how to start an essay about the renaissance

A Beginner's Guide to the Renaissance

What was the renaissance.

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The Renaissance was a cultural and scholarly movement which stressed the rediscovery and application of texts and thought from classical antiquity, occurring in Europe c. 1400 – c. 1600. The Renaissance can also refer to the period of European history spanning roughly the same dates. It's increasingly important to stress that the Renaissance had a long history of developments that included the twelfth-century renaissance and more.

There remains debate about what exactly constituted the Renaissance. Essentially, it was a cultural and intellectual movement, intimately tied to society and politics, of the late 14th to early 17th centuries, although it is commonly restricted to just the 15th and 16th centuries. It is considered to have originated in Italy. Traditionally people have claimed it was stimulated, in part, by Petrarch, who had a passion for rediscovering lost manuscripts and a fierce belief in the civilizing power of ancient thought and in part by conditions in Florence.

At its core, the Renaissance was a movement dedicated to the rediscovery and use of classical learning, that is to say, knowledge and attitudes from the Ancient Greek and Roman eras. Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’, and Renaissance thinkers believed the period between themselves and the fall of Rome, which they labeled the Middle Ages , had seen a decline in cultural achievement compared with the earlier eras. Participants intended, through the study of classical texts, textual criticism, and classical techniques, to both reintroduce the heights of those ancient days and improve the situation of their contemporaries. Some of these classical texts survived only amongst Islamic scholars and were brought back to Europe at this time.

The Renaissance Period

“Renaissance” can also refer to the period, c. 1400 – c. 1600. “ High Renaissance ” generally refers to c. 1480 – c. 1520. The era was dynamic, with European explorers “finding” new continents, the transformation of trading methods and patterns, the decline of feudalism (in so far as it ever existed), scientific developments such as the Copernican system of the cosmos and the rise of gunpowder. Many of these changes were triggered, in part, by the Renaissance, such as classical mathematics stimulating new financial trading mechanisms, or new techniques from the east boosting ocean navigation. The printing press was also developed, allowing Renaissance texts to be disseminated widely (in actual fact this print was an enabling factor rather than a result).

Why Was This Renaissance Different?

Classical culture had never totally vanished from Europe, and it experienced sporadic rebirths. There was the Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth to ninth centuries and a major one in the “Twelfth Century Renaissance”, which saw Greek science and philosophy returned to European consciousness and the development of a new way of thinking which mixed science and logic called Scholasticism. What was different in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was that this particular rebirth joined together both the elements of scholarly inquiry and cultural endeavor with social and political motivations to create a much broader movement, albeit one with a long history.

The Society and Politics Behind the Renaissance

Across the fourteenth century , and perhaps before, the old social and political structures of the medieval period broke down, allowing new concepts to rise. A new elite emerged, with new models of thought and ideas to justify themselves; what they found in classical antiquity was something to use both as a prop and a tool for their aggrandizement. Exiting elites matched them to keep pace, as did the Catholic Church. Italy, from which the Renaissance evolved, was a series of city-states, each competing with the others for civic pride, trade, and wealth. They were largely autonomous, with a high proportion of merchants and artisans thanks to the Mediterranean trade routes.

At the very top of Italian society, the rulers of the key courts in Italy were all “new men”, recently confirmed in their positions of power and with newly gained wealth, and they were keen to demonstrate both. There was also wealth and the desire to show it below them. The Black Death had killed millions in Europe and left the survivors with proportionally greater wealth, whether through fewer people inheriting more or simply from the increased wages they could demand. Italian society and the results of the Black Death allowed for much greater social mobility, a constant flow of people keen to demonstrate their wealth. Displaying wealth and using culture to reinforce your social and political was an important aspect of life in that period, and when artistic and scholarly movements turned back to the classical world at the start of the fifteenth century there were plenty of patrons ready to support them in these endeavors to make political points.

The importance of piety, as demonstrated through commissioning works of tribute, was also strong, and Christianity proved a heavy influence for thinkers trying to square Christian thought with that of “pagan” classical writers.

The Spread of the Renaissance

From its origins in Italy, the Renaissance spread across Europe, the ideas changing and evolving to match local conditions, sometimes linking into existing cultural booms, although still keeping the same core. Trade, marriage, diplomats, scholars, the use of giving artists to forge links, even military invasions, all aided the circulation. Historians now tend to break the Renaissance down into smaller, geographic, groups such as the Italian Renaissance, The English Renaissance, the Northern Renaissance (a composite of several countries) etc. There are also works which talk about the Renaissance as a phenomenon with global reach, influencing – and being influenced by – the east, Americas, and Africa.

The End of the Renaissance

Some historians argue that the Renaissance ended in the 1520s, some the 1620s. The Renaissance didn’t just stop, but its core ideas gradually converted into other forms, and new paradigms arose, particularly during the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. It would be hard to argue we are still in the Renaissance (as you can do with the Enlightenment), as culture and learning move in a different direction, but you have to draw the lines from here back to then (and, of course, back to before then). You could argue that new and different types of Renaissance followed (should you want to write an essay).

The Interpretation of the Renaissance

The term ‘renaissance’ actually dates from the nineteenth century and has been heavily debated ever since, with some historians questioning whether it’s even a useful word anymore. Early historians described a clear intellectual break with the medieval era, but in recent decades scholarship has turned to recognize growing continuity from the centuries before, suggesting that the changes Europe experienced were more an evolution than a revolution. The era was also far from a golden age for everyone; at the start, it was very much a minority movement of humanists, elites, and artists, although it disseminated wider with printing. Women , in particular, saw a marked reduction in their educational opportunities during the Renaissance. It's no longer possible to talk of a sudden, all changing golden age (or no longer possible and be considered accurate), but rather a phase that wasn't entirely a move 'forward', or that dangerous historical problem, progress.

Renaissance Art

There were Renaissance movements in architecture, literature, poetry, drama, music, metals, textiles and furniture, but the Renaissance is perhaps best known for its art. Creative endeavor became viewed as a form of knowledge and achievement, not simply a way of decoration. Art was now to be based on observation of the real world, applying mathematics and optics to achieve more advanced effects like perspective. Paintings, sculpture and other art forms flourished as new talents took up the creation of masterpieces, and enjoying art became seen as the mark of a cultured individual.

Renaissance Humanism

Perhaps the earliest expression of the Renaissance was in humanism, an intellectual approach which developed among those being taught a new form of curriculum: the studia humanitatis, which challenged the previously dominant Scholastic thinking. Humanists were concerned with the features of human nature and attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety.

Humanist thinkers implicitly and explicitly challenged the old Christian mindset, allowing and advancing the new intellectual model behind the Renaissance. However, tensions between humanism and the Catholic Church developed over the period, and humanist learning partly caused the Reformation . Humanism was also deeply pragmatic, giving those involved the educational basis for work in the burgeoning European bureaucracies. It is important to note that the term ‘humanist’ was a later label, just like “renaissance”.

Politics and Liberty

The Renaissance used to be regarded as pushing forward a new desire for liberty and republicanism - rediscovered in works about the Roman Republic —even though many of the Italian city-states were taken over by individual rulers. This view has come under close scrutiny by historians and partly rejected, but it did cause some Renaissance thinkers to agitate for greater religious and political freedoms over later years. More widely accepted is the return to thinking about the state as a body with needs and requirements, taking politics away from the application of Christian morals and into a more pragmatic, some might say devious, world, as typified by the work of Machiavelli. There was no marvelous purity in Renaissance politics, just the same twisting about as ever.

Books and Learning

Part of the changes brought by the Renaissance, or perhaps one of the causes, was the change in attitude to pre-Christian books. Petrarch, who had a self-proclaimed “lust” to seek out forgotten books among the monasteries and libraries of Europe, contributed to a new outlook: one of (secular) passion and hunger for the knowledge. This attitude spread, increasing the search for lost works and increasing the number of volumes in circulation, in turn influencing more people with classical ideas. One other major result was a renewed trade in manuscripts and the foundation of public libraries to better enable widespread study. Print then enabled an explosion in the reading and spread of texts, by producing them faster and more accurately, and led to the literate populations who formed the basis of the modern world.

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What are the characteristics of Renaissance art, and how does it differ from the art of the Middle Ages?

When and where did renaissance art start and end, how did humanism and religion affect renaissance art, what made renaissance art revolutionary, what are some famous renaissance artworks.

Renaissance art

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• World History Encyclopedia - Renaissance Art
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Renaissance art is marked by a gradual shift from the abstract forms of the medieval period to the representational forms of the 15th century. Subjects grew from mostly biblical scenes to include portraits, episodes from Classical religion, and events from contemporary life. Human figures are often rendered in dynamic poses, showing expression, using gesture, and interacting with one another. They are not flat but suggest mass, and they often occupy a realistic landscape, rather than stand against a gold background as some figures do in the art of the Middle Ages . Renaissance art from Northern Europe emphasized precise detail as a means of achieving a realistic work.

Characteristics of Renaissance art, notably naturalism, can be found in 13th-century European art but did not dominate until the 15th century. Scholars have traditionally described the turn of the 16th century as the culmination of the Renaissance , when, primarily in Italy, such artists as Michelangelo , Leonardo da Vinci , and Raphael made not only realistic but complex art. About 1520 the Renaissance gave way to Mannerism , wherein a sense of drama pervaded otherwise realistic art.

