What
was Reborn in the Renaissance?
(Synopsis
of the Renaissance)
Renaissance
is the rediscovery of the ancient classics
of Greece and Rome that began in the
late 14th century. It started in Northern
Italy and spread quickly throughout
the Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Actually, it was a rebirth of the art
and culture of the Greek antiquity.
It meant a temper of mind, a fresh vision
and a source of thoughts and works.
It signified the revival of learning,
the rebirth of art, the revolt against
the established church and the expansion
of man's thoughts with the expansion
of the world beyond the seas.
With
the capture of Constantinople by the
Turks in 1453 the drift of Greek scholars
to Italy was accelerated, they took
rare manuscripts and sculptures with
them and took shelter in the remote
monasteries of Italy. When people came
across these manuscripts and sculptures,
a thirst for art and culture of antiquity
was born. People began to search for
these ancient scrolls and sculptures
and started learning Greek. This study
of Greek humanism gave rise to liberalism
and individualism. The scientific invention
of the compass made navigation easy.
People started going in great voyages.
Now people began to realize that there
might be other worlds as well and this
realization amplified their mind. The
discovery of America had a clear effect
upon trade which greatly modified the
laws of wealth and other possibilities
of trade.The invention of the printing
press played an important role in defusing
the new ideas of the Renaissance humanists.
Many people got an opportunity to read
the ancient Greek classics and benefited
from them. It also broke the monopoly
of the church as the sole spreader of
knowledge and ideas. The new weapons
as the guns gave the European superiority
over American and Asiatic cultures.Besides
the above mentioned detail, there were
changes in the economic front as well.
Due to the downfall of feudalism, the
subsistence economy gave way to monetary
economy. The cities developed with trade
and commerce of new goods, monetary
economy and banking system. The middle
class rose in power and began to break
away from the feudal lords, giving more
freedom with regards to the basic condition
of life. This gave an opportunity to
the individual to progress through hard
labours, imagination and skill.
What
was Reborn in the Renaissance?
1)
Revival of Gothic art: Gothic
art develops from Goths a type of tribe
in the medieval Europe. Gothic arts
emphasized realism in their carvings
of religious subjects. Realistic Portrayals
of the lives and acts of ordinary people
are not the only thing that art can
do, as the Renaissance spread throughout
Europe, it everywhere produced a new
style in art that emphasized realism,
naturalness and verisimilitude. The
subjects often remained the same as
in Gothic arts like the Annunciation,
the Crucification, the Disposition and
so and so forth. In the Gothic style
of art in the medieval age, reality
was viewed on the basis of religion
or scripture but now in the Renaissance
people reflected the viewer's world
in art. Now, man's perspective regarding
the reality became more important than
the medieval art having religiously
important. In the Renaissance, Gothic
art is revived with certain changes
in perspective for example, the painting
of Piero. In one of his painting, on
the one corner Christ has been crucified
and on the other people are shown in
full -fledged enjoyment. In his painting
merry-makings of the people has been
fore- grounded which shows man became
important in the Renaissance.
2)
Curiosity and objectivity:
The Renaissance was marked by an intense
interest in the visible world and in
the knowledge derived from sensory experience.
It turned away from the abstract speculation
and interest in life after death that
characterized the Middle Age. Although
Christianity was not abandoned, the
other worldliness and monastic ideology
of the Middle Age were largely discarded.
The focus during the Renaissance turned
from abstract discussions of the religious
issues to the morality of human actions.
3)
Man in the cosmos: During the
Middle Ages man was supposed to be a
very lowly and sinful creature man's
duty was just to be submissive towards
God and prepare for salvation but after
the emergence of the Renaissance, man
became the center of universe. Man became
a creature having cosmic importance.
Now everything was looked from man's
perspective. It was thought that there
was nothing in the entire universe which
man could not do. Now human potentialities
became the subject of discussion in
the society.
4)
Revival of classical learning:
During the Middle Ages, there was a
lively interest in classical literature,
especially Latin and Latin translations
of Greek. This attention was mostly
confined to the professional activities
of theologians, philosophers and writers.
In the Renaissance, however, people
from various segments of society -from
kings and nobles to merchants and soldiers
studied classical literature and art
unlike the professional scholars of
Middle Ages, these people were amateurs
who studied for pleasure and their interest
in art from the past was soon extended
to contemporary works. Medieval art
and literature existed largely for their
own sake, as objects of ideal beauty
or learning.
5)
New Education System (Liberal Education):
The attention given to the development
of an individual's potential during
the Renaissance brought with it a new
emphasis on education. The goal of education
was to develop the individual's talents
in all intellectual and physical areas,
from scholarship and the writing of
sonnets to swordsmanship and wrestling.
The individual was given education to
facilitate all dimensions of life which
was in stark contrast to the Middle
Age. The chief motive of liberal education
was to produce Renaissance man having
encyclopedic mind.
The
Renaissance Man
The term Renaissance
man suggests a person either man or
woman of many accomplishments. Renaissance
man is neither an expert nor a specialist.
He or she knows something about everything.
Renaissance men should try to embrace
all knowledge and develop their own
capacity as fully as possible. The gifted
men of Renaissance sought to develop
skills in all areas of knowledge in
physical development, in social accomplishments
and in arts. The ideal was most brilliantly
exemplified in Leon Battista Alberti
who was an accomplished architect, painter,
classicist, poet, scientist and mathematician
and who also boasted of his skill as
a horseman and in physical feats. He
advocated that 'a man can do all things
if he will'. Renaissance man should
have generally following qualities.
1) He/she should have scientific knowledge
of the subject.
2) He/she should have educational acquaintance
with the subject.
3) He/she should be critical in all
branches of knowledge.
4) Having encyclopedic mind.
Renaissance
Man, Leonardo, Pico, Bacon
1)
Leonardo: One of the key figures
of the Renaissance. He was a versatile
genius in the history. His interests
and achievements spread into an astonishing
variety of fields that are now considered
scientific specialties. He studied anatomy,
botany, geology and optics and he designed
machines and drew plans for hundreds
of inventions. Since, Leonardo excelled
in such an amazing number of areas of
human knowledge that he is often called
a 'universal genius'. He is a great
painter through his painting he tried
to express his immense knowledge of
the world. He had misconstructed the
Aristotelian idea of the educated man.
He sought to be not just educationally
acquainted with each and every subject
but an expert in all of them. His world
famous paintings are 'The last supper
in Milan', 'Mona Lisa' and 'The virgin
and child with St. Anne.' Read
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