totallyhistory, n.d), instead creating a peaceful atmosphere, again, showing their absolute trust in God. Michelangelo has sculpted Mary as youthful, symbolizing her purity through this. This also portrays the idealized forms that we saw in “The School of Athens” and is common in most Renaissance work, using the beauty and harmony that is apparent in naturalism. Mary’s head is out of proportion to the rest of her body, again, highlighting traditional feminine ideals of petite features.

To Conclude, I chose “The School of Athens”, Florence Cathedral, and “La Pieta”, as I believe they show the breadth and range of techniques that the Renaissance accomplished. These three are famous and classic examples from the Renaissance, exhibiting naturalism, humanism, and realism, as well as showing how the social and political ideologies at the time brought about and impacted Renaissance art and architecture. I consider the Renaissance to be one of the most influential art movements, redefining art as a means of communicating power, wealth, ideologies as well as religion.

Bibliography

1. (Geoffrey Migiro) (2019) Where Was The Birth Place Of The Renaissance? (online) Available at https:www.worldatlas.comarticleswhere-was-the-birthplace-of-the-renaissance.html (27121)
2. History.com editors (2018) Renaissance (online) Available at https:www.history.comtopicsrenaissancerenaissance (27121)
3. Arthearty.com (n.d) The Characteristics of Renaissance Art are So Very Interesting (online) Available at https:arthearty.comrenaissance-art-characteristics (27121)
4. Wu Mingren (2019) The Renaissance: The ‘Rebirth’ That Changed the World (online) Available at https:www.ancient-origins.nethistory-important-eventsrenaissance-0013046 (27121)
5. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. (2020) ‘Renaissance art’ (online) Available at: https:www.britannica.comartRenaissance-art. Accessed 1 February 2021.(1221)
6. Robert Wilde (2020) A Beginner’s Guide to the Renaissance (online) Available at https:www.thoughtco.comguide-to-the-renaissance-1221931 (27121)
7. Courses.lumenlearning.com (n.d) Art in the Renaissance (online) Available at https:courses.lumenlearning.comboundless-worldhistorychapterart-in-the-renaissance#:~:text=During the Renaissance artists were engaging with classical, and showed ideal depictions of the natural world. (27121)
8. Artyfactory.com (n.d) ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART (online) Available at https:artyfactory.comart_appreciationart_movementsitalian-renaissanceitalian-renaissance-art.html#:~:text=1 Masaccio (1401-28) -Florence 2 Donatello (1386-1466) -, Florence, Rome 9 Pietro Perugino (1450-1523) – Umbria (27121)
9. Rebecca Kling (2017) What Were the Two Main Goals of Renaissance Artists? (online) Available at https:ourpastimes.comwhat-were-the-two-main-goals-of-renaissance-artists-12563242.html (27121)

Since the Middle Ages, Italian fashion has been popular internationally. Italy is the country to mark the beginning of the Renaissance. Many modern Italian fashion brands were founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also grew in influence across Europe and was preferred by one of the most powerful families in Italy. This era in English cultural history is sometimes referred to as the Elizabeth era which refers to learning that began in Italy. Elizabeth’s era was Queen Elizabeth I’s reign when they had a particular fashion and were full of wonderful things. This era is considered to be the height of the English Renaissance, and it also existed within the Renaissance period and borrowed much of the ideals from that period. What was so special about the costumes of the Italian and Elizabeth period? How did men and women dressed in those eras?

During the Elizabeth period, women were usually impeccably dressed in elaborate costumes with several layers of undergarments and corsets, and it also was used to indicate your social standing. The materials and even the colors of clothes of Elizabeth’s clothes were very important. The style of fashion of the Elizabeth era is distinctive and striking. For the lower class had a simple design with basic textiles like cotton, wool, or leather because dyes cost money. In contrast, the upper class had garments made from velvet, silk, and lace. There were also specific rules to identify each person’s status, Earls was the only one who could wear gold silk, and the other ones with a status higher were allowed to were velvet garments. Translated for the 21st century, many designers got inspired by the Elizabeth era, transforming the huge silhouettes into bodices and jackets. The population exploded during Elizabeth’s reign despite widespread disease including several outbursts of plague. Elizabeth’s influence on fashion extended beyond women’s clothing, and the opulence of her wardrobe began to have an effect on male garments. Men’s silhouette was broad-shouldered and formidable, using masses of rich fabrics. They sometimes wore girdles, the equivalent of the female corset. However, both male and female fashion became far busier and more elaborate as Elizabeth’s reign continued, and in a time when women were subservient to men, a woman ruled a great and powerful nation. Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, fashion and clothing became more overstated, following the unusual style of the old queen.