Interest in humanism , a philosophy that emphasized the individual and the human capacity for fulfillment through reason, transformed the Renaissance artist from an anonymous craftsman to an individual practicing an intellectual pursuit. Artists introduced new subjects to their work, which reflected the growing emphasis on the individual, including portraits, scenes of contemporary life, and historical narratives. Although Renaissance culture was becoming increasingly secular, religion was still important to daily life, especially in Italy , where the seat of Roman Catholicism was located. A good portion of Renaissance art depicted scenes from the Bible or was commissioned by the church. Emphasis on naturalism, however, placed such figures as Christ and the Madonna not on a magnificent gold background, as in the Middle Ages, but in landscapes from the observable world.

The developments of the Renaissance changed the course of art in ways that continue to resonate today. Interest in humanism transformed the artist from an anonymous craftsman to an individual practicing an intellectual pursuit, enabling several to become the first celebrity artists. A growing mercantile class offered artists new patrons that requested novel subjects, notably portraits and scenes from contemporary life. Moreover, scientific observations and Classical studies contributed to some of the most realistic representations of the human figure in art history. Figures have accurate anatomy , stand naturally through the Classical scheme of contrapposto , and have a sense of mass, an accomplishment made easier by the flexibility of oil paint , a medium that was gaining popularity. They also occupy believable space—an achievement based on the development of linear perspective and atmospheric perspective , illusionistic devices to suggest depth on a two-dimensional surface.

Two of the most famous artworks in history were painted during the Renaissance : the Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19) and the Last Supper (c. 1495–98), both executed by Leonardo da Vinci , which show an interest not only in representing the human figure realistically but also in imbuing it with character through expression, gesture, and posture. Other famous artworks include Michelangelo ’s sculpture of David (1501–04) and his paintings for the Sistine Chapel (ceiling, 1508–12; The Last Judgment , 1536–41), in which the artist pushed the accurate representation of human anatomy to challenging extremes with complicated elegant poses. Raphael ’s School of Athens (c. 1508–11) celebrates the intellectual by populating a deep hall, skillfully executed using the recently codified linear perspective , with notable Western thinkers. Donatello ’s David (early 15th century) recalls Classical sculpture through the use of contrapposto , wherein the figure stands naturally with the weight on one leg. Albrecht Dürer exemplifies the Northern European interest in meticulous detail in his Self-Portrait (1500), while Titian ’s Venus of Urbino (1538) illustrates the Venetian interest in representing soft light and vibrant colour.

Renaissance art , painting , sculpture , architecture , music , and literature produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the combined influences of an increased awareness of nature, a revival of classical learning, and a more individualistic view of man. Scholars no longer believe that the Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values, as is suggested by the French word renaissance , literally “rebirth.” Rather, historical sources suggest that interest in nature, humanistic learning, and individualism were already present in the late medieval period and became dominant in 15th- and 16th-century Italy concurrently with social and economic changes such as the secularization of daily life, the rise of a rational money-credit economy, and greatly increased social mobility .

In Italy the Renaissance proper was preceded by an important “proto-renaissance” in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, which drew inspiration from Franciscan radicalism. St. Francis had rejected the formal Scholasticism of the prevailing Christian theology and gone out among the poor praising the beauties and spiritual value of nature. His example inspired Italian artists and poets to take pleasure in the world around them. The most famous artist of the proto-renaissance period, Giotto di Bondone (1266/67 or 1276–1337), reveals a new pictorial style that depends on clear, simple structure and great psychological penetration rather than on the flat, linear decorativeness and hierarchical compositions of his predecessors and contemporaries, such as the Florentine painter Cimabue and the Siennese painters Duccio and Simone Martini . The great poet Dante lived at about the same time as Giotto, and his poetry shows a similar concern with inward experience and the subtle shades and variations of human nature . Although his Divine Comedy belongs to the Middle Ages in its plan and ideas, its subjective spirit and power of expression look forward to the Renaissance. Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio also belong to this proto-renaissance period, both through their extensive studies of Latin literature and through their writings in the vernacular . Unfortunately, the terrible plague of 1348 and subsequent civil wars submerged both the revival of humanistic studies and the growing interest in individualism and naturalism revealed in the works of Giotto and Dante. The spirit of the Renaissance did not surface again until the beginning of the 15th century.

In 1401 a competition was held at Florence to award the commission for bronze doors to be placed on the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Defeated by the goldsmith and painter Lorenzo Ghiberti , Filippo Brunelleschi and Donatello left for Rome, where they immersed themselves in the study of ancient architecture and sculpture. When they returned to Florence and began to put their knowledge into practice, the rationalized art of the ancient world was reborn. The founder of Renaissance painting was Masaccio (1404–28). The intellectuality of his conceptions , the monumentality of his compositions, and the high degree of naturalism in his works mark Masaccio as a pivotal figure in Renaissance painting. The succeeding generation of artists— Piero della Francesca , Pollaiuolo, and Andrea del Verrocchio —pressed forward with researches into linear and aerial perspective and anatomy, developing a style of scientific naturalism.

The situation in Florence was uniquely favourable to the arts. The civic pride of Florentines found expression in statues of the patron saints commissioned from Ghiberti and Donatello for niches in the grain-market guildhall known as Or San Michele, and in the largest dome built since antiquity, placed by Brunelleschi on the Florence cathedral. The cost of construction and decoration of palaces, churches, and monasteries was underwritten by wealthy merchant families.

Principal among these were the Medici , who dominated Florence from 1434, when the first pro-Medici government was elected, until 1492, when Lorenzo de Medici died. During their ascendancy the Medici subsidized virtually the entire range of humanistic and artistic activities associated with the Renaissance. Cosimo (1389–1464), made wealthy by his trading profits as the papal banker, was a scholar who founded the Neoplatonic academy and collected an extensive library. He gathered around him the foremost writers and classical scholars of his day, among them Marsilio Ficino , the Neoplatonist who served as the tutor of Lorenzo de Medici, Cosimo’s grandson. Lorenzo (1449–92) became the centre of a group of artists, poets, scholars, and musicians who believed in the Neoplatonic ideal of a mystical union with God through the contemplation of beauty. Less naturalistic and more courtly than the prevailing spirit of the first half of the Quattrocento, this aesthetic philosophy was elucidated by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola , incarnated in painting by Sandro Botticelli , and expressed in poetry by Lorenzo himself. Lorenzo also collaborated with the organist and choirmaster of the Florence cathedral, Heinrich Isaac , in the composition of lively secular choral music which anticipated the madrigal , a characteristic form of the High Renaissance.

The Medici traded in all of the major cities in Europe, and one of the most famous masterpieces of Northern Renaissance art, the Portinari Altarpiece, by Hugo van der Goes ( c. 1476; Uffizi, Florence), was commissioned by their agent, Tommaso Portinari. Instead of being painted with the customary tempera of the period, the work is painted with translucent oil glazes that produce brilliant jewel-like colour and a glossy surface. Early Northern Renaissance painters were more concerned with the detailed reproduction of objects and their symbolic meaning than with the study of scientific perspective and anatomy even after these achievements became widely known. On the other hand, central Italian painters began to adopt the oil painting medium soon after the Portinari Altarpiece was brought to Florence in 1476.

High Renaissance art, which flourished for about 35 years, from the early 1490s to 1527, when Rome was sacked by imperial troops, revolves around three towering figures: Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Michelangelo (1475–1564), and Raphael (1483–1520). Each of the three embodies an important aspect of the period: Leonardo was the ultimate Renaissance man , a solitary genius to whom no branch of study was foreign; Michelangelo emanated creative power, conceiving vast projects that drew for inspiration on the human body as the ultimate vehicle for emotional expression; Raphael created works that perfectly expressed the classical spirit—harmonious, beautiful, and serene.

Although Leonardo was recognized in his own time as a great artist, his restless researches into anatomy, the nature of flight, and the structure of plant and animal life left him little time to paint. His fame rests mainly on a few completed paintings; among them are the Mona Lisa (1503–05, Louvre), The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–86, Louvre), and the sadly deteriorated fresco The Last Supper (1495–98; restored 1978–99; Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan).

Michelangelo’s early sculpture, such as the Pietà (1499; St. Peter’s, Rome) and the David (1501–04; Accademia, Florence), reveals a breathtaking technical ability in concert with a disposition to bend rules of anatomy and proportion in the service of greater expressive power. Although Michelangelo thought of himself first as a sculptor, his best known work is the giant ceiling fresco of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome. It was completed in four years, from 1508 to 1512, and presents an incredibly complex but philosophically unified composition that fuses traditional Christian theology with Neoplatonic thought.

Raphael’s greatest work, School of Athens (1508–11), was painted in the Vatican at the same time that Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel. In this large fresco Raphael brings together representatives of the Aristotelian and Platonic schools of thought. Instead of the densely packed, turbulent surface of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, Raphael places his groups of calmly conversing philosophers and artists in a vast court with vaults receding into the distance. Raphael was initially influenced by Leonardo, and he incorporated the pyramidal composition and beautifully modelled faces of The Virgin of the Rocks into many of his own paintings of the Madonna. He differed from Leonardo, however, in his prodigious output, his even temperament, and his preference for classical harmony and clarity.

The creator of High Renaissance architecture was Donato Bramante (1444–1514), who came to Rome in 1499 when he was 55. His first Roman masterpiece, the Tempietto (1502) at S. Pietro in Montorio, is a centralized dome structure that recalls classical temple architecture . Pope Julius II (reigned 1503–13) chose Bramante to be papal architect, and together they devised a plan to replace the 4th-century Old St. Peter’s with a new church of gigantic dimensions. The project was not completed, however, until long after Bramante’s death.

