The Italian Renaissance
The Renaissance began in Italy and lasted from around 1350-1600. The period we know as the High Renaissance, when most of the famous art and architecture was created, lasted from ca.1450-1550.
The word renaissance means rebirth, and it is called that because it was a cultural renewal, or rebirth, following the Middle Ages. It is believed that the Renaissance began in Italy due mainly to geography.
The Mediterranean Sea was seen as the center of the known world in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Italy is located in the center of the Mediterranean Sea, and being a peninsula, Italy has many ports for trade.
The Mediterranean Sea is the crossroads of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa, which made it an important crossroads of trade, especially with the powerful Islamic Empire. Italy played a major role in that trade and acquired a lot of wealth. In addition to wealth, Italy was exposed to ideas from other cultures.
These two important factors combined to give birth to the Italian Renaissance. Within Italy, the cities that were central to the Renaissance were Florence, Rome, and Venice
Francesco Petrarch was a key figure in the birth of the Renaissance. Petrarch is known as the Father of Humanism, the dominant philosophy of the time. He popularized studying ancient Greek and Roman texts, which also had a huge influence on Renaissance thinking. Renaissance artists studied ancient Greek and Roman architecture and statues and modeled some of their own artwork after those ancient civilizations.
Some of the most famous Renaissance artists were Leonardo da Vinci, who painted the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, and Michaelangelo Buonarroti, who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted the statue of David. In addition to famous artists, there were important politicians such as Niccolò Machiavelli and the Medici Family, who ruled Florence for hundreds of years and financially supported the development of many famous works of art.