Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
ca.1387-1455
Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; c. 1395[2] – February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent".[3] He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence
Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
ca.1445-1510
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (c. 1445[1] – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (/ˌboʊtiˈtʃɛli/, Italian: [ˈsandro bottiˈtʃɛlli]), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work. Since then, his paintings have been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting.
Italian High Renaissance Painter and Inventor,
1452-1519
Leonardo da Vinci[b] (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect.[3] While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo's genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal,[4] and his collective works compose a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo.[3][4]
Italian Early Renaissance Sculptor and Painter,
ca.1435-1488
Andrea del Verrocchio ; c. 1435 – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as Verrocchio after the surname of his master, a goldsmith. Few paintings are attributed to him with certainty, but a number of important painters were trained at his workshop. His pupils included Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi. His greatest importance was as a sculptor and his last work, the Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, is generally accepted as a masterpiece.
Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
ca.1422-1492
Piero della Francesca (/ˌpjɛəroʊ ˌdɛlə frænˈtʃɛskə/,[2] also US: /- frɑːnˈ-/,[3][4] Italian: [ˈpjɛːro della franˈtʃeska] (
listen); c. 1415[1] – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer.[5] Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes The History of the True Cross in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.
Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
ca.1457-1504
Filippino Lippi (April 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian painter working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance.
Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
ca.1406-1469
Fra' Filippo Lippi O.Carm. (c. 1406 – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest.
Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
ca.1431-1506
Andrea Mantegna (UK: /mænˈtɛnjə/, US: /mɑːnˈteɪnjə/,[2][3] Italian: [anˈdrɛːa manˈteɲɲa]; c. 1431 – September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence of a fundamentally sculptural approach to painting. He also led a workshop that was the leading producer of prints in Venice before 1500.
Italian Early Renaissance Painter,
1401-1428
Masaccio (UK: /mæˈsætʃioʊ/, US: /məˈsɑːtʃioʊ, məˈzɑːtʃ(i)oʊ/,[1][2][3] Italian: [maˈzattʃo]; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at imitating nature, recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense of three-dimensionality.[4] He employed nudes and foreshortenings in his figures. This had seldom been done before him.
Italian High Renaissance/Mannerist Painter and Sculptor,
1475-1564
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (Italian: [mikeˈlandʒelo di lodoˈviːko ˌbwɔnarˈrɔːti siˈmoːni]; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known simply as Michelangelo (English: /ˌmaɪkəlˈændʒəloʊ, ˌmɪk-/[1]), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. His artistic versatility was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci.[2] Several scholars have described Michelangelo as the greatest artist of his age and even as the greatest artist of all time.
Italian High Renaissance Painter,
1483-1520
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino[2] (Italian: [raffaˈɛllo ˈsantsjo da urˈbiːno]; March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520),[3][a] known as Raphael,[5] was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur.[6] Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
Italian High Renaissance Painter,
ca.1485-1576
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (pronounced [titˈtsjaːno veˈtʃɛlljo]; c. 1488/90[1] – 27 August 1576),[2] known in English as Titian (/ˈtɪʃən/ TISH-ən), was a Venetian painter during the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.[3] During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, 'from Cadore', taken from his native region.
Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian author, architect, and humanist of the 1400s. His works embody the Renaissance ideal of combining ancient and modern ideas. He wrote in both Latin and Italian on a great variety of subjects.
Baldassare Castiglione served as a diplomat to Italian rulers and the pope in the early 1500s. However, he is best known for The Book of the Courtier, which became the leading guide for social behavior and remained influential for centuries after its publication.
Few, if any, English poets of the 1600s had a greater influence on later writers than John Donne. His intelligence, unique style, sophistication, and poetic skill inspired poets for generations after him.
Writer and philosopher Michel de Montaigne played a large role in the development of the essay as a literary genre* in the Renaissance. His unique writing style and his ideas on the "art of living" influenced thinkers and writers through the 1900s.
Christine de Pizan was the first independent professional female author in Europe, and perhaps in the world. Though she wrote about education and French politics, Pizan's reputation rests mostly on her feminist writings.
Pierre de Ronsard, the leading French poet of the 1500s, is best known for his love poems. Ronsard's works inspired many French poets in the late 1500s, and his influence spread to the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and England.
The Spanish author Lope Félix de Vega Carpio was one of the most productive writers of the Renaissance. With hundreds of titles to his credit, he produced works in nearly every literary style of his time.
Niccolò Machiavelli was a keen observer of political affairs, with experience both as a participant in government and as a writer of books on politics. He held various positions in the government of Florence, which allowed him to meet powerful rulers and study their behavior.
Christopher Marlowe lived and worked in the late 1500s, a period when Renaissance drama was blossoming in England. His short life was packed with adventure, mystery, and violence.
Sir Thomas More was born in London. His father, John More, was a lawyer and judge and his mother, Agnes Graunger, greatly influenced the young Thomas. He was a deeply pious man of prayer, a philosopher, and a great lawyer who eventually became a statesman.
Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia, which was published in 1516, a book describing the political system of an imaginary island state.
Although he is best known as a writer of satire*, French author François Rabelais pursued many careers in his lifetime. At various times, he was a monk, a doctor, a teacher, a clergyman, and an expert in languages.