Humanistic studies continued under the powerful popes of the High Renaissance, Julius II and Leo X , as did the development of polyphonic music. The Sistine Choir, which performed at services when the pope officiated, drew musicians and singers from all of Italy and northern Europe. Among the most famous composers who became members were Josquin des Prez ( c. 1450–1521) and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ( c. 1525–94).

The Renaissance as a unified historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527. The strains between Christian faith and classical humanism led to Mannerism in the latter part of the 16th century. Great works of art animated by the Renaissance spirit, however, continued to be made in northern Italy and in northern Europe.

Seemingly unaffected by the Mannerist crisis, northern Italian painters such as Correggio (1494–1534) and Titian (1488/90–1576) continued to celebrate both Venus and the Virgin Mary without apparent conflict. The oil medium, introduced to northern Italy by Antonello da Messina and quickly adopted by Venetian painters who could not use fresco because of the damp climate, seemed particularly adapted to the sanguine , pleasure-loving culture of Venice . A succession of brilliant painters— Giovanni Bellini , Giorgione , Titian, Tintoretto , and Paolo Veronese —developed the lyrical Venetian painting style that combined pagan subject matter, sensuous handling of colour and paint surface, and a love of extravagant settings. Closer in spirit to the more intellectual Florentines of the Quattrocento was the German painter Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), who experimented with optics, studied nature assiduously, and disseminated his powerful synthesis of Renaissance and Northern Gothic styles through the Western world by means of his engravings and woodcuts.

A 15-Point Quick Summary Of The Renaissance

In the early 1400s, Europe began to emerge from the Middle Ages and enter the period we now call the Renaissance. This time period was marked by a renewed interest in classical learning, art, architecture, and science.

The Renaissance was a time of great creativity and progress, and it left an indelible impact on the world.

The goal of this article is to summarize the Renaissance. We start with a quick 15-Point summary of the Renaissance. This will be followed by an expanded look at each point, for those of you who are interested in learning more.

A Quick Summary Of The Renaissance

• Europe, during the Renaissance, had a spirit of inquiry and questioning
• The governing philosophy of the Renaissance was Humanism
• The Renaissance saw a rejection of Religious Dogma
• Internal reform movements within the Church eventually led to the Protestant Reformation
• The Renaissance saw a Revival of Classical Antiquity & Learning
• Art, Architecture, Music, and Literature flourished during the Renaissance
• Patronage of the Arts by the Church and Rulers made amazing works of art possible
• The Invention of the Printing Press revolutionized how ideas spread during the Renaissance
• The demand for new products and goods started a trade and commerce revolution
• The Age of Exploration saw European explorers reach distant lands
• The Renaissance saw the start of the Exportation of Religion beyond Europe’s shores
• The Renaissance was a time of Scientific Discoveries based on which centuries later, the Scientific Revolution would thrive
• Medicine and Understanding of the Human Body expanded during the Renaissance
• Our understanding of Astronomy & Our Place in the Universe changed forever
• The Renaissance altered European Politics & The idea of the modern Nation-State was born

A Detailed Summary Of The Renaissance

For those of you who’d like to know a bit more about each of these points, here’s a more detailed version of the summary of the Renaissance.

#1. Europe during the Renaissance had a spirit of inquiry and questioning

The Renaissance saw a renewed focus on questioning the world around us and discovering how it worked. This spirit of inquiry led to advances in science, mathematics, medicine, and engineering.

This spirit would continue beyond the Renaissance and become one of the drivers of both the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. This spirit of inquiry and questioning is seen to this day in modern Universities and research laboratories throughout the world.

#2. The governing philosophy of the Renaissance was Humanism

Humanism was based on the notion that humans are capable of great achievements and should strive to use their talents and creativity to the fullest. This philosophy was embraced by many during this period, and it eventually led to the Age of Enlightenment.

Renaissance Humanism was the revival of the study of Classical Antiquity. Renaissance humanists believed that the great works of Ancient Greece and Rome held the keys to understanding how to live life to its fullest and make the most of one’s talents. This was a fundamental difference in how Renaissance humanists thought compared to medieval thinkers .

Eventually, such thinking would foster individualism, personal independence, and freedom of thought, and in doing so pave the road toward Secularism .

#3. The Renaissance saw a rejection of Religious Dogma

The Renaissance was marked by a rejection of religious dogma and blind faith, seeing both of these as obstacles to progress.

People did not want to rely on religious authorities or the church for all answers but instead sought a more scientific and empirical approach to understanding the world around them. This dissent would mark the beginnings of the reformist movements within the church.

#4. Reform movements within the Church & the Protestant Reformation

The Renaissance had a profound impact on the Catholic Church . Reformist movements which were simmering below the surface finally broke out into the open and led to the Protestant Reformation .

The Protestant Reformation rejected many of the practices of the Catholic Church, such as indulgences and the selling of religious offices. It also rejected the notion that only priests could interpret scripture, leading to the idea of an individual’s personal relationship with God.

This eventually led to the rise of Protestantism and other forms of Christianity such as Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism.

#5. A Revival of Classical Antiquity & Learning

The Renaissance influenced education in many ways. It saw a rediscovery of classical learning and thought. This led to a new appreciation for the works of ancient authors, such as Plato, Aristotle, and others.

Greek started to be taught in schools alongside Latin. This allowed people to read and appreciate works of literature such as the Odyssey and the Iliad in their original language. This revived interest in classical antiquity would eventually lead to a new appreciation for art and literature from this era.

#6. Art, Architecture, Music, and Literature flourished

The Renaissance is known for its incredible works of art and architecture, its talented composers, and its masterful writers. Many of the greatest works of art and literature were produced during this period.

Examples include the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, Donatello, and countless others. These masters changed art forever by developing new concepts like perspective, the use of light, realism, and using oil for paintings.

Literature too underwent dramatic change during the Renaissance. The spirit of inquiry, humanism, the rediscovery of classical works, and the invention of the printing press all had a positive impact on literature.

#7. Patronage of the Arts by the Church and Rulers

The Church and rulers during the Renaissance provided generous patronage to artists, allowing them to produce some of the greatest works of art the world has ever seen.

The Church funded the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the Sistine Chapel, as well as a great number of other works of art. Meanwhile, rulers like Lorenzo de Medici in Florence and Isabella of Castile in Spain funded the works of artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci.

#8. The Printing Revolution

One of the defining inventions of the Renaissance was the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s. This invention allowed for books and other materials to be quickly and easily reproduced, allowing ideas to spread much faster than before.

After starting in Florence , the Renaissance spread across Europe and one of the vehicles of this spread was the printing press. By the year 1500, the movable-type printing press, like the one pioneered by Gutenberg, was available everywhere in Europe and more than 20 million volumes of books were in circulation across the continent.

#9. The start of a Trade and Commercial Revolution

The Renaissance also saw an increased demand for new products and goods. People got interested in trading and commerce, which led to the development of new markets for goods such as spices, textiles, and other luxury items.

Spurred by this increased demand, the Renaissance saw growth in mercantilism and capitalism, positively impacting merchants by making them both wealthy and powerful. Some, like the Medici, would even end up ruling city-states.

Furthermore, the creation of modern financial instruments and rapid advances in maritime technology led to a trade and commercial revolution .

#10. The Launch of the Age of Exploration

The Renaissance was the launch pad of the Age of Exploration . The spirit of inquiry we discussed earlier was now firmly established. Plus people were hungry for new products. Technological advances in shipbuilding, cartography, and navigation made long-distance sea travel became possible.

All these changes led people like Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and others to explore unknown parts of the world. They eventually reached the Americas, India and China.

#11. The Exportation of Religion beyond Europe’s shores

One of the ways the Renaissance impacted the Catholic Church was through the Christianity of religion to distant lands. Countries like Spain and Portugal sent missionaries to the Americas and Asia, spreading their religion and culture.

The Church also established religious orders in distant lands, including the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). These missionaries and religious orders helped further spread Catholicism.

#12. The Renaissance, Scientific Discoveries, and the Scientific Revolution

The Renaissance was a time of great scientific and technological advancement, paving the way for the Scientific Revolution. This period saw numerous discoveries in fields like astronomy, physics, mathematics, anatomy and biology.

This led to the development of new theories and methods, such as those proposed by Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton. Art followed scientific principles with artists using linear perspective and geometrical shapes to create more realistic works.

The Scientific Method was invented and scientific experimentation was encouraged to further society’s understanding of the natural world. It’s through such changes that the Renaissance laid the foundation of the Scientific Revolution .

#13. Medicine and Understanding of the Human Body

The Renaissance made strides in the understanding of human anatomy. Even though autopsies were banned, the (relatively) liberal attitude of the Renaissance saw people like Leonardo da Vinci dissecting human cadavers and studying them.

These studies helped him to produce detailed drawings of the human body, furthering our understanding of anatomy. French surgeon Ambroise Pare used silk threads to stitch veins and arteries. William Harvey studied the circulatory system and would become the main doctor to the King James I of England.

#14. Astronomy & Our Place in the Universe

Until the Middle Ages, the Ptolemaic view of the universe was accepted. This system placed Earth at its center, with the planets and stars orbiting around it. This concept fit in perfectly well with the Church’s teachings and was thus accepted as the truth.

However, during the Renaissance, Copernicus proposed a heliocentric system, with the Sun in the center and the planets orbiting it. Galileo helped corroborate this view by using a telescope to observe the night sky, finding several moons orbiting Jupiter and other planets.

This fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe and formed the basis for modern astronomy.

#15. The Renaissance, European Politics & the Modern Nation-State

With the rise of Secularism and the spread of knowledge through printing in vernaculars, the idea of a nation-state bound by a common language and a common culture began to take shape.