The style worn by women in Renaissance England changed from year to year. The Women’s Elizabeth costume was characterized by the ruff and the large hoop. The ruff was fairly small and stiff, and it could be made from lace. They began as a simple frill at the neck of a full-cut shirt. Women’s garments also depended on their age, background, and family. The Queen was always pleased to accept presents of valuable garments, and a fashionable Elizabeth woman’s wardrobe was complex. Her garments consisted of many layers including underclothes like partlet (a yoke-like collar that fit under a ruff), Forepart, smock, rowel (padded crescents worn at the hip to make the skirt sit farther out), and petticoat, and over clothes like cloak, gown, ruff, and shoes. Elizabeth’s style demanded a tight upper body paired with a voluminous lower body, and sometimes the exposed under-skirt was paired with matching bodice sleeves. As in the middle ages, people wore linen undergarments next to the skin. Linen and wool were very common fabrics during this era because wool keeps the body warm in cold weather, and linen appeared in heavy or finer weaves with lawn being the finest weave. Men and women wore similar undershirts made of linen because it was easier to wash, and ruffs because it was indispensable to add to their elegant looks. Ruff was one of the most distinctive elements of Elizabeth’s fashion. It became more elaborate and eventually took on the gargantuan proportions that framed the face, and it was made of fine muslin or lace.

Instead, Elizabeth men were not allowed to wear whatever they liked. Men had to wear cheap materials, and dull colors like brown, blue, and beige. A man’s outfit would start with a shirt, similar a today’s dress shirt. The fabrics and colors of clothes that men were allowed to wear were determined by their position and rank. Men who belonged to the upper class wore loose-fitting shirts that were gathered at the cuff, and men who belonged to the lower class had two options: a dress or kirtle. They had to wear white or natural-colored linen because bright and dark colors were more expensive to produce, so it was limited to higher-status clothing. Men’s garments were designed to show off a narrow waist, and garments were colorful for an expression of status and identity. For the underclothes, men wore stockings or hoses. The classic Elizabeth hose were bulbous shorts, gathered into a band at the thigh, and for the overclothes, men attached a lace collar and ruffles to their undershirt. Shirt sleeves were also padded and often decorated with embroidery. For men, wearing the codpiece would cover the genitals, and it was essential for them to wear shorter doublets, but by the year 1570, codpieces were going out of fashion, and the breeches became popular. Men would wear breeches instead of codpieces, and girdles to obtain the wasp-waisted look.

On the other hand, costumes of Northern and Central Europe during the Renaissance were numerous Gothic elements. Northern Renaissance garments had some differences from costumes of the Italy Renaissance, but the general trend changed in fashion from simple to more complex. Renaissance style is represented in all samples of modern evening dresses (romantic and classic). In the Northern Renaissance garments were ornamented with decorative slashings or panes (narrow strips of fabric) under which contrasting linings were placed. Men’s Renaissance fashion imposed a short and ornamental mantle, and a hat covered with feathers and trunk hose. Women wore the bodies of their dresses closely fitting to the figure, trimmed with lace. During the 16th Century, Renaissance fashion is making a distinct separation between ancient and modern dress. The width of the shoulders had narrowed and decreased further. Frequently the hair was turned over in rolls, and adorned with precious stones, and men carried a smooth cap on one side of the head. In Italy, home of Renaissance fashion, dress always maintained a certain character of grandeur. In Germany, garments had a heavy appearance, and England studied a kind of instinctive elegance and propriety. The dresses in Germany were soft, the sleeves were close fitting and the cuff extended into a point over the wrist. Gold chains were frequently worn along with a wide jeweled because it was an important status symbol. Throughout the Renaissance, Italy had been falling under the influence of particular countries trying to impose their cultural norms. The costume of men and women had similar distinctive elements. Women’s costumes included dresses that were richly decorated, which emphasized the high position of those who wear similar outfits. At the same time, The Italian male suit was hardly influenced by military armor, which costume was more voluminous than in other European countries.

