Man and the Renaissance

Landmarks of the World's Art, Architecture, sculpture, painting. Written by Andrew Martindayl 204 Illustrations, 100 in Full Color. The word "Renaissance" is familiar and much used. But how many people could easily explain what it meant to artists, scholars and patrons in the 15th century Europe. In this beautifully illustrated book , Andrew Martindale illuminates its meaning in the teerms of the society in which the Renaissance took place. he deals with 175 years of visible and often violent change during the period unique in history. In 1400 - Europeans did not know what "Europe" meant. There was only Christendom". And in their medieval world there was only one style of art: International, Catholic Gothic art. In 1500, Michelangelo has carved his Pieta in St. Peter's, Rome, Leonardo had painted "The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper> Durer had returned to Nurnberg from Venice, spreading an entirely new style of art north of the Alps. Men's ideas were shaken by discoveries about the past and about nature. Gutenber's and Caxton's printing presses were at work. American had been discovered. Constantinople had been lost. In less than twenty years, Calvin and Luther were to split the Universal Church