The Renaissance saw the rise of strong monarchies, such as that of Spain and France. These monarchs would often use a c

ombination of religious, cultural, and political forces to form a unified nation. These would be the precursor to the nations we see in modern Europe.

The Wrap Up

So there you have it – A Summary of the Renaissance – a remarkable period in history that not only changed the face of Europe but also had an immense impact on the rest world. From art and science to medicine, politics, and theology – the Renaissance changed the world forever and laid the foundation for modern society.

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Overview of Renaissance Art: Artists, Works and History

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Music in the renaissance.

ex "Kurtz" Violin

Andrea Amati

Double Virginal

Hans Ruckers the Elder

Cornetto in A

possibly Georg Voll

Sixtus Rauchwolff

Claviorganum

Lorenz Hauslaib

Tenor Recorder

Rectangular Octave Virginal

Rebecca Arkenberg Department of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2002

Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400–1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments. The most important music of the early Renaissance was composed for use by the church—polyphonic (made up of several simultaneous melodies) masses and motets in Latin for important churches and court chapels. By the end of the sixteenth century, however, patronage had broadened to include the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and courts, wealthy amateurs, and music printing—all were sources of income for composers.

The early fifteenth century was dominated initially by English and then Northern European composers. The Burgundian court was especially influential, and it attracted composers and musicians from all over Europe. The most important of these was Guillaume Du Fay (1397–1474), whose varied musical offerings included motets and masses for church and chapel services, many of whose large musical structures were based on existing Gregorian chant. His many small settings of French poetry display a sweet melodic lyricism unknown until his era. With his command of large-scale musical form, as well as his attention to secular text-setting, Du Fay set the stage for the next generations of Renaissance composers.

By about 1500, European art music was dominated by Franco-Flemish composers, the most prominent of whom was Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450–1521). Like many leading composers of his era, Josquin traveled widely throughout Europe, working for patrons in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Milan, Rome, Ferrara, and Condé-sur-L’Escaut. The exchange of musical ideas among the Low Countries, France, and Italy led to what could be considered an international European style. On the one hand, polyphony or multivoiced music, with its horizontal contrapuntal style, continued to develop in complexity. At the same time, harmony based on a vertical arrangement of intervals, including thirds and sixths, was explored for its full textures and suitability for accompanying a vocal line. Josquin’s music epitomized these trends, with Northern-style intricate polyphony using canons, preexisting melodies, and other compositional structures smoothly amalgamated with the Italian bent for artfully setting words with melodies that highlight the poetry rather than masking it with complexity. Josquin, like Du Fay, composed primarily Latin masses and motets, but in a seemingly endless variety of styles. His secular output included settings of courtly French poetry, like Du Fay, but also arrangements of French popular songs, instrumental music, and Italian frottole.

With the beginning of the sixteenth century, European music saw a number of momentous changes. In 1501, a Venetian printer named Ottaviano Petrucci published the first significant collection of polyphonic music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A . Petrucci’s success led eventually to music printing in France, Germany, England, and elsewhere. Prior to 1501, all music had to be copied by hand or learned by ear; music books were owned exclusively by religious establishments or extremely wealthy courts and households. After Petrucci, while these books were not inexpensive, it became possible for far greater numbers of people to own them and to learn to read music.

At about the same period, musical instrument technology led to the development of the viola da gamba , a fretted, bowed string instrument. Amateur European musicians of means eagerly took up the viol, as well as the lute , the recorder , the harpsichord (in various guises, including the spinet and virginal), the organ , and other instruments. The viola da gamba and recorder were played together in consorts or ensembles and often were produced in families or sets, with different sizes playing the different lines. Publications by Petrucci and others supplied these players for the first time with notated music (as opposed to the improvised music performed by professional instrumentalists). The sixteenth century saw the development of instrumental music such as the canzona, ricercare, fantasia, variations, and contrapuntal dance-inspired compositions, for both soloists and ensembles, as a truly distinct and independent genre with its own idioms separate from vocal forms and practical dance accompaniment.

The musical instruments depicted in the studiolo of Duke Federigo da Montefeltro of Urbino (ca. 1479–82; 39.153 ) represent both his personal interest in music and the role of music in the intellectual life of an educated Renaissance man. The musical instruments are placed alongside various scientific instruments, books, and weapons, and they include a portative organ, lutes, fiddle, and cornetti; a hunting horn; a pipe and tabor; a harp and jingle ring; a rebec; and a cittern .

From about 1520 through the end of the sixteenth century, composers throughout Europe employed the polyphonic language of Josquin’s generation in exploring musical expression through the French chanson, the Italian madrigal, the German tenorlieder, the Spanish villancico, and the English song, as well as in sacred music. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation directly affected the sacred polyphony of these countries. The Protestant revolutions (mainly in Northern Europe) varied in their attitudes toward sacred music, bringing such musical changes as the introduction of relatively simple German-language hymns (or chorales) sung by the congregation in Lutheran services. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26–1594), maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia at Saint Peter’s in Rome, is seen by many as the iconic High Renaissance composer of Counter-Reformation sacred music, which features clear lines, a variety of textures, and a musically expressive reverence for its sacred texts. The English (and Catholic) composer William Byrd (1540–1623) straddled both worlds, composing Latin-texted works for the Catholic Church, as well as English-texted service music for use at Elizabeth I ‘s Chapel Royal.

Sixteenth-century humanists studied ancient Greek treatises on music , which discussed the close relationship between music and poetry and how music could stir the listener’s emotions. Inspired by the classical world, Renaissance composers fit words and music together in an increasingly dramatic fashion, as seen in the development of the Italian madrigal and later the operatic works of Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643). The Renaissance adaptation of a musician singing and accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, a variation on the theme of Orpheus, appears in Renaissance artworks like Caravaggio’s Musicians ( 52.81 ) and Titian ‘s Venus and the Lute Player ( 36.29 ).

Arkenberg, Rebecca. “Music in the Renaissance.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm (October 2002)

Additional Essays by Rebecca Arkenberg

• Arkenberg, Rebecca. “ Renaissance Violins .” (October 2002)
• Arkenberg, Rebecca. “ Renaissance Keyboards .” (October 2002)
• Arkenberg, Rebecca. “ Renaissance Organs .” (October 2002)

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Art During the Renaissance Essay

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Introduction

Art- the defining element of renaissance, high renaissance.

The word renaissance refers to a change of state or a revival. It is in context the change in cultural activities recorded among the European countries in the early times beginning from fourteenth century to the seventeenth century. The cultural change brought transformation in many aspects of lives.

Among the aspects transformed were economics, politics, social dynamics, religion, art and philosophy. This paper seeks to discuss a defining aspect of renaissance in a personal perspective. The paper will examine the state of art as a defining element of the renaissance period. It will examine the changing aspects of art that took place during the period.

Art is the category of elements that are “subject to aesthetic criteria”. It refers to the things that pertain to skills and techniques, involving emotional appeal in a significant way. Renaissance in general took place in the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. It was a moment of change that saw the transformations of the historical middle period human beings to the current modern man.

Though the artistic revolution is considered in this article as the major element of the renaissance, it was a result of the revolutions in the other elements such as the scientific, philosophical and the linguistic advancements. The advancement of knowledge and themes was a motivation to the development of better techniques and styles in the field of art.

The identity of the art as a form of creation and respect accorded to the artists for their skills became a boost to the development of art during the period. The artistic renaissance can be distinguished into three categories: the first category is known as the early renaissance followed by high renaissance and lastly the late renaissance.

The new era of art in Italy was marked in Florence. The developments saw the inclusion of mathematical aspects that enabled a three dimensional representation in painting. This development was achieved as early as the fifteenth century. The then early painting methods were at best crude. There were two commonly used methods: tempera and fresco. One technique, the tempera, involved painting on a dry plane.

Colors from items like vegetables and eggs were used to copy expressions from drawings. Another technique, the fresco, was done on wet surface. This latter technique was mostly used in paintings for church use. On drying of the plaster used, the drawing colors became part of the painting.

The evolution saw the establishment of a painting school that trained on a two dimensional picture production. The religious paintings at that moment brought about sense of respect and nobility and triggered peoples’ emotions and interest on the painted pictures; most of this was in respect to religion.

The high renaissance began in the time of the renowned Leonardo da Vinci. The paintings of the time were more enhanced with more identifiable originality. The artistic qualities like landscaping and expression of attitude and gesture was then evident in the paintings.

The paintings were expressed in “simplicity; austere rejection of the incidental and the merely pretty; nobility and grandeur in the figures involved in actions of depth and significance.” The art of painting was taken a notch higher by the introduction of oil paints. Further developments followed into the spread of art revolution to outside Italy.

According to Paoletti and Radke, the field of art had developed significantly by the fifteenth century. They depict a painted picture of an organized scene that involved quite a number of aspects. The description, according to the authors, was a painting of the 15 th century. This illustrates how drastic the developments were during the renaissance period. The evolution by this time had taken a totally different dimension with clarity in the paintings. Other important developments were the introduction of tempera, oil paintings, mosaic and stained glass among others.

The developments also saw a variety of styles and tone to express emotions and situations. Different styles were introduced on different subjects depending on whether they were devotional or narrative. The art renaissance was an effective element during the 14 th century in urban centers where Christian religious monuments and designs of structures was a necessity.

According to Brotton, a study in England indicates that art and individuality were celebrated as “defining features of renaissance.” Elements like politics, science and economics have dismissed on the grounds of being irrelevant to the aspect of renaissance. Art has been accredited by appraisal words like “the pleasure of the sense and the imagination.” Art in its aspects was more identified as an element of the change than the other aspects.

