What was the Renaissance?

At the heart of the Renaissance was a new philosophy called humanism. Humanism shifted the focus away from divine and supernatural matters, placing immense value on human beings, their agency, and their rationality.

Imagine trading a textbook that only tells you how to behave to get a good grade for one that encourages you to figure out how the world works on your own. Humanists studied classical texts not just for theological reasons, but to learn about grammar, history, poetry, and moral philosophy—subjects we now call the "humanities."

The Renaissance didn't just pop up everywhere at once; it began in the wealthy city-states of Italy, like Florence and Venice. Because of their prime location on the Mediterranean, these cities were bustling hubs of trade.

Trade brought immense wealth to merchant families, like the famous Medici family in Florence. This extra money allowed them to become patrons, meaning they could pay artists, architects, and scholars to create beautiful things. Plus, Italians were literally surrounded by the ruins of ancient Rome, providing daily inspiration from the classical past.

Renaissance art looks vastly different from medieval art. Medieval paintings often look flat, with gold backgrounds, and figures are sized based on their religious importance (a concept called hierarchical scale).

Renaissance artists developed linear perspective, a mathematical system that creates the illusion of $3$D space on a flat surface. They studied human anatomy to paint realistic bodies and used natural landscapes for backgrounds. If a painting looks like a window into a realistic, proportional world, it is likely from the Renaissance.

A common mistake is thinking the Renaissance was a sudden, dramatic event that everyone in Europe experienced. In reality, it was a gradual cultural shift that primarily affected the wealthy elite and urban populations.

Most everyday farmers and peasants did not know a "Renaissance" was happening. Their lives continued much as they had during the Middle Ages. Also, students sometimes think the Renaissance rejected religion entirely. In truth, most Renaissance thinkers were deeply religious, and the Church remained the largest patron of the arts—they just approached religion with a new, human-centered perspective.