Italian Renaissance and the Rise of Modern Science
The Italian Renaissance and Flanders
The Renaissance art movement began in Italian cities during the Quattrocento, the fifteenth century. Florence was the capital, thanks to the patronage (protection and economic support for artistic and cultural initiatives by wealthy individuals, “Cenes”) of the Medici. During the Cinquecento, the sixteenth century, Rome became the capital with the sponsorship of the Church. The Renaissance artistic movement consolidated in Northern Europe, mainly in Germany and the Netherlands.
Characteristics of Renaissance Art
- Nature
- Human figure
- Perspective (a form of representation that provides the viewer with the impression of depth)
- Return to the classics
Renaissance Architecture
The characteristics of Renaissance architecture are the arch and the dome. The greatest exponent of the Quattrocento is Filippo Brunelleschi.
Renaissance Sculpture
The main features are the search for the ideal of beauty, setting the proportions that the human body should have, and the predilection for one, which allows the presentation of the human body in a well-defined way. The most prominent sculptors of the Quattrocento are Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello. The most prominent sculptor of the Cinquecento is Michelangelo.
Renaissance Painting
The characteristics of Renaissance painting are the human figure, composition, colors and light, mythological and religious themes. In Quattrocento Italy, two painters excelled: Sandro Botticelli and Fra Angelico. In the Cinquecento, these stand out: Raphael (the author of, among others, The School of Athens), Leonardo da Vinci (whose well-known works are The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa), and Michelangelo (his most important works are the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel).
The Birth of Modern Science
From the second half of the sixteenth century, science experienced great progress. The new science was based both on observation and reasoning through the production of controlled phenomena.
Factors that Influenced Scientific Progress
- The Renaissance background (which was transmitted to the scientists of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries)
- The spread of printing (invented in the mid-fifteenth century by Johann Gutenberg)
- Great geographical discoveries (especially the New World, which raised comparisons with the known world)
- Technical applications
The Opposition of the Church
From the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century, the Church frequently rejected the knowledge derived from the development of science. The Church defended the criterion of authority. Science moved the human being from the center of creation and saw that humans were subject to the same laws as any other being.
Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy
Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish cleric, is considered the initiator of modern astronomy. Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory. Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer and mathematician, enunciated three laws (Kepler’s laws) that describe the orbits of planets. Galileo first used optical instruments for astronomical observations. Isaac Newton laid the foundations of physics that were in force until the twentieth century. His most famous contribution is the “theory of universal gravitation.”
Medicine
Andreas Vesalius was a Flemish physician, considered the founder of modern anatomy. William Harvey, an English biologist, first described the mechanism of blood circulation. Michael Servetus, a humanist, physician, and theologian from Aragon, anticipated Harvey in part with the description of pulmonary circulation.