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Nicolaus Copernicus kickstarted modern astronomy with the publishing of his most important life’s work, ‘On the Revolutions of Celestial Spheres,’ in 1543. The study proved definitively that the earth and all other planets in our solar system revolved around the sun.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, more commonly known simply as Michelangelo, is one of the most instantly recognizable names of the Renaissance. The Italian polymath is responsible for some of the most famous and important works of art across numerous mediums.
Few eras in history had such a swift and massive impact on the world as the Renaissance. What started as a small group of Italian artists and thinkers, quickly spread across all of Europe in a massive wave of scientific, artistic, and philosophical advances. Telescopes, the printing press, and virology are all products of the Renaissance, and have all become integral parts of our modern world. And that's just to name a few.
The individuals who defined this era have gone down in history as some of the most important, impressive, and influential people to have ever walked the earth. Intrigued? Read on to find out more about the thinkers, tinkerers, and painters who helped shape our modern world.
During his lifetime, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino was the most popular and sought-after painter of the Renaissance. Together with da Vinci and Michelangelo, they made up what is considered the holy trinity of Renaissance artists.
Monteverdi is also known as the bridge between the choir-heavy compositions of the Renaissance and the sounds of Baroque, which incorporated the use of instruments much more frequently.
Francesco Petrarca, known to most as Petrarch, was one of the earliest figures of the Renaissance period, and may very well have started the era as a whole with his teachings of humanism in the early years of the 14th century.
Claudio Monteverdi didn’t invent the opera, but he is widely considered to have been the first to perfect it and elevate it to its respected place in the canon of performance art mediums. He composed and performed his opus ‘Orfeo’ in 1607 and officially put opera on the map.
But Copernicus’ work went against the teachings of the Bible, and the study was quickly banned and destroyed by the Church. Copernicus likely would have faced persecution for publishing such heresy, but the astronomer died shortly after he made his work public.
It was Petrarch who coined the term “Dark Ages” to refer to the nearly 900 years between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the humanist movement, during which humanity had been suppressing its full potential.
While his prestige hasn’t stood the test of time as well as that of some of his contemporaries, his works such as ‘The School of Athens’ (pictured) and ‘Sistine Madonna’ were revered above all others in the 16th century.
His primary claim to fame, however, is the rounded dome of the Florence Cathedral, the first of its kind since the Roman Empire. He is also credited with receiving the first-ever patent for an industrial device, a sort of crane that he used to transport large slabs of marble.
His telescope made possible his discovery of four of Jupiter’s moons and his giant leaps forward in the study of comets. Unfortunately, a large amount of his work was considered blasphemous by the Church, and he was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life in 1633.
Unfortunately, despite his popularity, Cervantes lived in poverty for most of his life, and was constantly in and out of prison. It is said that the beginnings of ‘Don Quixote’ were written in captivity.
Marguerite of Navarre was an accomplished and widely published French author of the Renaissance, thought to be one of the first women to be very widely read and respected. Marguerite was a staunch humanist and frequently went against the Church’s teachings. Her respected status saved her from prosecution.
Without a doubt, the most revered writer of the Renaissance period is Miguel de Cervantes. Many would even argue that he is the most important novelist of all time. His magnum opus, ‘Don Quixote,’ is widely considered to be the first modern novel.
Considered one of the founding fathers of the Renaissance, Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi laid the foundations for some of the most recognizable characteristics of Renaissance-era art. Most recognized for his architectural work, he is also known for developing the one point linear prospective in painting, a form of composition that is now taught in every art class around the world.
However, some scholars of Machiavelli’s work posit the possibility that ‘The Prince’ was written as satire, or perhaps a critique of tyrannical members of Italian nobility such as Cesare Borgia. These scholars argue that the rest of Machiavelli’s works held morality in higher regard, more in line with humanist thinking, and the idea that the ends justify the means that is put forth in ‘The Prince’ isn’t meant as a suggestion.
The strange machine, the likes of which no one had ever seen before, was a wooden contraption waterproofed with leather, and was controlled with oars paddled from the inside by a team of sailors, who were kept alive through a collection of snorkel-like tubes that floated above the surface.
