1.1 Essential Vocabulary

Renaissance

• 1400s Rebirth of the ancient Greek and Classical texts Exemplified by Renaissance men such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo

Northern Renaissance

• (1400-1600) Maintained a more religious focus and life was more human-centered Jan Van Eyck was a northern artist who observed nature closely in order to depict details accurately, but he did not display the skill of Italian artists in the use of perspective and proportion.

Humanists

• (1400-1500) intellectuals who studied classical civilization and its texts. They also focused on human beings and their inherent dignity. Petrarch (1304-1374) “Father of Humanism” thought of the middle ages as a period of darkness because of the decline of classical civilization

Individualism

• 1400s A focus on personal rather than institutional interests Demonstrated that people had freedom and could achieve

Civic Humanism

• 1400s

A form of republicanism developed in the Renaissance inspired by the governmental forms

Cicero became the model of an active engaged citizen

Printing Press

• 1450s

The invention developed by Johannes Gutenberg to produce books more quickly

Was used to print the Gutenberg Bible and spread ideas of the Protestant Reformation

Secular

• 1300s

Worldly rather than religious

Some people started relying less on religion as can be seen in some of the art in this period

Vernacular Language

• 1500

The native language of a region

Making books available in vernacular languages caused literacy rates to increase (because ordinary people could read them too)

Protestant Reformation

• 1500s (16th Century)

Split of the Western Church between members of the Catholic Church, and Christians who believed different things

An individual that stood out was Martin Luther, a German monk also a critic of the Roman Catholic Church, challenging the church’s ideas such as practices of self-indulgence

Patronage of the Arts

• 14th-17th centuries

Change in funds towards art from churches to those in the aristocracy and new class of merchants

Exemplified by medieval scholars, such as the Medici patronage, commissioned major works of art

Mannerism

• 1500s

Style of art in which one uses their own artistic method to create pieces

Exemplified by the work of Jacopo da Pontormo, in pieces such as “Joseph in Egypt”

Baroque

• 1500s

Style of art that focuses on emotional reaction and references classical ideals

Within its time in popularity, Baroque art became popular amongst architecture such as Versailles

Scientific Revolution

• 16th-18th centuries

An era of scientific thought where observations of the natural world were made, which questioned the ideals set

Exemplified by one Francis Bacon, whose thoughts of logic and evidence in science became and remain influential in the scientific world

• Inductive

Copernicus

• 1500s

Renaissance mathematician and astronomer whose scientific discoveries contributed to the start of the Scientific Revolution

An example of his discoveries is when he formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun in the middle

Galileo

• 1500-1600

An Italian astronomer, and philosopher whose innovations played a major role in the Scientific Revolution.

After his improvements to the telescope, he was able to find four moons of Jupiter

Newton

• 1600-1700

​​English physicist was known to be one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution

An example of his work includes his rules of gravity which stood unchallenged until the 20th century.

William Harvey

• 1500-1600

French theologian, philosopher, mathematician and music theorist, often referred to as the "father of acoustics".

His efforts helped discover the circulation of blood and the role of the heart in propelling it

Galen

• 130 AD - c. 210 AD

Prolific Greek writer and the Roman Empire’s greatest physician and surgeon and philosopher

He is most known for discovering how the arteries carried blood

Francis Bacon

• 1561–1626

A leader figure in natural philosophy and the field of scientific methodology.

He advocated an organized system for obtaining knowledge along with a humanitarian goal and was credited for ushering in the new early modern era of human understanding

René Descartes

• 1500

French philosophers and scientists, wanted scientists to think like students of geometry

Promotes the scientific method (Deductive reasoning: general to specific)

Witchcraft

• 1300s - 1700s

It was the exercise of having supposed supernatural powers that could control people or events that occurred. It involved sorcery or magic

The witch hunts occurred when many accused witches were forced to confess they were witches where they were tortured and many were executed by being burned at the stake or by being hanged

Alchemy

• 1300s-1700s

The medieval version of chemistry is based on the belief in the transformation of matter.

Alchemists would try to turn metals into gold such as lead or copper

Astrology

• 17th century

Was a way to predict the future by studying celestial bodies

Predicted the course of the future of humankind to risks of a single investment or the weather

Petrarch

• 1304-1374

Scholar and poet of the early renaissance and earliest humanist

Rediscovered Cicero’s letters and was often credited with initiating the 14th-century Italian renaissance and for founding renaissance humanism

Lorenzo Valla

• 1407-1457

Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator, scholar, and catholic priest

Best known for his historical-critical textual analysis which proved how the Donation of Constantine was actually a forgery

Marsilio Ficino

• 1433-1499

Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was the most influential humanist philosopher of the early Italian renaissance.

