Renaissance

• Renaissance came from the French word meaning "rebirth". This can be interpreted as the rebirth of the intellectual culture of the Greeks and Romans. Also, a period of transition from the Medieval Ages towards the inventions and advancements of the Modern Period.
• The Renaissance began in Italy. Italy as an entrepot from the Asian Silk Road. Italy received not only products but also ideas from the Middle and the Far East.
• During the early age of the Renaissance, there was a movement of people with the same mindset that values the individual life of a person, Humanism. Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value of human beings. This philosophy valued freedom and human creativity. 
• Among the first humanists, history recognized Francesco Petrarch as the father of Humanism. Petrarch gave value to his life by writing “Sonnets in the Life and Death of Laura”. Laura was the woman he loved but failed to marry.
• Italy, later on, stopped trading alums with the Turks after discovering mines of Alums in Northern Italy. And one of the first families who invested in it was the Medicis. 
• The Medicis were known to be the richest Italian family in the Renaissance Period. They ruled the city of Florence and later on Tuscany. They offer loans to the Pope, Kings, and Lords. To be honest, if you control the economy, you control everything. 
• Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power
• Visual Arts:

  • Jan Van Eyck was a Flemish painter who first discovered the use of Oil Painting
• Famous Artists and their Works:

  
  

  • Leonardo da Vinci:
  • Painted the Mona Lisa
  • Painted The Last Supper
  • Drew The Vitruvian Man
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  • Donatello:
  • Sculpted the Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata
  • Sculptured St. Mark
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  • Michelangelo Buonarroti:
  • Sculptured the Statue of David
  • Painted Birth of Adam (Sistine Chapel)
  • Sculptured the Pieta
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  • Raphael Santi:
  • Painted Madonna and Child
  • Painted School of Athens
• Literary Arts:

  • Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince, discussing the analysis of how to acquire and maintain political power
  • Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, portraying a hero with lofty and chivalrous but impractical ideals
  • William Shakespeare wrote plays like Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, exploring themes of conflict, loyalty, appearance and reality, guilt, sin, and more
  • Michel de Montaigne wrote Essays, attempting to put his thoughts into writing
  • Desiderius Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly, exposing secular ambitions and foolish speculations
• • Thomas More wrote Utopia, imagining a society with highly desirable qualities
  • Giovanni Boccaccio wrote Decameron, a collection of 100 tales told during the Black Death
  • Dante Alighieri wrote Divine Comedy, depicting Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise with the goal of spiritual maturity and understanding of God's love
• Humanist writers emphasize the complexity and value of humanity