The Renaissance

Renaissance is French for 'rebirth' — referring to the revival of classical Greek and Roman ideas in art, literature, and learning.

The Italian city-states, particularly Florence, in the 14th century — driven by wealth from trade and patronage from families like the Medici.

An intellectual movement centered on human potential, classical learning, and this-worldly concerns rather than purely religious or afterlife-focused thinking.

The quintessential Renaissance man — painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist, known for works including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

A technique that creates the illusion of depth on a flat surface using a vanishing point, making paintings appear three-dimensional.

Michelangelo, commissioned by Pope Julius II. The ceiling depicts scenes from Genesis, including the famous 'Creation of Adam'.

The Medici were the most powerful banking family in Florence and major patrons of the arts and humanist scholarship, funding artists including Botticelli and Michelangelo.

Invented around 1440, the movable-type printing press allowed mass production of books — spreading Renaissance ideas, humanist texts, and later the Protestant Reformation across Europe.

Niccolò Machiavelli wrote The Prince — arguing that rulers should be pragmatic and willing to use cunning and force to maintain power, separating political leadership from traditional morality.

The ideal of a person who is skilled and knowledgeable in multiple disciplines — arts, sciences, philosophy — reflecting the humanist belief in the full development of human potential.