Renaissance
(Latin: re-, again; nasci, to be born)
A comprehensive term used to designate a movement to revive the art and learning of classical antiquity, which became identified with the period of transition from the Middle Ages to modern times. This transition was effected in particular by
the seizure of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453
the baneful results of the Western Schism from 1378 to 1417
the decline of the Empire and the growth of nations, with the resulting concept of national churches
the decay of chivalry and feudalism
the rise of the people to political influence in opposition to the aristocracy and clergy
the inventions and discoveries of the times, e.g., printing, gunpowder, the compass, the astronomical theories of Copernicus, the circumnavigation of Africa, and the discovery of America
Humanism, the appreciative study of the classics, was the literary manifestation of the movement, which may be said to have begun definitely with the writings of Petrarch and Boccaccio. Humanism divided into two phases:
pagan, which was characterized by its heathen corruptness and which was patronized by the upper classes who preferred unrestrained pleasure to self-denial and continence
Christian, which held to the rule of life instituted by Christ and which made use of the classics only as a means to embellish His teachings.
The outstanding representatives of the latter are:
Ambrogio Traversari
Antonio di Vercelli
Cardinal Albergati
Cardinal Capranica
Cardinal Cesarini
Francesco Barbaro
Giannozzo Manetti
Gregorio Cornaro
Leonardo Bruni
Maffeo Vegio
Niccolo de’ Niccoli
Saint Bernardine of Siena
Saint John Capistran
Tommaso Parentucelli (Pope Nicholas V )
Vittoria Colonna
Vittorino da Feltre
Among the pagan humanists may be mentioned:
AEneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II)
Ariosto
Baccadelli
Bandelli
Bibbiena
Cambi Masuccio
Decembrio
Galateo
Guarino
Lorenzo Valla
Machiavelli
Marsuppini
Poggio Bracciolini
Poggio Filelfo
Pomponazzi
Pontano
Against the array of pagan thinkers and writers of the Renaissance, the Church offers more than 88 Saints and Blesseds in the years from 1400 to 1520, and the offenders themselves, in the majority of cases, sought the consolation of the Sacraments before their death. Among the famous architects and sculptors of the period were:
Bramante
Brunellesco
Ciuffagni
Donatello
Ghiberti
Luca della Robbia
Michelangelo
Michelozzo
Nicola Lamberti
Quercia
Rossellino
Sansovrno
Turini
Vecchietta
The Mother of God became the particular source of inspiration for painters, among whom may be mentioned:
Bellino
Botticelli
Correggio
Fouquet
Fra Angelico
Fra Bartolommeo
Fra Filippino
Mazzoni
Michelangelo
Raphael
Rogier van der Weyden
Titian
da Vinci
The Renaissance as it manifested itself in the other countries was not a rediscovery of their past, as in Italy. In Germany and the Low Countries the return was made to the study of primitive Christianity, e.g., to the writings of Saint Paul, and Saint Augustine and other Fathers, and resulted in a rationalistic and free interpretation of the Bible. The leaders of the movement were
Erasmus
Melanchthon
Reuchlin
Von Hutten
In France it took the form of a reaction against Scholasticism, headed by
Rabelais
Ronsard
University of Paris
Villon
In England the humanists
Ascham
Colet
Saint Thomas More
inaugurated a movement which resulted in what is known as the Elizabethan period in English literature. Among the various scholars and religious leaders of the Renaissance outside of Italy may be mentioned:
Beza
Calvin
Casaubon
Chaucer
Cujacius
Grocyn
Linacre
Salmasius
Wyclif
The Church did not oppose the return to classical literature, for she herself preserved the classics, nor did she oppose the return to the cult of form and beauty. Her opposition was directed against the return to the pagan spirit with its rationalism, scepticism, and contempt for revealed religion.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Renaissance
(Fr. new birth), a term used alike in architecture, sculpture, and ornamental art, to designate a revival period or style after the Middle Ages. The Renaissance had its origin in Italy, where, at best, Gothic architecture secured but a precarious hold. The discovery (early in the 15th century) of the productions of the ancients in statuary and painting, and the bringing to light of long-hidden stores of Greek and Latin MSS. (as, for instance, Vitruvius on the architecture of the ancients), could not fail to bring Roman buildings into prominent notice, and to predispose the public mind in favor of the classic style. A new system was consequently developed, during the first stages of which (namely, the Transition period) the elements of Roman architecture came again into use, although the forms which belong to the Later-Romanesque period as, for instance, the division of the window-arches by mullions were not entirely abandoned. Starting in Italy, this new style reached its zenith in that country in the course of the same century. Although derived from that of Italy, each country had its peculiar Renaissance, described accordingly as French, German, and English Renaissance, preserving a general likeness, but each exhibiting traits exclusively its own.
