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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
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Period and intellectual movement in European
cultural history that is traditionally seen
as ending the Middle Ages and beginning
modern times. The Renaissance started in
Italy in the 14th century, and flourished in
W Europe until about the 17th century. The
aim of Renaissance education was to produce
the `complete human being' (Renaissance man),
conversant in the humanities, mathematics and
science (including their application in war),
the arts and crafts, and athletics and sport;
to enlarge the bounds of learning and
geographical knowledge; to encourage the
growth of scepticism and free-thought, and
the study and imitation of Greek and Latin
literature and art. The revival of interest
in classical Greek and Roman culture inspired
artists such as Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo, and Durer, writers such as
Petrarch, and prose writers such as
Boccaccio; and scientists and explorers
proliferated. The term `Renaissance', to
describe the period of time, was first used
in the 18th century. The beginning of the
Italian Renaissance is usually dated in the
14th century with the writers Petrarch and
Boccaccio. The invention of printing
(mid-15th century) and geographical
discoveries helped spread the new spirit.
Biblical criticism by the Dutch humanist
Erasmus and others contributed to the
Reformation, but the Counter-Reformation
almost extinguished the movement in
16th-century Italy. In the visual arts
Renaissance painting and sculpture later
moved towards Mannerism. Figures of the
Renaissance include the politician
Machiavelli, the poets Ariosto and Tasso, the
philosopher Bruno, the physicist Galileo, and
the artists Michelangelo, Cellini, and
Raphael in Italy; the writers Rabelais and
Montaigne in France, Cervantes in Spain, and
Camoens in Portugal; the astronomer
Copernicus in Poland; and the politicians
More and Bacon, and the writers Sidney,
Marlowe, and Shakespeare in England.
Especially in Italy, where the ideals of the
Renaissance were considered to have been
fulfilled by the great masters, the period
1490-1520 is known as the High Renaissance,
and painting of the period described as High
Renaissance Classicism.