The Italian Renaissance

During the early Renaissance, which had its source in Italy and its hub in Florence, culture and the arts underwent a radical renewal that gradually spread through the rest of Europe, to varying degrees and in different stylistic forms. Underpinning the Renaissance was a new fascination with the ancient world—its philosophy and literature, its mythology and art—together with the ideas of Neo-Platonic philosophy and humanist culture. Interest in science broadened to include investigation of nature and man through the study of anatomy, the development of new technologies, and a harmonious alliance of the major arts. Once known as the “mechanical arts,” these humanist studies have come to be called “liberal,” a reflection of pride in the now-recognized intellectual faculties of the artist. Among the great artists that made the period so dazzling are Masaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael.