What is Renaissance?

We explain what the renaissance mean with sculpture, the cultural movement that took place in the 15th and 16th centuries. Architecture, painting, music.

What is renaissance mean?

The Renaissance is a cultural movement characterized by a return to the ideas and cultural ideals of ancient Greece and Rome . On the margin, the original meaning of the word refers to the act of being reborn.

The Renaissance  is considered an important cultural movement typical of Western Europe that passed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and marked in universal history the transition between the middle ages and the modern age .

This complex transition from one age to another brought numerous advances in the field of human and natural sciences . This historical moment is often referred to as times of cultural splendor.

Dogmas are abandoned by the class producing cultural capitals and this opens the way to scientific advancement. The nature becomes important observation and is the most common method.

The culture’s focus goes from being theocentric to being anthropocentric, taking the name of the Humanism movement . The foreground man of the human sciences fosters an individualism never before experienced. This new approach disperses in the world an optimism that, in science , promotes a curiosity for discovery and beauty, progress .

The Renaissance includes cultural and scientific renovations, and retakes Greco-Roman premises. Its beginning is usually dated with the fall of Constantinople in the year 1453 and although not all historians agree with this date, that historical point is traditionally taken into account. The term Renaissance begins to be used to define the period in the 16th century, but it was first used by the Petrarca writer.

The Renaissance period will be described as a deliberate break with the previous structures . Aesthetic changes are the easiest to appreciate and were the ones that dispersed most easily in Renaissance Europe. However, the most radical changes in mentality took more time but were definitive.

Renaissance architecture

The main objective of the architecture of the time was to solve the urban chaos of the cities of the Middle Ages, in which the streets were incredibly messy and people lived crowded together.

The most commonly used decorations were, in broad strokes, arches and vaults, porches and chandeliers. It should be noted that the constructions were characterized by being great and monumental . Its strongest base can be found in northern Italy, more precisely in the city of Florence, a place where the Gothic movement could not enter.

Renaissance painting

Although the main works continue to be religious , the artists of the time were internalized in portrait and perspective techniques. In addition, nature began to capture in the paintings , characteristic of humanism. Some of the most important exponents were Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and Rafael Sanzio, among others.

Renaissance sculpture

Following the concepts of the Renaissance, the sculpture turned to express human nature, looking for ideal and perfect bodies and although the main works are religious, they also incorporated the nude.

Renaissance music

In contrast to the previous artistic expressions, the music of this era did not return to classical forms, but was the culmination of previous styles.