Christine de Pizan refused to remarry after the death of her husband, and instead pursued a career in writing to support her family. Many of her works, including ‘The Book of the City of Ladies,’ were written both as testaments to the power and intelligence of women and also as scathing critiques of the portrayal of women in popular fiction written by men at the time.
Considered to be the first female humanist of the Renaissance, Isotta Nogarola made her mark not only in the world of secular philosophy, but also revolutionized many aspects of theology and religious philosophy.
Niccolò Machiavelli remains to this day one of the most polarizing figures of the Renaissance. The Italian politician is frequently credited as being the father of political philosophy, but his most famous work, ‘The Prince,’ is widely considered an evil work of literature that promotes the expulsion of morality in any potential ruler.
Dutch engineer Cornelis Drebbel made history in 1620 when he introduced the world to the first ever functional submarine. He was also well respected in the fields of chemistry and optical science, but it was his submarines that put him in the history books.
Growing sick of the ostracism she faced in secular circles, Nogarola turned to theology, and soon published her ‘Dialogue on the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve,’ in which she challenged what were believed to be the most fundamental differences between man and woman, sparking a debate that would go on for centuries and would one day turn into the modern feminist movement.
In another departure from the Church’s teachings, Paracelsus was the first to suggest the existence of psychosomatic illnesses, and argued vehemently that psychosomatic symptoms and mental illnesses were not, in fact, caused by demonic possession, but were manifestations of anxiety or mental well-being.
She is most well known for her sprawling magnum opus ‘Heptameron,’ a collection of 72 moral tales and philosophical allegories. The revolutionary ideas regarding politics, religion, and gender roles that she expressed in her work cemented her spot in the Renaissance canon.
Sources: (MIDINation) (Odyssey Traveller) (History Hit)
See also: The life of Leonardo da Vinci
Sofonisba Anguissola was an Italian painter born around 1532, and was one of the only women who gained international renown as a painter during her lifetime. She is famous for her portraits and self-portraits that were produced with incomprehensible amounts of detail and emotion.
Unfortunately, she could only climb so high within the ranks of Renaissance artists. As a woman, she was unable to hire male models, and thus could produce very few religious paintings, which were by far of the highest demand and garnered the most respect during the 16th century.
Paracelsus revolutionized medicine in the 16th century, and the effects of his work can still be felt today. Born Theophrastus von Hohenheim, in Switzerland, Paracelsus is credited with inventing and pioneering the field of toxicology, and was the first of his time to prioritize treating illnesses with chemicals and materials instead of with prayers and chants.
While Michelangelo was also an accomplished poet, author, and engineer, it’s his work in the visual arts that he is most known for. His statue of David is perhaps the most iconic sculpture in history, and the influence that his painting ‘The Creation of Adam’ and his work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (pictured) had on art in the following centuries is impossible to overstate.
Another one of the most important and revolutionary figures in the history of astronomy is Galileo Galilei. Among his most well-known and most influential advances in science is his perfection of the telescope, allowing astronomers to study the heavens in more detail than ever before.
Christine de Pizan was an Italian poet in the 14th century, during the infancy of the Renaissance, but the thoughts and ideas she put forth proved to be some of the most revolutionary of the entire era, and she may in fact have been the world’s first published feminist.
Unlocking the Renaissance: Who were the visionaries behind history's most revolutionary era?
The greatest minds of perhaps the greatest of generations
LIFESTYLE History
Few eras in history had such a swift and massive impact on the world as the Renaissance. What started as a small group of Italian artists and thinkers, quickly spread across all of Europe in a massive wave of scientific, artistic, and philosophical advances. Telescopes, the printing press, and virology are all products of the Renaissance, and have all become integral parts of our modern world. And that's just to name a few.
The individuals who defined this era have gone down in history as some of the most important, impressive, and influential people to have ever walked the earth. Intrigued? Read on to find out more about the thinkers, tinkerers, and painters who helped shape our modern world.