1. Italian. At the early epoch of its existence, the new style of architecture displays not so much an alteration in the arrangement of the spaces and of the main features of the buildings as in the system of ornamentation and in the aspect of the profiles. During the early period the endeavor was maintained to adapt classical forms with more or less freedom to modern buildings while later (in the 16th century) a scheme based on ancient architecture was universally prescriptive. Two distinct styles belong to this first period, viz. the Early Florentine and the Early Venetian. In the Roman Renaissance, the system of the second period, which confines itself more closely to classical elements, is more prevalent. The decoration of the interiors of the buildings of the Renaissance is copied from ancient Roman architecture. The rooms are either vaulted or have flat ceilings; but in both cases they are adorned with paintings, after the manner of those discovered in the Baths of Titus. Ornamented panels were employed in large palaces for horizontal ceilings, as also in churches, though in the latter case they were more often applied to cupola vaultings, as notably in St. Peter’s. SEE ROME.
2. French. France was the first to introduce the new style north of the Alps, Fra Giocondo, an Italian artist, having been summoned thither by Louis XII. Giocondo erected for cardinal D’Amboise, the minister of that monarch, the celebrated Chateau Gaillon. At this time the Flamboyant (q.v.) style was still in its vigor, and the consequence was that a blending of the two styles temporarily prevailed. After the period of Philibert Delorme, who completed the chapel of the Chateau d’Anet in the Renaissance style (1552), the Gothic style was, as a rule, abandoned. At the same time, the general arrangement of the Gothic churches was retained, and it was only the Renaissance system of decoration which was substituted for the Gothic. The ground-plan, the proportions, and the whole structure, with its flying buttresses, pinnacles, clustered columns, and deeply recessed portals, are borrowed from the pointed style. It was only in the details and in the ornamentation that the Renaissance was followed. The Tuileries, as built for Catherine de Medicis, is a great example of French Renaissance when at its best. In its elevation richness is perceptible without excess, and symmetry is attained without stiffness: in fact, it presents a design in which aesthetic laws are fully considered, and the details harmoniously, if not magnificently, executed.
3. German. The Renaissance style was not employed in Germany before the middle of the 16th century, and the most noteworthy instances of it are the Belvedere of Ferdinand I on the Hradschin at Prague, and the socalled Otto Henry buildings at Heidelberg Castle. In Germany, as in other countries, the elements of the preceding style are intermingled with those of the Renaissance during the early period of its prevalence. The fault of the German Renaissance style is a certain heaviness-an exuberance, not to say extravagance, in its constructive character and decorative details.
4. Spanish. In Spain an Early Renaissance style appears, a kind of transitional Renaissance, belonging to the first half of the 16th century. It consists of the application of Moorish and pointed-arch forms in conjunction with those of classical antiquity. In this way a conformation was produced which was peculiar to Spain, and the style is characterized by bold lightness, by luxuriance in decoration, and by a spirit of romance. In the reign of Charles V, this ornate Early Renaissance style gave place to a later one, which. in reality, belongs to the Rococo style. Among the Renaissance edifices of Spain may be mentioned the upper gallery of the cloister of the Convent of Huerta, the townhall of Saragossa and of Seville, and the Alcazar at Toledo.
5. English. The Italian Renaissance style was introduced into England about the middle of the 16th century by John of Padua, the architect of Henrv VIII. English buildings of this style are distinguished by capricious treatment of forms, and generally exhibit a deficiency of that grace and dignity, both in details and ensemble, which lend a peculiar charm to Italian structures in the same style. Longleat House, Wiltshire, and Wollaton Hall are specimens of this style. See English Cylop. s.v.; Rosengarten, Architectural Styles. SEE ROCOCO; SEE ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Renaissance
(Lat. re + nasci, to be born) Is a term used by historians to characterize various periods of intellectual revival, and especially that which took place in Italy and Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The term was coined by Michelet and developed into a historical concept by J. Burckhardt (1860) who considered individualism, the revival of classical antiquity, the “discovery” of the world and of man as the main characters of that period as opposed to the Middle Ages. The meaning, the temporal limits, and even the usefulness of the concept have been disputed ever since. For the emphasis placed by various historians on the different fields of culture and on the contribution of different countries must lead to different interpretations of the whole period, and attempts to express a complicated historical phenomenon in a simple, abstract definition are apt to fail. Historians are now inclined to admit a very considerable continuity between the “Renaissance” and the Middle Ages. Yet a sweeping rejection of the whole concept is excluded, for it expresses the view of the writers of the period itself, who considered their century a revival of ancient civilization after a penod of decay. While Burckhardt had paid no attention to philosophy, others began to speak of a “philosophy of the renaissance,” regarding thought of those centuries not as an accidental accompaniment of renaissance culture, but as its characteristic philosophical manifestation. As yet this view has served as a fruitful guiding principle rather than as a verified hypothesis. Renaissance thought can be defined in a negative way as the period of transition from the medieval, theological to the modern, scientific interpretation of reality. It also displays a few common features, such as an emphasis on man and on his place in the universe, the rejection of certain medieval standards and methods of science, the increased influence of some newly discovered ancient sources, and a new style and literary form in the presentation of philosophical ideas. More obvious are the differences between the various schools and traditions which cannot easily be brought to a common denominator Humimsm, Platonism, Aristotelianism, scepticism and natural philosophy, to which may be added the group of the founders of modern science (Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo). — P.O.K.
Cf. “Study of the Renaissance Philosophies,” P. O. Kristeller and J. H. Randall, Jr. in Jour. History of Ideas, II, 4 (Oct. 1941).