Italy during the Renaissance was the setting for social and economic change. During this period merchant class began to gain distinction as a powerful group, and the middle class had some challenges that were influenced by the opportunities that urbanization provided them. While the Renaissance era things were different, laws prohibiting who can wear what, so made each social class dress differently. Clothing was the perfect visual indicator of someone’s worth as the value of an outfit could be easily assessed by an onlooker based on style, fabric, color, jewelry, and other accessories1. Nevertheless, the North has received significant attention over the past two decades, and low countries and England have promoted the study of textiles. Renaissance had an ideology that put a human at the center of society. Men’s and women’s outfits reflected the main ideas of emphasizing the beauty of the human body.

In conclusion, the Elizabeth era was Queen Elizabeth I’s reign when they had a particular fashion and were full of wonderful things. During the Elizabeth period, women were usually impeccably dressed in elaborate costumes with several layers of undergarments and corsets. The Women’s Elizabeth costume was characterized by the ruff and the large hoop. The ruff was fairly small and stiff, and it could be made from lace. Instead, Elizabeth men were not allowed to wear whatever they liked. Men had to wear cheap materials, and dull colors like brown, blue, and beige. In the Northern Renaissance garments were ornamented with decorative slashings or panes (narrow strips of fabric) under which contrasting linings were placed. the North has received significant attention over the past two decades, and low countries and England have promoted the study of textiles. I noticed that in those eras, social class was very important because it told you how to dress and live your life if you were poor or rich. Elizabeth’s era still has an influence on outfits that we can see these days. Most women today could not imagine having to wear the many layers of clothing that women did in the Elizabeth era.

Sources.

1. Kelly, Francis Michael, and Randolph Schwabe. European Costume and Fashion, 1490-1790. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2002.
2. Winter, Janet, and Carolyn Schultz. Savoy. Elizabethan Costuming for the Years 1550-1580. Oakland, CA: Other Times Publications, 1987.
3. Cressy, David. ‘Gender Trouble and Cross-Dressing in Early Modern England.’ The Journal of British Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct. 1996), pp. 438-465
4. Hooper, Wilfrid. ‘The Tudor Sumptuary Laws,’ The English Historical Review. Vol. 30, No. 119. July 1915.

Art and literature played a large role in Spain during the Renaissance time, affecting people both mentally and physically, and still do today. People over time have come up with very simple yet complex ways to express their thoughts, imagination, suffering, stories, ideas, and so on. Anybody can draw a single line and give it a name with a story behind it just because they felt like it and anyone handed a book and a writing utensil can write out anything they want and call themselves an artist, author, or even both. The complex portion of people’s personal innovation is understanding their perspective or their original creation.

The painting Girl with a Pearl Earring is an example. Nobody but the creator, Johannes Vermeer himself knows the story behind the woman in the painting. Whether she is enthused, melancholy, or if she exists at all. Other authors and artists during the Golden Age expressed many things such as religion and romance. Literature was and still is very powerful as far as people express a situation or the author’s personal feelings. Romances of chivalry were extremely popular in Spain in the first half of the 16th century. In a society where the vast majority was illiterate, stories and texts dealing with romances of chivalry were limited to the nobility, the church, and next-level classes such as universities, lawyers, administrators, merchants, and so on. Because Spanish author, Miguel de Cervantes, thought people during his time, the Golden Age, acted dramatically about the most ridiculous things such as romance, Cervantes wrote “Don Quixote de la Mancha” as an example of his perspective on society then and how hopeless people seemed to act towards something as compact as not having a lover.

Cervantes thought the people around him were absurd, “Don Quixote de la Mancha” is a sarcastic novel. Nevertheless, the very popularity of the romances also drew the critical attention of moralists, theologians, and humanists. The romances were attacked both for form and content. They were bashed and labeled as wicked and full of lies that could mislead readers and plunge them into bad behavior. The discovery of the New World and the colonization of huge parts of Latin America, along with masterful works of Spanish art, music, and literature, left long-lasting marks on history that continue to influence our world today. Extraordinary artistic achievements in music, art, and literature created a “Golden Age” in Spain in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Many of Spain’s most famous artists were in the employ of the Royal court, the Spanish aristocracy, and the church, their fame not only reaching beyond the borders of their own country in their own time but becoming important for European artists in the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s difficult to pin down such periods as the Renaissance in a single time frame, but some critics say that the Spanish Golden Age really began with some highly influential poetry in the mid-1500s. A large amount of poetry that came out of the Golden Age at the start was influenced by popular trends in Italy, where people might say the Renaissance began. Spanish poetry during the period was initially marked by the adoption of Italian meters and verse forms such as those used by Garcilaso de la Vega.