Translated the Enneads of the second-century Neoplatonist Plotinus along with commentaries

Pico della Mirandola

• 1400’s

Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher

Wrote On the Dignity of Man which stated that man was made in the image of God before the fall and as Christ after the Resurrection. Man has placed in-between beasts and the angels. He also believed that there are no limits to what man can accomplish.

Leonardo Bruni

• (1300’s-1400’s)

Leonardo Bruni was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman, often recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance.

(translated ancient Greek texts to Latin) (admired Cicero)

Niccolo Machiavelli

• (1400-1500)

Renaissance political philosopher.

The Prince; believed that people are ungrateful and untrustworthy; Urged rulers to study war, avoid unnecessary kindness, and always base policy upon the principle that the end justifies the means

Jean Bodin

• 1500’s

Among the first to provide a theoretical basis for absolutist states, written during the chaos of the French Civil Wars of the late 16th century.

believed that only absolutism could provide order and force people to obey the government

Baldassarre Castigione

• (1400’s-1500’s)

Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier, and prominent Renaissance author.

The Courtier: discusses ideal men & women, and believed men should be talented in many fields

Francesco Guicciardini

• (1400’s-1500’s)

An Italian historian and statesman, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance.

Guicciardini is best known as the author of the Storia d'Italia (History of Italy), which provides a detailed account of politics in the Italian Peninsula between 1490 and 1534.

Michelangelo

• (1400’s-1500’s)

An Italian painter, sculptor, and architect of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

David and several versions of the Pietà painted the ceiling and rear wall of the Sistine Chapel, and served as one of the architects of Saint Peter's Basilica, designing its famous dome.

Donatello Raphael

• (1400s-1500s)

an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance.

Chief Architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the master of frescoes such as "the School of Athens," he is noted for his madonnas.

Leon Battista Alberti

• 1400’s

an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomized the nature of those identified now as polymaths.

He is considered the founder of Western cryptography, a claim he shares with Johannes Trithemius.

Filipo Brunelleschi

• 1377-1446

Italian architect, designer, and sculptor

Architect for the rebuilding of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence

Leonardo Da Vinci

• 1452-1519

Renaissance man; studied nature and conducted experiments, dissected human bodies to learn more about their structure, and drew designs for machines that were far ahead of his time

Mona Lisa and The Last Supper: demonstrates Leonardo’s mastery of perspective as well as his skill at depicting idealized human figures with psychological insight

Jan Van Eyck

• c. 1390-1441

A northern artist who observed nature closely in order to depict details accurately, but did not display the skill of Italian artists in the use of perspective and proportion

The work showed a focus on individuals and everyday life as objects in art

Pieter Brueghel the Elder

• c. 1525-1569

The most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker

Landscape scene; The Hunters in the snow

Rembrandt

• 1606-1669

Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draftsman. Considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and the most important Dutch art history

Portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit by Rembrandt

El Greco

• 1541-1614

Originally from Crete, studied in Italy, and later settled in Spain where he became a church painter.

His elongated figures and dark, eerie colors created feelings of intense emotion.

Artemisia Gentileschi

• 1630-1635

Gentileschi was a baroque Italian painter during the renaissance

Artemisia was the first woman to get accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts as she painted and portrayed emotional sceneries

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

• 1598-1680

Was an Italian sculpture that developed the baroque rule into sculptures.

He completed the work on St. Peter’s Basilica, which began during the High Renaissance

Peter Paul Rubens

• 1577-1640

Rubens is known to be the most influential artist of the Flemish baroque era.

His paintings, which exemplified the Baroque style, were dramatic in their use of light and color and dynamic movement and were known for richly sensual nude forms.

Paracelsus

• 1493-1531

Paracelsus was a German-Swiss physician that pioneered cures using chemistry/chemical remedies.

Used observation and experiments to develop a theory of disease based on chemical imbalances in specific organs that could be treated with chemical remedies in careful dosages.

Andreas Vesalius

• 1514-1564

Emphasized anatomical research, including dissection of the human body

Vesalius wrote a book called De Humani Corporis

Johannes Kepler

• 1571-1630

German astronomer analyzed precise measurements of planetary orbits, and Kepler found them to be elliptical rather than circular.

By demonstrating these elliptical orbits, Kepler further supported copernicus’s still-controversial heliocentric model and disputed the religious belief (which even he had originally held) that the circle was the “perfect shape” and reflected the Divine order