Arts and Creation – Why is the Renaissance Important?

(c) Italy

The Renaissance began in Italy in the 14th century, with cities like Florence, Venice and Rome as its early centres.

Humanism was the central intellectual movement of the Renaissance. It began in fourteenth-century Italy and spread across Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The word comes from the Latin humanitas, meaning the qualities, values and potential of human beings. Humanism was not a religion or a formal philosophy; it was an educational and cultural programme. Its followers, called humanists, studied the classical writings of ancient Greece and Rome — the works of Cicero, Virgil, Homer, Plato and others — not to worship the past but to learn from it. They believed that these old texts contained lessons about how to live well, think clearly and act nobly. The motto of the movement is often summed up in the phrase of the playwright Terence: "I am a human being, and nothing human is alien to me."

Humanism rested on a few key beliefs. First, it gave central importance to human beings rather than to God, saints or the afterlife. Medieval thought had placed humanity at the centre of a fixed, divinely ordered universe, with people as weak and sinful creatures whose main duty was to prepare for heaven. Humanists, without denying God, argued that people were God's noblest creation, made in His image, and therefore capable of great dignity, reason and achievement. Second, humanism trusted human reason. It held that truth could be discovered by observation, argument and the study of reliable sources, not only by accepting authority. Third, it valued the individual. A person was not merely a member of a class or guild but a unique being with his or her own talents and worth. Fourth, it encouraged this-worldly life. Instead of despising earthly existence, humanists celebrated it: they wrote about love, friendship, fame, beauty, politics and the joy of learning. Finally, humanism promoted a broad education called the studia humanitatis — grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral philosophy — which aimed at producing a well-rounded, virtuous and useful citizen, not just a specialist.

These ideas changed the way people thought about themselves and the world in several important ways.

About themselves: Medieval thinkers had stressed human sinfulness and helplessness. Humanists replaced this with a new confidence in human potential. Pico della Mirandola, in his Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), imagined God telling Adam that he had been placed in the middle of the world so that he could shape himself into whatever form he chose — a beast or an angel. This was a radical idea: a person's destiny was not fixed by birth or by fate but could be shaped by effort and will. Human beings were seen as free, rational and capable of improvement. This new self-respect encouraged people to explore their abilities in art, science, politics and exploration. It also produced the ideal of the "universal man" or uomo universale — a person skilled in many fields, such as Leonardo da Vinci, who was painter, engineer, anatomist and inventor at once.

About the world around them: Humanism encouraged people to look at the world with fresh, curious eyes rather than through the filter of old religious formulas. It revived the study of history, so people began to see their own age as different from the past and to think about change and progress. It encouraged the careful reading of original texts, which led to the questioning of long-accepted beliefs. Humanist scholars such as Lorenzo Valla proved that the Donation of Constantine, a document on which the Church had based its political claims, was a forgery. This showed that even sacred authority could be tested by reason and evidence. Humanism also fed the spirit of individualism and secularism: artists signed their works and painted realistic human figures; writers used everyday language; merchants and princes valued education and civic virtue. The printing press spread humanist books widely, so ideas travelled faster than ever before. In religion, humanism helped prepare the way for the Reformation by encouraging people to read the Bible in original languages and to question Church practices. In politics, writers like Machiavelli studied power as it actually worked, not as it ought to work in theory. In science, the humanist habit of returning to original sources and trusting observation helped lead to the Scientific Revolution.

In short, humanism shifted the centre of attention from heaven to earth and from authority to reason. It taught people to believe in their own worth and capacity, to examine the world critically, and to enjoy and improve the life they had. This change in outlook — often called the "discovery of the individual" — is the most lasting contribution of the Renaissance to the modern world.

The Renaissance (roughly the 14th to 17th century) was a period when artists and thinkers stopped treating art and science as separate fields. Instead, they studied nature, the human body, mathematics and optics, and then used that knowledge to make their art more accurate and lifelike. This union of observation (science) and expression (art) is one of the defining features of the period.

1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is the best example. He was both a painter and an anatomist, engineer and inventor. To paint the human figure correctly, he dissected more than thirty corpses and made detailed anatomical drawings of muscles, bones and organs. His Vitruvian Man combines art with mathematics: it shows a human body fitted inside a circle and a square, based on the proportions described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. His studies of flight, water movement and machines also show him using scientific observation to inform his art. His painting technique sfumato (soft, smoky blending) came from his study of how light and shadow actually behave.

2. Michelangelo (1475–1564) studied anatomy so that his figures would look muscular and realistic. His statue David and the figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel show a deep knowledge of human anatomy and proportion. He also worked as an architect, designing the dome of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, which required a strong understanding of engineering and structural science.

3. Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) was an architect and engineer. He designed and built the dome of Florence Cathedral, a huge engineering achievement, and he also developed the technique of linear perspective. This technique uses geometry to show depth on a flat surface, so that distant objects look smaller and the painting looks three-dimensional. It is a clear case of mathematics being applied to art.

In short, Renaissance artists and thinkers combined art with science by observing nature closely, studying anatomy and mathematics, and applying these discoveries to painting, sculpture and architecture. The result was art that was both beautiful and scientifically accurate.

The Renaissance: A Turning Point Still Alive Today

I agree that the Renaissance remains important today. The chapter presents it as a turning point in European history, and the changes it began still shape the way we think, learn and create.

First, the Renaissance revived the idea of humanism, placing human beings and their potential at the centre of thought. Writers such as Petrarch and Erasmus turned to the classics not to copy them but to question old authorities. This spirit of questioning is the same spirit behind modern science, democracy and human rights. When Copernicus and Galileo challenged the accepted view of the universe, they were following the Renaissance habit of testing ideas rather than merely accepting them.

Second, the Renaissance changed how knowledge was spread. The printing press made books cheap and plentiful, so learning was no longer limited to the church and the wealthy. Today's free flow of information through books, libraries and the internet is a direct descendant of that invention. The chapter's emphasis on the printing press shows how a technical change can transform society.

Third, Renaissance art and literature gave us a new way of seeing the individual. Shakespeare's characters, Leonardo's paintings and Machiavelli's political thought all explore human motive and choice. Modern films, novels and even psychology continue this exploration.

In short, the Renaissance is not a closed chapter. Its faith in reason, its curiosity and its belief in human dignity are values we still depend on. That is why it remains a turning point whose effects have not ended.

Marie Curie is the woman who discovered radium.

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