Renaissance
Europe's artistic rebirth
The Renaissance was the European cultural movement spanning roughly the 14th through 17th centuries, marked by renewed interest in classical learning, art, and humanism.
It began in Italy and spread across Europe, producing figures like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Shakespeare.
The term describes the art, architecture, and ideas of this era: Renaissance painting, Renaissance man—someone with wide-ranging knowledge and talents. (Lowercase renaissance is any revival or flourishing.)
Ornate artistic period
- MedievalOf the 5th-15th centuries
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- ReformationReligious movement splitting Christianity
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
humanism · revival · quattrocento · classical · Golden Age · Medici · patronage · city-states
Florentine banking dynasty
- VaticanPapal city-state
- papalof the pontiff
- commissionPayment for services rendered
- courtTrial venue or sports surface
guild · benefactor · sponsor · collector · wealth · nobility · duke · prince
Medieval Italian lyric poet
- DanteItalian epic poet
- BoccaccioItalian prose master
- MachiavelliPolitical realism's founding theorist
- ErasmusDutch Renaissance humanist
Shakespeare · Ariosto · Spenser · sonnet · vernacular · printing press · Gutenberg · manuscript
Florentine Renaissance master builder
- domeRounded vault forming roof
- colonnadeRow supporting a roof
- loggiaRoofed open-air gallery
- palazzoItalian grand residence
basilica · cupola · symmetry · proportion · pediment · pilaster · rustication · facade
Medieval Italian lyric poet
- ErasmusDutch Renaissance humanist
- classicsWorks of lasting value
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
- philologyStudy of historical texts
rhetoric · eloquence · Latin · Greek · manuscripts · scholarship · civic virtue · individualism
Simultaneous independent melodic lines
- madrigalUnaccompanied Renaissance choral composition
- motetSacred polyphonic choral work
- lutePear-bodied fretted strings
- harpsichordPlucked-string keyboard instrument
chanson · mass · counterpoint · a cappella · consort · viol · sacred · secular
Multi-domain expert
- versatilityCapacity for varied applications
- multitalentedHaving diverse abilities
- culturedEducated in arts, manners
- accomplishedHighly skilled, expert
European maritime expansion era
- ColumbusOhio's seat of government
- caravelSmall Portuguese exploration ship
- navigationDetermining position and course
- astrolabeAncient altitude-measuring instrument
Magellan · Vasco da Gama · compass · cartography · New World · maritime · expedition · trade routes
Mounted lance combat
- costumeClothing for portrayal
- medievalOf the Middle Ages
- festivalOrganized public celebration
- meadHoney-fermented alcoholic drink
artisan · performance · knight · merchant · troubadour · craft · revelry · merriment
Renaissance astronomer from Italy
- CopernicusRenaissance astronomer, heliocentrism
- VesaliusFather of anatomy
- anatomyStudy of organism structure
- astronomyScience of celestial objects
heliocentric · dissection · observation · empiricism · optics · cartography · alchemy · navigation
Baroque
Ornate artistic period
- MedievalOf the 5th-15th centuries
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- ReformationReligious movement splitting Christianity
antiquity · humanism · revival · quattrocento · classical · Golden Age · Medici · patronage · city-states · Florence
Medici
Florentine banking dynasty
- VaticanPapal city-state
- papalof the pontiff
- commissionPayment for services rendered
court · guild · benefactor · sponsor · collector · wealth · nobility · duke · prince · cardinal
Petrarch
Medieval Italian lyric poet
- DanteItalian epic poet
- BoccaccioItalian prose master
- MachiavelliPolitical realism's founding theorist
Erasmus · Shakespeare · Ariosto · Spenser · sonnet · vernacular · printing press · Gutenberg · manuscript · humanist
Brunelleschi
Florentine Renaissance master builder
palazzo · basilica · cupola · symmetry · proportion · pediment · pilaster · rustication · facade · cathedral
Petrarch
Medieval Italian lyric poet
philology · rhetoric · eloquence · Latin · Greek · manuscripts · scholarship · civic virtue · individualism · secularism
polyphony
Simultaneous independent melodic lines
- madrigalUnaccompanied Renaissance choral composition
- motetSacred polyphonic choral work
- lutePear-bodied fretted strings
harpsichord · chanson · mass · counterpoint · a cappella · consort · viol · sacred · secular · tablature
polymath
Multi-domain expert
- versatilityCapacity for varied applications
- multitalentedHaving diverse abilities
- culturedEducated in arts, manners
Age of Discovery
European maritime expansion era
- ColumbusOhio's seat of government
- caravelSmall Portuguese exploration ship
- navigationDetermining position and course
Magellan · Vasco da Gama · astrolabe · compass · cartography · New World · maritime · expedition · trade routes · spice trade
joust
Mounted lance combat
mead · artisan · performance · knight · merchant · troubadour · craft · revelry · merriment · masquerade
Galileo
Renaissance astronomer from Italy
- CopernicusRenaissance astronomer, heliocentrism
- VesaliusFather of anatomy
- anatomyStudy of organism structure
astronomy · heliocentric · dissection · observation · empiricism · optics · cartography · alchemy · navigation · botany
- European HistoryFrench Revolution, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Industrial Revolution
- historical erasStone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, Victorian era
- Italian LiteratureDante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri
- architectural stylesArt Nouveau, Baroque, Bauhaus, brutalist, Byzantine
- Cultural MovementsBaroque, Romanticism, Enlightenment, modernism, avant-garde
- european aestheticsbaroque, rococo, art nouveau, art deco, gothic
RenaissanceDark Ages
Post-Roman European decline
dark age · decline · decay · Middle Ages · Medieval period
Renaissancedecline
Decrease or refuse
decadence · decay · stagnation · regression · deterioration
- Renaissance artistsCreative figures from cultural rebirth
- Renaissance manMulti-talented individual
- Renaissance fairHistorical reenactment festival
- Renaissance festivalThemed medieval celebration
- Harlem RenaissanceBlack arts explosion, 1920s
- Renaissance menBroadly accomplished individuals