During the renaissance artists represented the observable features of the world in a more precise and natural way. Though in a negatively perceived way, the artistic monuments that were put in churches were the major reason for the protestant movement that saw the revolt against the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church however still used the artists to make appeals to people.

The protestant movement was perceived as a break through to real worship among Christians and the perceived freedom of worship can be attributed to the art presentations that were put in the catholic churches. Besides the religious revolution, art is still being used to pass religious information in terms of paintings even at the current time.

Graham also recounted that the patrons of renaissance in Italy competed among themselves in artistic works that, in their opinion, would give them immortality. A very important aspect about art was raised; patrons of renaissance themselves identified art as a tool to immortality.

The association of the patrons, not just of art but of the entire renaissance, to associate with art is enough credibility. The association of art to immortality can also be seen as the status that was accorded to art at that time. The interaction of these patrons with the artists accorded status not only to the artists, but to the entire field of art.

Another credit to the art aspect of renaissance is the information about Filippo Breunelleschi. Fillippo who is identified as the first great architect of renaissance was an artist. The status accorded to him and the fact that renaissance is considered to have origins in Italy is an indication that art was the origin of renaissance.

It can therefore be argued that art was the basis for the movement and a credit to art over the positive effects of the cultural movement that followed. In a probably personalized view, art was identified as a way that was used to represent God and the earthly elements that he created. Art was also used to express science for example the concepts of anatomy. The events of renaissance also led to discoveries and triggered pleasure among people.

Renaissance was an event of advancement in different aspects of life. It is believed to have originated in Italy as early as the 13 th century. It was a continuous process categorized into three periods. The development of art as well has its origin was associated with the city of Florence in Italy.

The development of art was not an exclusive or independent aspect but it incorporated within itself aspects of mathematics. The products of the art like paintings also became significantly valuables in religion. The artists were accorded status for their work and this is an indication of how important art was. Its inclusion in scientific representation of anatomy and religious representation gives it diverse backgrounds that originate from its origin. Art can also be identified as a source of information.

It has emotional and intellectual attachments that elicit reactive actions like the religious revolution that was as a result of artistic placements in churches. Art was therefore a central element of renaissance and the other elements can be seen to have been products of the development in art.

Brotton, Jerry. The Renaissance: a very short introduction. New York, NY: Cengage, 2006.

Eurasia, Carrie. “ Italian Renaissance Art. ” The World Wide Web Virtual Library, 1999. Web.

Fitzpatrick, Anne. The Renaissance. Mankato, MN: The Creative Company, 2005.

Graham, Andrew. Renaissance . California: University of California Press, 1999.

Hay, Denys. The Italian Renaissance in its historical background . Cambridge: Cambridge, 1977.

Paoletti, John & Radke, Gary. Art in Renaissance Italy . London, UK: Laurence King, 2006.

Pioch, Nicholas. “ La Renaissance: Italy. ” The Public Library and Digital Archive, 2002. Web.

Putatunda, Rita. “Italian Culture: Renaissance Art and Artists.” Buzzle, 2011. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2018, May 24). Art During the Renaissance. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/

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IvyPanda . (2018) 'Art During the Renaissance'. 24 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Art During the Renaissance." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

1. IvyPanda . "Art During the Renaissance." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Art During the Renaissance." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/art-during-the-renaissance/.

How did the Renaissance influence the Reformation

Did the Renaissance lead the Protestant Reformation? Without the Renaissance, it is difficult to imagine that the Protestant Reformation could have succeeded in Europe. The Renaissance placed human beings at the center of life and had shown that this world was not just a ‘vale of tears’ but could be meaningful, and it was possible for people to live without reference to the divine. [1] The Renaissance or ‘rebirth’ was influenced by the ideas of the ancient past and it drew from Roman and Greek civilization to provide a solution to current problems.

What was the Reformation

The Reformation is the schism that divided the Roman Catholic Church and ended the old unity of Christendom. The origins of the Reformation were in an attempt to reform the Church, there had been many attempts in the past to reform the Church, but they had all failed. By the early sixteenth century, there was a growing crescendo of calls for the Church's reform and an end to the clergy's immorality and corruption. [2]

The Reformers claimed that only the Bible could teach and instruct men about the Word of God and had little regard for the received wisdom and authority. Essentially, the only text that mattered was the Bible, and anything that was not in the Bible should be rejected. The Reformation placed more emphasis on the individual, and in words, people could not be saved by good works or sacrament but by ‘faith alone.’ [4]

Ultimately, this interpretation meant that the reformers rejected much of the Church's traditional teachings and resulted in at first a theological dispute between the reformers and the Church, especially in Germany. This dispute led to a full-blown schism in the Catholic Church and the formation of separate Protestant Churches. The causes of the Reformation were manifold, but the Renaissance and the Humanist movement were crucial and indeed decisive. [5]

The Renaissance and Religion

The Renaissance is often seen as a secular and even pagan movement that was anti-Christian in many ways. This view was certainly true in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance. The humanists were particularly worldly and had little interest in the Church. [6] Several early Italian humanists, such as Petrarch, sought to reform the Church, but his successors were largely secular in outlook and concerns. Many humanists were interested in reforming the Church, but in the main, the Church and religion was not a major preoccupation of the Italian humanists. However, there were many Renaissances, and the movement took different forms in other countries. [7] .

Although influenced by the Italian Renaissance, the Northern Renaissance was a unique event and was different in some crucial regards. [8] It was also interesting in the ancient past. It believed that it offered an alternative view of what life could be and could even provide practical guidance on how people should live and organize their societies. However, Northern Europe was much more religious in its concerns that the Italian Renaissance. [9]

The Northern Humanists made the reform of the Church their chief preoccupation. Many German, English, and other Northern Humanists saw no contradictions between Christianity and the study of ancient cultures and believed that they could be reconciled. [10] The religious character of the Renaissance north of the Alp was due in part to the continuing influence of the Church, unlike in Italy, where its, was in decline.

The Northern humanists' attacks on the Church did much to encourage others to see it in the new light. They became less deferential to the clergy, which led many of them to support the Reformers when they attempted to end the Church's corruption. [13] Previously, many people believed that the Church was not capable of reforming itself and accepted it. The humanists believed in reasons and the possibility of progress in all aspects of human life. They argued that what was happening at present was not fated to be and could be improved and changed, contrary to the medieval view of an unchanging and fixed order. This belief in the possibility of change inspired many people to seek real and meaningful changes in the church, and when they failed to secure these, they sought to create alternative churches. [14]

Humanism and the Church

The humanists were intellectuals who were mostly interested in scholarly pursuits. They sought to understand the ancient world, find answers and knowledge, and study ancient texts to achieve this. They wanted to go back to the original texts to understand the past and wanted to remove medieval corruptions and additions to texts. Their cry was ‘Ad Fontas’ in Latin, which is in English ‘to the sources.’ [15] They studied the ancient texts and developed textual strategies to understand the classical past's great works.

The humanists employed their textual analysis and techniques to the bible and other works, and they made some astonishing discoveries. They provided evidence that undermined the claims of the Catholic Church. Ironically, a humanist employed by the Pope was one of the first to discredit the traditional authority of the Papacy in the Renaissance. The Pope was not just a spiritual leader, but he claimed to have real political power. The Pontiffs were masters of the Papal States in central Italy, and many even believed that Europe's monarchs were subject to their judgment. This was based on the Donation of Constantine, a document from the first Christian Emperor, which purported to show that he had bequeathed his authority to the Popes. [17]

This document was used to justify the Pope’s temporal power. An Italian humanist named Lorenzo Valla began to study this document historically. He found that it was written in a Latin style from the 8th century and long after Constantine's death. Valla showed that the document was a forgery. This information and other revelations helped to weaken the Pope's authority and emboldened reformers to challenge the Church. Erasmus did much to discredit the Church's traditional theology when he discovered that the words in the Catholic Bible about the Trinity (that God has three persons) were not in the earliest versions. [18]

Papal Infallibility

The Humanists were not revolutionaries. They were often social conservatives and usually devout Catholics. This can be seen in the great Erasmus and his friend, the English statesman and writer Thomas More. However, in their interrogation and examination of texts and their desire to purge them of any medieval corruptions or additions, they changed how people viewed the Church. The work of Erasmus and other scholars did much to weaken the Papacy. [20] Their examination of key texts revealed that much of the authority of the Church was built on flimsy foundations. This led many to challenge the power of the Pope. As the Church leader, he was infallible, and his words on secular and religious issues were to be obeyed without question.

After the humanists’ revelations, many of the faithful began to wonder if the Pope. ‘as the heir of St Peter’ was infallible and should he be rendered unquestioned obedience. [21] The reformers under the influence of the Humanists began to examine the Bible, which they saw as the unquestioned Word of God, to find answers. They became less inclined to take the words of the Pope as law and argued that only the Bible was the source of authority. Like the Humanists, they decided to go back to the ‘sources,’ in this case, the Bible. They eventually came to see the Bible as the only source of authority. They increasingly began to view the Pope and the Catholic Church as having distorted the Gospels' message. [22] This belief soon gained widespread currency among many Reformers and those sympathetic to them in Germany and elsewhere.

