The Renaissance gave them the opportunity to explore and create without restraint. As a result of this, learning took on an entirely different meaning in that it included the human experience as a significant aspect of knowledge, increasing the desire to know more. A result of a desire to learn resulted in an invigorated self-confidence that only reinforced the belief that mankind had the power within him to understand all

Renaissance Humanism By nature, Humanists believed that the ancient teachings of Greeks and Romans were a solid foundation for intellectual pursuits and social philosophy. During the Renaissance the average man found himself turning away from a life that was governed by medieval Christian restrictions, and welcoming classical literature and paganistic views that paved the way to a more secular life and view. The return to favor of the pagan classics stimulated the

Renaissance The term "Renaissance" means "to be reborn," or "rebirth," and as a cultural movement in Europe, the Renaissance is generally accepted to have begun in Florence Italy in the late 13th century. Some claim that it was the result of the fall of Constantinople and the many Greek scholars and texts which found their way to Italy soon after bringing with them not only the knowledge of the classical world,

Renaissance and Baroque Periods The term Renaissance describes, not only a movement in art, but also a corresponding social and cultural movement that moved through Europe at the conclusion of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance period lasted from the 1400s to the 1600s, and spread through most of Europe, though it is probably the most heavily associated with Italy. The term "renaissance" means revival or rebirth, and the Renaissance did mark

Renaissance Art Within the broad gamut of Renaissance art throughout Europe, two sculptures remain outstanding and worthy of mutual comparison. Those two works of art are Michelangelo's statue of David and Donatello's same. The latter is the predecessor; Donatello's David predates Michelangelo's by about fifty years. Donatello's sculpture of David is considered to be of the Early Renaissance period, and was completed by about 1430 (Hudelson, n.d.). Michelangelo's David, on the

Considered part of the Northern Renaissance, German Renaissance developed in the 15th and 16th centuries among German thinkers who had traveled to Italy, the cradle of the movement, and had been inspired to import it to Germany. Humanism exerted a strong influence over the arts and sciences in several German principalities, and coincided with a period of political development. Painting was one of the most prominent ways of artistic expression within