SOL WHI.13cd Renaissance Writers, Artists

Sir Thomas More

(1478-1535) Englishman, lawyer, politician, Chancellor for Henry VIII. Wrote Utopia which presented a revolutionary view of society, in which the problems of society were caused by greed. Executed by Henry VIII for not compromising his religious beliefs.

Leonardo da Vinci

Who painted the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa?

Michelangelo

Who sculpted David & painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Erasmus

author of the Praise of Folly (1511) Dutch humanist and theologian who was the leading Renaissance scholar of northern Europe

humanism

celebrated the individual, stimulated the study of classical Greek and Roman literature and culture, supported by wealth patrons

Renaissance art & literature

focused on individuals and worldly matters, along with Christianity

medieval art & literature

focused on the Church and salvation

Johann Gutenberg

invented the movable type printing press, which increased literacy and the sale of books, helping to spread ideas of the Renaissance

Northern Renaissance

saw growing wealth in Northern Europe supporting Renaissance ideas, thinkers of this period merged humanist ideas with Christianity, artists portrayed religious & secular subjects

Petrarch

writer of sonnets, humanist scholar, (1304-1374) Father of the Renaissance. He believed the first two centuries of the Roman Empire to represent the peak in the development of human civilization.