The Renaissance was a cultural flourishing that promoted secular values over religious values. However, in Northern Europe, the ideas of the Renaissance were to take on a religious character. The ideas of the Italian humanists, such as textual analysis, the use of critical thinking, and rejecting authority that was not sourced on reliable evidence were taken up by Northern Humanists who applied them to the Church. [23]

The Northern Humanists sought to reform the Church and were generally pious men. However, the humanists perhaps unintentionally weakened the Papacy and its theoretical underpinnings. In their examination of key texts and especially the Bible, they exposed many key assumptions as false. This was to lead to a widespread challenge to the idea of Papal Infallibility and the Church's power structure. [24] The Renaissance also encouraged people to question received wisdom and offered the possibility of change, which was unthinkable in the middle ages. This encouraged the reformers to tackle abuses in the Church, which ultimately led to the schism and the end of Christendom's old idea.

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Renaissance Essay | Essay on Renaissance for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Renaissance Essay:  The word renaissance means rebirth. The Renaissance that took place in the periods of 15th and 16th centuries in is probably one of the most celebrated periods of European history. Even though two different periods of history do not have any form of demarcation, but the Renaissance worked to mark the transition from the Medieval Age to the Modern Age.

The Renaissance period is celebrated all around the globe. It has been an important period to pave culture and art in Europe, which eventually spread all around the globe due to colonization.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Renaissance for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic “Renaissance” for reference.

Long Essay on Renaissance 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Renaissance is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

The meaning of the word renaissance means rebirth. The period was named so as the period was almost sort of a rebirth of human thinking capabilities, art, culture, morals, etc. in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries (the period is debated over at times). The Renaissance has been associated with the great social change which followed the later medieval period (a period of crisis).

It is said that the period of the Renaissance was a break from the middle ages, but some argue that it was an extension of the Middle Ages. Humanism is what defined the earliest ages of the Renaissance which came into being and formation because of the events of the later Middle Ages, such as the fall of the Roman Catholic Church and intellectual reawakening.

Humanism developed earliest in Italy by secular men like Leonardo Bruni, Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, etc. instead of scholar clerics who had dominated intellectual awakening in the Middle Ages. Dante was one of the predecessors of Humanism.

The concept of Humanism was derived from the concept of Roman Humanitas and the rediscovery that was done regarding Greek philosophy, one of them being the Protagoras. The fall of Constantinople worked as a boost for Humanism and many scholars arrived in Italy with books and manuscripts from Greece. Humanism emphasized took all forms of human manifestation as a subject emphasized the dignity of man and highlighted about the compatibility and unity of all truth in syncretism.

Art and architecture, science, culture, geography, religion, political establishments and human thinking, all went through massive changes in the period of Renaissance. In art, during the Renaissance, the ‘point perspective’ was established, and artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael flourished. Even though Michelangelo and Raphael were contemporaries and both had their unique styles with the touch of Renaissance Art and hence were both celebrated for their differences and similarities. Da Vinci’s work on human anatomy is something that the world will be ever grateful for. Thus, intermingling art and science also led to scientific and medical changes and improvements during the Renaissance.

Europeans set out into the world and found out about the various other continents and established trade connections (which later led to colonization) with them. Christopher Columbus is one big name during this period because he was responsible for the finding of the ‘New World’ (even though Columbus intended to find a different route to India, hence when he landed on the ‘New World’ he thought it was India).In the scientific fieldworks of Copernicus, Vesalius, Galileo, Kepler, etc. are celebrated. Copernicus’ book ‘On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres’ (translated in English) and Vesalius’ book on ‘The Workings of the Human Body’ paved ways for several other scientific innovations and discoveries, which, many historians argue paved the way for the Modern Age to set in. The Renaissance period, to be defined in a single sentence was the period of light, discoveries, rebirth and reawakening.

Short Essay on Renaissance 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Renaissance is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The time between the Medieval Age and Modern Age in Europe is called the Renaissance French word), which means rebirth. It took place around 14th to 16th centuries which at times are also argued by historians.

Some prefer to segregate the Renaissance as a separate period. In contrast, some say that it was the extension of the later Medieval Age, regardless it worked as a marking period between the medieval age and modern age. Art, architecture, science, literature, geography, human thinking and philosophy, religion and political and social structures, all by mingling with each other, went through a reawakening or rebirth, hence living up to the name of the period in history.

Humanism, beginning in Italy, was one of the earliest characteristic features of the Renaissance which was inspired by the Roman ‘Humanitas’ and was ignited by the fall of Constantinople which led scholars to come into Italy with Greek books and manuscripts. Historians believe that the later developments in science and medicine are what led to the setting in of the Modern Age.

10 Lines on Renaissance in English

• The word Renaissance means ‘rebirth’.
• The Renaissance took place in Europe between the Middle and Modern Ages.
• The time of the Renaissance starts from the 14th century and continues onto the 16th century.
• One main and earliest aspect of the Renaissance was Humanism.
• The fall of Constantinople in 1453 ignited the path for Humanism.
• New continents were discovered during this time, which led to trade and later colonization.
• Ptolemaic astronomy replaced Copernican astronomy.
• Leonardo Da Vinci’s works on the human body and anatomy through his art paved the way for development in science.
• There was an increased interest in Classical Scholarship values.
• The Renaissance is one of the most celebrated historical times.

FAQ’s on Huck Finn Essay

Question 1.  What does the word Renaissance Mean?

Answer:  The French word Renaissance means rebirth.

Question 2.  When did the Renaissance take place?

Answer:  The Renaissance took place between the 14th and 16th centuries.

Question 3.  What is the Renaissance?

Answer: Renaissance is a period in history when in Europe science, art, medicine, astronomy, art, literature, human values flourished and had an awakening, leaving an impact all over the world. It worked as a demarcation point between the middle and modern age.

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Life in a Renaissance Artist's Workshop

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The majority of great Renaissance works of art were produced in large and busy workshops run by a successful master artist and his team of assistants and apprentices. Here, too, more mundane art was produced in larger quantities to meet the demand from clients with a more modest budget than possessed by rulers and popes. Workshops were also training grounds for young artists who learnt their craft over several years, beginning with copying sketches and perhaps ending with producing works in their own name. Although workshops often had a well-defined house 'style', they were also places where ideas were experimented with and where new trends could be studied, discussed, and employed in works of art that ranged from massive frescoes to votive figurines.

The Establishment of Workshops

The people who produce art and decorative objects, those we today call 'artists', were, during the Renaissance, called 'craftsmen' and so belonged to the same broad category as cobblers, bakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths. Like these artisans, artists had workshops with the specialised equipment, materials, and space they needed for their work. As the Renaissance progressed, it is true that artists began to be distinguished from other craftworkers as there was an obvious intellectual element to their work - they studied the past and considered such theories as mathematical perspective, for example. Hitherto, the title of 'artist' had only been given to someone who had studied the seven liberal arts (rhetoric, grammar, dialectic, geometry, arithmetic, music , and astronomy). This development and elevation of the artist from other craftworkers also indicated that art had become an essential and important element in how a city or state viewed itself.

During the Renaissance many civic projects, but also some private ones like fresco cycles, could take many years to complete. Some projects needed large quantities of material and a team of artists, usually working under the supervision of the chief artist or his foreman, to complete them in good time. Consequently, when master artists were commissioned for specific projects, they were often given a dedicated space to create a workshop if they did not have one already or if it was more convenient to work on site. Donatello (c. 1386-1466 CE), for example, was commissioned to create sculptures for the exterior of Florence's cathedral and he was given space for his workshop in one of the Duomo's chapels. Running a workshop required all kinds of skills besides artistic ones. A master had to be discerning with contracts, manage and train staff, assess the quality of raw materials, budget his finances, invest any profits and, of course, never stop producing great art.

Some very successful artists even had workshops running in two or more cities at the same time. Just like today, a career in the arts could be a precarious one and some artists reduced the financial burden and risks by sharing a workshop. Donatello and Michelozzo di Bartolomeo (1396-1472 CE), for example, shared workshops in Pisa and Florence, which allowed them to save funds by sharing two boats and a mule for the transportation of marble needed for their work.

The Customers

During the Renaissance, generally speaking, art was not produced first and then sold later as it often is today, rather, artists were commissioned to produce specific pieces. Works of art were expensive and so the customers of a workshop were typically rulers, aristocrats (men and women ), bankers, successful merchants, notaries, higher members of the clergy, religious orders and civic authorities and organisations like guilds. More humble clients might commission works for very special occasions such as a marriage or moving into a new home. Another popular demand for artworks was ex-votos, that is objects like plaques and small reliefs which believers wanted to leave in their local church as a thanks for propitious events which had happened in their daily lives. These ex-votos were part of the minority of works that a workshop produced without first having identified a specific buyer and so they would have likely been available 'over the counter' for a client to choose from.

Whoever the client, though, they were generally picky, and the artist's job was to produce exactly what they wanted. This was not mere whim on the part of the patrons as in that period art was not simply meant to be aesthetically pleasing. Rather, works of art had specific functions such as inspiring devotion, telling a Biblical story, or representing the history and abilities of a certain city or ruling family. For this reason, the artist had to follow certain conventions so that viewers could easily recognise religious, mythological, and historical figures.

Patrons and customers were, then, often not shy to stipulate exactly what they wanted to see in the finished work. Artists who diverged from these stipulations risked not having their work accepted or replaced (in the case of a fresco, for example). Haggling over the design and artist's fees set many a project back, whether it be a tomb for a Pope or a statue of a military leader. Contracts often stipulated a precise completion date, and this could be another source of friction between patron and artist. The contract might include a clause on just how much precious material - anything from gold to expensive colours - was used in the commission. A finished work might have to pass an assessment by a body of independent artists in the case of public works to ensure high quality. However, some artists were famous enough to push for complete control of a given project, even if there was sometimes an outcry from traditionalists when the work was finally revealed to the public. Michelangelo 's Sistine Chapel frescoes are a good example of this when some clergy objected to the amount of nudity in his work. The fact that the destruction of the frescoes was seriously contemplated indicates just how dangerous it was for an artist to vary from convention, even one as renowned as Michelangelo.

There was a great rivalry between such Italian cities as Florence, Venice, Mantua, and Siena and so it was not uncommon for rulers and civic authorities to try and poach an artist away from one city and establish a new workshop elsewhere. Such authorities hoped the new art produced would enhance the prestige of their city and themselves. In addition, some artists were in such demand that they accepted more commissions than they could handle and so works were left unfinished or had to be completed by an assistant. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 CE) was notorious for not finishing off projects, and art patrons even wrote to each other warning of this fault.

The Apprentices

Workshops were not just places where art was produced but were training schools for the next generation of artists. Apprentices typically, but not always, followed their fathers into the artistic profession, as was common in other crafts. Other boys who showed artistic talent were sent to the workshop of a famous artist. Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455 CE), the famed sculptor who worked for decades on the doors of the Baptistery of Florence, had a large workshop in that city. Many artists studied under Ghiberti or worked as his assistant, notably the sculptor Donatello and the painter Paolo Uccello (1397-1475 CE). In another example, the Florentine artist Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435-1488 CE) trained Pietro Perugino (c. 1450-1523 CE), Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510 CE) and Leonardo da Vinci. Perugino would himself go on to train Raphael (1483-1520 CE) in his workshop in Perugia. The Renaissance art world was really quite a small one and famed artists were certainly aware of what their rivals were producing, either in the next room of the workshop or in another city.

Apprentices were almost all boys (occasionally an artist apprenticed his own daughter), and they might be taken on as young as aged eleven or in their early teens. The training typically lasted from three to five years but could be less or more, depending on the ability and progress of the apprentice. The trainee was given food, lodging, and clothing, and sometimes a small wage. They would begin by doing the simple labour tasks necessary for the daily running of the workshop, then progress to making brushes from boar's hair, preparing glues and grinding pigments in marble basins. Next came such chores as mixing gesso, creating plaster, and preparing canvases.

The actual art skills typically began with drawing (using charcoal or ink), which was given great emphasis in the Renaissance period. Trainees endlessly copied drawings done by others and then progressed to creating new ones from three-dimensional casts. The final stage was to draw from live models, often fellow apprentices dressed as shepherds and angels or in the nude or wearing clothing that permitted an artist to perfect their representation of folded drapery. Another source of reality was drawing dead bodies and dissected limbs, which were acquired from local doctors and considered a useful way for painters and sculptors to better understand human musculature so that they could then better represent it accurately in art. Trips out and about in the city were organised to draw buildings, trees, and birds. As Leonardo da Vinci once recommended, any self-respecting artist should always carry a sketchbook with him to be ready to capture a new and interesting subject.

During the Renaissance, it was common for trainees to learn skills across different media such as fresco, panel painting using tempera or oil paints, large-scale sculpture in stone and metal , engraving, mosaic work, and the secrets of the goldsmith. Young artists learnt such practical skills as how to cast sculpture in metals like bronze and how to put these pieces together. They learnt the techniques of 'chasing' (finishing and polishing) and gilding the finished works. They learnt to mix colours and studied such techniques as chiaroscuro (the contrasting use of light and shade), sfumato (the transition of lighter into darker colours) and how to achieve a sense of perspective in a scene. Finally, and above all, an apprentice would learn how to reproduce the distinctive artistic methods of the workshop's master, the house 'style'.

The Assistants

An apprentice, having learned all of the above skills, would then graduate to becoming an assistant. Now he received a full salary and could work on behalf of the workshop's chief artist who then might sign his own name to the finished work of art (although some contracts stipulated important elements of a piece had to be created by the master himself). A gifted assistant would be trusted to fill in less important parts of a work the master was creating, for example, the hands of a figure, a background scene or applying areas of gold leaf. One can imagine that less-gifted assistants were entrusted with even more minor tasks like adding inscriptions and labels to works of art, a practice quite common in the Renaissance period.

An assistant might also join a guild of their city and so they could then produce works in their own right, even if they might still remain in the workshop rather than set up shop themselves, as was the case with Leonardo da Vinci early in his career. If they did want to establish their own workshop, then they first had to submit a 'masterpiece' for the approval of their local guild, which would then issue them with the right to do so (on payment of a fee). Another group within the workshop team, one rarely mentioned but nevertheless occasionally documented as existing, were slaves. Unlike an apprentice or assistant, they received no wage but a slave could, besides doing such obvious tasks as fetching, carrying, and cleaning, be trained in specific arts and produce works of their own.

Besides the production of physical objects, ideas were studied and discussed in the workshop between the master and his assistants. Many noted artists built up their own collections of antiquities or portfolios of drawings of ancient art so that the study of these might help the workshop reproduce correctly anatomical details, proportion or classical motifs. There were, too, written texts discussing art and techniques. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472 CE) wrote one such influential treatise, On Painting in 1435 CE. The master might also have contacts with other artists in other cities or abroad, another route for ideas and trends to filter down to the artists of tomorrow. As mentioned, these theoretical studies were an essential element in the progression of artists towards a more intellectual and elevated status in Renaissance society.

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Mass Production & Forgeries

Despite all this attention to artistic learning and theory, many workshops became factories of art and most of their output was not the masterpieces we see today in museums worldwide but more mundane pieces meant as decoration in minor churches and less palatial homes. Perugino's workshop, for example, was noted for churning out endless altarpieces whose figures combined poses, heads, and limbs taken from a standard catalogue of drawings. These works were handmade and individualised by uniquely combining otherwise standard elements but they were the mass-produced art of the day and criticised as such by lovers of finer art. It was on these more humble works that most apprentices would have learnt their trade .

Another method to increase revenue and spread the reputation of a workshop was to produce copper -plate prints. These became increasingly popular from the 1470s CE onwards and not only allowed those of more modest means to own a piece of art but they also helped spread artistic ideas across Europe . Artists such as Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528 CE), amongst many others, compiled portfolios of prints and sketches of interesting works of art by other artists. The level of craftsmanship employed to produce engravings could be very high, and fine prints even began to be collected by connoisseurs.

Finally, a lucrative sideline - or for some more dubious workshops much more than that - was the production of fake antiquities. Such was the demand for Egyptian , Etruscan , Greek , and Roman pieces, some workshops produced modern versions and passed them off as ancient works, even sometimes staging an archaeological 'discovery' at a likely-looking site. Alternatively, new inscriptions were added to genuine antique pieces to make them more saleable. For the same reason, workshops often added missing limbs and noses to ancient statues or restyled older pieces, further blurring the lines between what was old and what was new art, a practice which has challenged art historians ever since.

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Bibliography

• Campbell, Gordon. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Renaissance. Oxford University Press, 2019.
• Hale, J.R. (ed). The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of the Italian Renaissance. Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1985.
• Paoletti, John T. & Radke, Gary M. Art in Renaissance Italy. Pearson, 2011.
• Rundle, David. The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Hodder Arnold, 2000.
• Woods, Kim W. Making Renaissance Art. Yale University Press, 2007.
• Wyatt, Michael. The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Renaissance. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

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Cartwright, M. (2020, September 24). Life in a Renaissance Artist's Workshop . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1611/life-in-a-renaissance-artists-workshop/

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Cartwright, Mark. " Life in a Renaissance Artist's Workshop ." World History Encyclopedia . Last modified September 24, 2020. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1611/life-in-a-renaissance-artists-workshop/.

Cartwright, Mark. " Life in a Renaissance Artist's Workshop ." World History Encyclopedia . World History Encyclopedia, 24 Sep 2020. Web. 23 Jul 2024.

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How the Renaissance Challenged the Church and Influenced the Reformation

By: Lesley Kennedy

Updated: July 11, 2023 | Original: September 27, 2021

The Renaissance , roughly spanning the 14th to 17th centuries, marked a time of cultural, intellectual and scientific advances. From European discoveries of continents and shipping routes to new views of mathematics and astronomy to the advent of the printing press , the period of "rebirth" following the Middle Ages was marked by changing ideas, enduring masterpieces of architecture, art and literature (it was the time of Shakespeare , Galileo , da Vinci and Machiavelli )—and a movement toward political and religious freedoms.

The shift toward political and religious freedom in turn, helped spawn the Reformation movement , which caused a divide within the powerful Catholic Church , leading many Europeans to turn to then-new Protestant faith.

An Era of New Ideas

Stefania Tutino , a history professor at UCLA and intellectual and cultural historian of post-Reformation Catholicism, says the Reformation and Renaissance were two parallel but intertwined movements.

“The former concerned the theological nature and ecclesiological structure of the true Church of Christ,” she says. “The latter concerned the renewal of some key cultural, intellectual and artistic principles in light of the fact that what used to make sense in the Middle Ages was now no longer appropriate or useful or inspiring for a society that had seen many fundamental changes.”

According to Tutino, scientific advancements, including 15th- and 16th-century alternatives to the traditional Aristotelian physics and cosmology, and technological innovations such as the printing press , were important factors of novelty.

“Both Renaissance and Reformation were born out of the realization that the 'old' Medieval order was no longer sustainable, and scientific discoveries and technological innovations were some of the elements that made it clear just how inadequate the old structures were,” she says.

The Humanism Movement

The Renaissance included an intellectual movement known as Humanism. Among its many principles, humanism promoted the idea that humans are at the center of their own universe and should embrace human achievements in education, classical arts, literature and science. As part of this philosophy, scholars, authors, political leaders and others sought to revive the study of Greek and Latin classics.

