The rennaisance | strip-header-layout

The Renaissance

Rebirth of interest in the language , Art and Architecture of ancient Rome and Greece.
In the middle ages few people could read or write but during the renaissance the skill of reading spread and people began to look at their world in a new way and question things they had believed before.
In Italy there were many remains of ancient roman buildings and people began to wonder about those who created them.
There were many wealthy Italian families e.g Medici family who were wealthy from banking and were lookingfor artists and sculptors to decorate their palaces.
There was a new intrest in Art, Archtecture, Reading and Writing which spread from Italy.

After the Renaissance:

During the renaissance painters painted people and landscape
Paints were mixed with oil instead of egg white and produced richer colours- dried more slowlyand mistakes could be changed

Born in Vinci near Florece.
Apprenticed to Verochio and studied anatomy to be able to draw the human body.
Painted 'Virgin of the rocks' and a fresco 'The Last Supper' in Milan.
Used sfumato- a smoky technique to paint light and shade.
He studied anatomy to ensure that his people drawings were very realistic.
He painted a fresco of the Last Supper on a monastery wall in Milan.
His most famous work is 'Mona Lisa' which used the sfumato technique.
He was also an inventor leaving behind notebooks with the drawings of helicopters, tanks and submarines not to be built for centuries.
He had many patrons including the popes and the Medici family.
He was one of the most famous artists of the renaissance.

Born near Florence
Apprenticed to Ghirlandio
Lorenzo De Medici was his patron and when he died Michelangelo went to Rome and carved the Pieta
He carved the statue of David out of a single block of marble and it was placed in the main square in Floren
Pope Julius asked him to do a painting foe the ceiling of the sistine chapel, which took 4 years and contained 300 from the story of creation to the bible
He designed the dome for St. Peters Basilica but died befoer it was built
He died at age 89 , almost blind from spending 4 years on his back on a platform with paint dripping in eyes while painting the ceiling the Sistine Chapel

Albrecht Durer was born in Nurembourg, Germany
He was the son of a goldsmith
He was skilled at drawing and excelled at self-portraits which were very realistic
Very skilled at mathematics
He was also a very skilled at landscape portraits and one of the first artists to do so
He also made made many engravings -which were prints made on wood, paper or copper e.g The Knight, Death and The Devil
His "Young Hare" is famous for its detail and use of light and shade
He was 1 of 18 children
He became a protestant during the reformation
He became chief painter and sculptor at the court of the German Empire
Ireland has the biggest collection of Albrecht Durer engravings in the world
One of the most famous non-Italian renaissance artists in the world

During the Renaissance there was a spirit or time of questioning when people wanted to know more about their world
Galileo was called the "Father of Modern Science" because he tried to prove all this theories about the universe scientifically
Galileo originally studied medicine, however he did not continue his work. Galileo instead studied maths and developed a theory by which objects fall at the same speed called "The Theory of Falling Bodies"
He also single-handedly invented the compass and thermometer
He improved the newly recently developed telescope by Copernicous to allow him to study the stars
This study of astronomy convinced him that the Polish astonomer Copernicous was right in saying the sun was at the center of the universe and that the Earth revolves around it
This went against the beliefs and teachings of the church and Galileo was placed under house arrest for heresy
In time Galileos ideas were accepted by everyone.

There are many renaissance statues and paintings to be seen in Europe
Many of the new artistic techniques e.g. perspective are still in use
The invention of the printing press by Johann Guthenberg encouraged literacy as books were now being produced faster and cheaper. Books were also now in the vernacular(The language of the people)
Important knowledge such as the sun being at the center of the universe or that the heart acts as a pump carrying blood around the body come from this time
The renaissance encouraged a spirit of questioning things usually taken for granted and so this encouraged people to question abuses within the churchduring the reformation