English playwright William Shakespeare is known throughout the world as one of the greatest writers who ever lived. His plays cover a wide range of dramatic forms, including comedy, tragedy, and history.
Philip Sidney was one of the leading poets of Renaissance England. His work had a major influence on the flowering of English literature, arts, and music in the late 1500s and early 1600s
Born a commoner in London, Edmund Spenser became both a gentleman and the leading English poet of his day.
Torquato Tasso was the last major poet of the Italian Renaissance. His artistic style combines intense emotion with a serious moral tone. In his most famous work, the epic* Jerusalem Delivered, he explored the themes of love and heroism, providing a rich and complex account of the tensions between the two.
François Villon, the last major poet of the Middle Ages in France, attracted much admiration from French writers of the Renaissance. Clément Marot called him the greatest Parisian poet, and François Rabelais quoted him in two of his own works.
Leonardo da Vinci[b] (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect.[3] While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo's genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal,[4] and his collective works compose a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath, from Pisa.[3] Galileo has been called the "father of observational astronomy",[4] the "father of modern physics",[5][6] the "father of the scientific method",[7] and the "father of modern science".
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (/ˈɡuːtənbɜːrɡ/;[1] c. 1400[2] – February 3, 1468) was a German inventor, printer, publisher, and goldsmith who introduced printing to Europe with his mechanical movable-type printing press. His work started the Printing Revolution in Europe and is regarded as a milestone of the second millennium, ushering in the modern period of human history. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Enlightenment, and Scientific Revolution, as well as laying the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.
Gilles de Binche (called Binchois; also known as Gilles de Bins; c. 1400 – 20 September 1460) was a composer from the Low Countries, one of the earliest members of the Burgundian school and one of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century. While often ranked behind his contemporaries Guillaume Dufay and John Dunstable by contemporary scholars, his works were still cited, borrowed and used as source material after his death.
Marchetto Cara (c. 1465 – probably 1525) was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the Renaissance. He was mainly active in Mantua, was well-connected with the Gonzaga and Medici families, and along with Bartolomeo Tromboncino, was well known as a composer of frottolas.
Juan del Encina (July 12, 1468 – 1529 or 1530)[1] was a composer, poet, and playwright,[2]:535 often called the founder, along with Gil Vicente, of Iberian drama.[1] His birth name was Juan de Fermoselle.[1] He spelled his name Enzina, but this is not a significant difference; it is two spellings of the same sound, in a time when "correct spelling" as we know it barely existed.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 2 February 1594)[1] was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition.[2] He had a long-lasting influence on the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development of counterpoint, and his work is considered the culmination of Renaissance polyphony.[2]
Josquin des Prez (born Josquin Lebloitte (French: [ʒɔskɛ̃ depʁe]; c. 1450/1455 – 27 August 1521), often referred to simply as Josquin, was a French[2] composer of the Renaissance.[3] He was the most famous European composer between Guillaume Dufay and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and is usually considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School. Josquin is widely considered the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music that was emerging during his lifetime.
Orlande de Lassus (also Roland de Lassus, Orlando di Lasso, Orlandus Lassus, Orlande de Lattre or Roland de Lattre; 1532, possibly 1530 – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance, chief representative of the mature polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school, and considered to be one of the three most famous and influential musicians in Europe at the end of the 16th century (the other two being Palestrina and Victoria).
Guillaume Du Fay (/djuːˈfaɪ/ dew-FY, French: [dy fa(j)i]; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a French[1] composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. Regarded as the leading European composer by his contemporaries, his music was widely performed and copied.[1] Du Fay held various music positions during his lifetime,[1] and was associated with the Burgundian School[2] as well as among the first composers of, or at least a predecessor to, the Franco-Flemish School.[3
John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, c. 1390 – 24 December 1453) was an English composer who was the leading composer of 15th century England and among the most influential composers of his time. He developed the contenance angloise style ("English manner"), which pioneered the prominent use of harmonies with thirds and sixths. Crucial in the developing style of the Burgundian School, Dunstaple's music spans the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods.[1]
Johannes Ockeghem (also Jean de, Jan; surname Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham; 1410/1425 – 6 February 1497[2]) was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most influential composer between Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez. In addition to being a renowned composer, he was also an honored singer, choirmaster, and teacher.
Ludwig Senfl (born around 1486, died between December 2, 1542 and August 10, 1543) was a Swiss composer of the Renaissance, active in Germany. He was the most famous pupil of Heinrich Isaac, was music director to the court of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and was an influential figure in the development of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style in Germany.
Aulus Cornelius Celsus (c. 25 BC – c. 50 AD) was a Roman encyclopaedist, known for his extant medical work, De Medicina, which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia. The De Medicina is a primary source on diet, pharmacy, surgery and related fields, and it is one of the best sources concerning medical knowledge in the Roman world. The lost portions of his encyclopedia likely included volumes on agriculture, law, rhetoric, and military arts. He made contributions to the classification of human skin disorders in dermatology, such as Myrmecia, and his name is often found in medical terminology regarding the skin, e.g., kerion celsi and area celsi.[1]
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. 200/c. 216), often Anglicized as Galen and sometimes known as Galen of Pergamon (/ˈɡeɪlən/),[1] was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire.[2][3][4] Considered to be one of the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy,[5] physiology, pathology,[6] pharmacology,[7] and neurology, as well as philosophy[8] and logic.