“Many humanists began applying these principles to the study of the Bible and consequently to the political, cultural, liturgical and theological principles according to which the hierarchy of the Catholic Church governed its flock,” Tutino says. “In the process, a few humanists found much to criticize, and some of their criticisms echoed those of (Martin) Luther and other early Protestant leaders.”

However, she adds, while the aims and goals of the Humanist and Reformation movements were fundamentally different, “there were also areas in which the two of them met.”

According to Ada Palmer, associate professor of early modern European history at the University of Chicago, the Humanism movement broadened the palette of ideas people were thinking about.

“The movement began as an interest in reading the texts of ancient Greece and Rome because Europe—especially Italy— had become so war-torn, desperate and unstable that people really wanted a solution,” she says.

Because ancient Rome was powerful and stable with long periods of strength and unity, Palmer adds, it was believed that reading ancient books from that period might teach people how to replicate Rome's success.

“So they started seeking ancient texts and translating, reading and copying them, until having antiques became something that signaled political power and political ambition,” she says. “Soon everyone who's anyone had to have a classical library as a way of showcasing power.”

But while the goal of increasing stability failed, according to Palmer, one of the unintended effects of the movement was a new demand for books, which led Gutenberg to invent the printing press.

“It also meant there were a whole lot more ideas about big questions like how the world works, how the world was made, what good and bad actions are, how religion works, etc,” she says. “And it also meant they studied Greek more and realized that their old translations of the Bible and other texts had been wrong in a lot of places, and they started making new translations and corrections.”

Martin Luther and Protestantism

Palmer says the Reformation was a climax of long, slow processes which had started before the Renaissance, including the corruption of the Catholic Church. In her forthcoming book on the Renaissance, she describes a “prisoner’s dilemma.” “Bribing the pope or bishop was a huge advantage in politics,” she says. “Anyone who did so would win in a conflict, so no one could afford to not bribe the pope because if anyone else bribed the pope you were doomed.”

Disillusioned by the bribery and other corruptions of the church, including indulgences, which allowed citizens to buy absolution from sins, the German monk Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses in 1517, allegedly nailing them to the chapel door at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony.

“The gradual accumulation of corruption eventually meant that indulgences were the last straw that broke the camel's back,” Palmer says.

The Power of the Printing Press

The printing press allowed the theses to be widely and quickly distributed throughout Europe, and although he was labeled a heretic by the church and excommunicated by Pope Leo X in 1521, Luther’s words connected with many.

“ Luther hit the right moment to be the first pamphlet star preacher, like being one of the first star bloggers, or star YouTubers, and he hit the right political situation for the governments of the region he was in to see him as a great excuse to do something they wanted to do anyway: get out of the giant papal prisoner's dilemma,” Palmer explains.

In this way, Palmer says, the intellectual movements of the Renaissance led to Reformation—by stimulating the demand for books and encouraging people to read more and to think about how to reform the present. This included re-reading the Bible, as Luther did.

Luther, who went on to found the Lutheran Church, translated the New Testament into German. His translation played a part in initiating the split in the Catholic Church into those loyal to the pope and Protestants and those who protested the rules of the Catholic Church.

At roughly the same time, in 1534, King Henry VIII caused further division within the Catholic Church when he made himself head of the Church of England after Pope Clement VII would not allow him to divorce Catherine of Aragon .

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Why I Changed My Mind About Cellphones in the Classroom

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More than a decade ago, I attended a workshop about technology tools in schools. I listened, already converted, as speakers discussed how new technology would transform classrooms. One memorable speaker extolled cellphones as a “powerful computer in the students’ pockets” that could revolutionize classroom learning.

“These kids could have incredibly powerful computers in their pockets,” I thought. “Why shouldn’t they use this amazing tool to take photos, videos, create, research—more than I can imagine!” We just needed to address teachers’ reticence to tech and students’ inequitable access.

So my writing partner, Shara Peters, and I wrote an essay for Education Week Opinion where we quoted the speaker in: “ The Powerful Computer in Your Pocket ,” and talked about bringing smartphones to the classroom.

To give our past selves the benefit of the doubt, our optimistic vision may have been possible at that moment. Phones and the internet are so different now from what they were then. Social media was younger, comprised of posts of people you knew. AI-generated images were toddlers. Siri was a newborn.

In recent years, I have thought a lot about this article. I hear the phrase “powerful computer in your pocket,” and it doesn’t feel good. I now believe smartphones should just not be in classrooms. This may not always be the case, but it is now.

Indeed, at both the schools where Shara and I are administrators, students are no longer allowed to use their phones. We are not alone. As I write this reassessment of my past ideas, Los Angeles public schools have recently banned cellphones in classrooms starting in the 2025 school year, and New York City schools are considering similar action. At least seven states have now enacted restrictions on student cellphone use in school , with other statewide action in the works.

At my middle school, we came to the decision to keep phones out of classrooms two years ago, based on emerging research, as well as personal experience watching students’ attention pulled away from their peers, from their work, from their teachers by notifications .

When I championed smartphones in the classrooms in 2013, the education world was at the height of pro-tech in classrooms. Everything was shiny and tech-focused. But in the years since, a renewed focus on hands-on learning has offered a different model.

I have watched a similar evolution with the elementary to early middle school-aged students on the campus of my school in the summer. When I started at this school in 2017, the summer camp was high tech: Kids walked around with iPads, made music, movies, and played video games. Today, you wouldn’t know it was the same camp. The only vestiges of the old camp are the baking station and the bouncy house. Now, there are blocks and outdoor game setups instead. The kids are doing more imaginative play. It’s swung to the other direction. Kids don’t bring their own electronics, and screen time is limited.

I wouldn’t say that you can’t get joy from a computer or from one of those “computers in your pocket.” I mean, we’ve all watched one of those videos that makes you laugh till you cry or seen an impressive one made by a student. And for all our concerns about the mental health toll of social media use, many students have found a support system in online communities on their devices—communities that are important outlets for them. But pound for pound, there is something joyful, personal, and, dare I say, truly soulful, about touching things in the world as they play, build, and create rather than only doing so through a screen. There is time enough for them to learn to transform the world again through technology in ways we can only imagine.

I don’t regret that Shara and I wrote the essay. What works in education changes with time and research, and we need to be flexible in response. What would be a problem is if I were still saying the kids had powerful computers in their pockets and I thought it would be great if middle schoolers were Snapchatting each other in the bathroom during passing periods. Back in 2013, Shara and I didn’t know then what we know now about the incessant demands of a cellphone and how just having a phone near you can be a learning distraction.

We understand better now how technology affects people, and how we interact with it in an education setting needs to reflect our knowledge of its effects on the brain. Kids making music and movies on their devices is great. We need to find a way to harness that creative potential and continue to access the depths of information available online. We also need to be thoughtful about our students’ use of AI (and our own).

But we also need to balance those features with the human need to interact with others, reflect, touch ( real ) grass, use cardboard and paper, cut with scissors, interact directly with the world, employ physicality, and activate the self and soul. We can’t monitor how screens are used at home, but leaving the phones outside the classroom allows for some balance for kids.

We need to find a way to make this balance happen. All of it. Technology is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean it has to take over in every circumstance, including and especially in schools. Our kids’ brains just aren’t always ready for the fire hose of information that comes through their phones. When determining that correct balance, we could do with a bit more joy, resilience, a whole-child thinking. We don’t throw out the tech, the tools—we teach the skills and help them to create that balance for themselves.

But does that mean students should have a powerful computer in their pockets while they are in classrooms? Apologies to my 2013 self, it does not.

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Restaurant Review: Is Coqodaq a Fancy Fried-Chicken Joint or the End of the World?

With drumsticks in buckets and hundreds of Champagnes, Coqodaq leans into the city’s weird, giddy, and-the-band-played-on mood.

By Pete Wells

Coqodaq is a six-month-old, 8,000-square-foot restaurant on East 22nd Street that may remind you, at various points in the evening, of an airplane hangar, a church, a roller disco, a Las Vegas casino and a Quonset hut. At times it seems like the first in a new species of restaurant, and at others it seems like the end of civilization. It may be the most interesting place to open in Manhattan since the start of pandemic, in part because it can be so many things at once without being especially good.

Oh, it’s fine. You can have a good time there, particularly if you like eating Korean fried chicken out of a bucket. There are other things on the menu, but the chicken in a bucket comes with a cup of chicken-ginseng consommé, plus cubes of pickled daikon and other banchan plates, plus cold capellini sprinkled with perilla seeds, plus a slaw of slivered scallions, and at the end there’s soft-serve fro-yo with blueberry sauce, à la Pinkberry. All this costs $38, a pretty decent deal.

The menu calls the whole shebang the Bucket List, in red type that’s larger than anything else on the page except the restaurant’s name. At the end of the word “list” is a little trademark symbol. The name also has a subtitle: “Our Chef’s Signature Fried Chicken Feast.” There is a drawing of the bucket that is even bigger than the words Bucket List. The bucket seems to float in front of a sunburst of light, like Jesus ascending to heaven in a Renaissance painting. Before taking your order, one of the servers will tell you that the Bucket List is “a great way to experience our food,” or something along those lines.

In case I hadn’t figured out that Coqodaq is serious about pushing the Bucket List, I would have figured it out when I asked whether I could get one of the other buckets on the menu — the fried-vegetable bucket or the fish-and-chips bucket — while everybody else at the table was getting the regular Bucket List, and I was told, “Only if you have a food allergy or dietary restriction.”

That seems like a hard rule to enforce, so I took my chances and asked for the fish-and-chips bucket. Nobody asked for a note from my allergist.

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