Spanish poetry was eventually marked by the arrogance and wordplay of the Baroque movements known as “culturalism y concepts”, whose chief practitioners were Luis de Góngora y Argote and Quevedo. Garcilaso de la Vega was the first major poet in the Golden Age of Spanish literature. After writing poetry in pretty standard Spanish meters for a short period, Garcilaso was eventually introduced to the poet, Juan Boscán Almogáver, who quickly introduced him to Italian meters which further attracted Garcilaso through Juans’ close study of Italian Renaissance poets such as Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Jacopo Sannazzaro. Garcilaso’s major theme is the sadness and misfortunes of romantic love as conventionally described in more pastoral poetry. He continually rewrote, polished, and improved his poetry, lifting his work high above, and influencing the people around him. Garcilaso’s small body of work contained 38 sonnets, 5 Canciones, 3 eclogues, 2 elegies, 1 epistle, and 8 songs. These works were shortly accepted as classics and largely determined the course of lyric poetry throughout Spain’s Golden Age. Later, Spanish poetry took on the elaborate wordplay and conceits of the Baroque movements. It often had an extravagant style of architecture, music, paintings, and sculptures. Other arts flourished in Europe from the early 17th until the mid-18th century. In terms of painting, the Spanish Golden Age is divided into two phases, the late Renaissance and the Baroque. Paintings from the Renaissance period reflect the innovation that was happening at the time. One of the most important painters from the former was the Greek artist, Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco meaning “The Greek” in his adopted country of Spain. He was trained in Venice, Rome, and Byzantium, he was well-versed in the works of Titian and Tintoretto, and was especially influenced by the Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, Michelangelo.

El Greco’s style evolved toward a very particular interpretation of Mannerism during his Toledo period. He lived in the Spanish city from 1577 to his death in 1614, and today still preserves a large part of his revolutionary work, with representative paintings including El Expolio (“The Disrobing of Christ”) and El Entierro del Conde Orgaz (“The Burial of the Count of Orgaz”). El Greco’s painting style is characterized by stretched, unnatural figures, unnatural lighting, and saturated colors. Diego Velazquez is also an amazing and important artist around the same era. Velázquez is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest artists. The natural and realistic style in which he was trained provided a language for the expression of his remarkable power of observation and noticing the detail in both a living model and still life. Stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting, he developed from a master of faithful likeness and characterization into the creator of masterpieces of visual impression unique in his time. The main source of information about Velázquez’s early career is the pamphlet Arte de la Pintura (“The Art of Painting”), which was published in 1649 by his father-in-law, Francisco Pacheco, who is known more as a biographer and theoretician than as a painter.

Velázquez was phenomenal at noticing such detail and recognizing colors most people may not pay as much attention to when it comes to observing a model or still object, making a person guess the temperature in the painting because of how realistic it is, or how a person is feeling in one of his paintings just by looking at them, his paintings have feeling, emotion which made Velázquez an icon in the art community. There were plenty more icons that made history that the art community looks into today such as Bartolome Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Zurbaran and plenty more artists will be accepted as icons such as these as time goes on. As said before, art and literature took up a great portion of Spain during the Golden Age, but so did theatre and drama. While Don Quixote eclipses all other creations of this time in enduring popularity, Spanish theatre and drama of the Golden Age couldn’t be ignored. The period witnessed the almost single-handed creation of the Spanish national theatre by the incredibly productive dramatist, Lope de Vega. His inception of a dramatic tradition using specifically Spanish themes, values, and subject matter further evolved by Tirso de Molina and Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Among the highlights of the period’s religious literature are “The Mystical Glorifications of Spirituality” by St. Teresa of Ávila, Luis de León, and St. John of the Cross. Tirso de Molina who studied at the University of Alcalá and in 1601 was supposed in the Mercedarian Order. Tirso built on the “free-and-easy” instructions that Lope had propounded for dramatic construction. Sometimes he borrowed from the vast common stock of Spanish stage material, and other times he relied on his own imagination. In his plays, he sometimes featured the religious and philosophical aspects that attracted his own theological interest. Other times, he drew on his own accurate and historical knowledge, gained while traveling for his order through Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies.

The most powerful dramas associated with his name are two tragedies, El burlador de Sevilla (“The Seducer of Seville”) and El Condenado Por Desconfiado (“The Doubted Damned”). Pedro Calderón de la Barca was a dramatist and poet who succeeded Lope de Vega as the greatest Spanish dramatist of the Golden Age. Among his best-known secular dramas are El Médico de Su Honra (“The Surgeon of His Honour”), La Vida Es sueño (“Life Is a Dream”), El alcalde de Zalamea (“The Mayor of Zalamea”), and La Hija del Aire (“The Daughter of the Air”), sometimes considered his masterpiece. Lope also wrote operas and plays with religious or mythological themes. Drama and theatre were the beginning of acting, and entertainment and were also the start of making fiction stories physical to give people a better idea and overall a better experience in learning. Art and literature will continue to make a large impact on people’s lives mentally and physically. Especially artists who are mentally ill and express their illness through their art, making people around them step in their shoes and get an idea of what it’s like. It’ll make people really think of what life is like for that artist and how their illness affects so much of their life. Art makes people take a step back and look at how the people around them are and shows how creative one person can actually be, how talented one person can be, and how much one person can achieve and communicate creatively. Artists create art to express things, others, and themselves and always will, taking action by creating original art and metaphors. Literature is art, theatre is art, drama, poetry, all novels. Anything and everything created by man is an art and will always make some sort of impact on everyone’s life.

Medieval knowledge was limited, however, the Renaissance marked a rebirth of learning. It was a time of significant inquiry and change, particularly in the areas of anatomy and art, where artists developed techniques and anatomists challenged old theories.

Through a shift from religious symbolism in the Middle Ages to secular realistic scenes in the Renaissance, with a focus on proportion, art changed dramatically (Augustyn, 2009) (Nelson, n.d.). Medieval art was primarily focused on the message conveyed rather than appearance. This is exemplified in the ‘elephant and dragon’ drawn by Guillaume (1300), representing chasteness opposing apostasy (Leafloor, 2014). The source implies that to avoid evil, you must follow the Church. Augustyn (2009), describes the humanist change in art; ‘Renaissance art … [was] produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the combined influences of an increased awareness of nature, a revival of classical learning, and a more individualistic view of man.’ Another change relating to art was proportion. In 1435, Leon Battista Alberti, (author and architect) published Della Pittura meaning ‘On the painting’ (Kelly-Gadol, 2019). In it, he urged artists to realistically portray the human form (Heydenreich, 2019). “Beauty: the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or subtract or change without impairing the harmony of the whole.’ This quote from Alberti describes the standard of beauty in the Renaissance. The variety of Medieval art was limited. In the Renaissance religious constraints were lifted, sparking a change from symbolism to realistic humanism. (Nelson, n.d.)

Anatomy changed from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance through physicians questioning (Davies, 1987), challenging and improving old theories. Andrew Vesalius, a 16th-century anatomist (Florkin, 2019), challenged ancient theories and compared them to his own observations. He performed public dissections, a key difference from Galen, a 2nd-century physician whose ideas about anatomy were largely unchallenged for thousands of years. (British Library, n.d.) Galen was unable to perform human dissections due to religious law. (Harris & Zucker, 2019) Vesalius published De Humani Corporis Fabrica in 1543. It was a collection of his anatomical findings dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In it, he noted ancient theories and contradicted them with his own. (British Library, n.d.) For example, the discussion and correction of Galen’s mistaken theory about there being two jaw bones. (Florkin, 2019) Florkin, an author and professor of biochemistry (2019) writing for the generally reliable Encyclopedia Britannica, presents a favorable perspective of Vesalius’ book. ‘The Fabrica was a more extensive and accurate description of the human body than any [others before it]; it gave anatomy a new language, and, in the elegance of its printing and organization, a perfection hitherto unknown.” In the book, Vesalius included three skeletal men. The first is leaning on a shovel, the second resting its elbow on a tombstone, and the third in a state of grief, turned away. The fact that Vesalius could draw these skeletons in such varying positions is a testament to his anatomical knowledge. Later in the book accompanying the 14 ‘muscle men’ Vesalius expresses that he hoped the illustrations would “…prove useful to the painter, the sculptor, the molder and the physician.” (British Library, n.d.) Mansur Ibn Ilyas’ ‘human skeleton’ (the 1200s) is a depiction of a skeleton with an elongated neck, no 3D component, and little detail. When compared, Vesalius and Ilyas’ works prove the extent of change anatomy experienced.

The Renaissance was characterized by momentous inquiry and change, particularly within anatomy and art, where artists advanced techniques and physicians questioned old theories.