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What was it?
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- The Renaissance was a 'movement'
in society: a series of ideas that effected art, music, literature,
science, the way people thought about the World and the way they
treated each other.
- Reniassance is a French word
meaning 'Re-Birth'. It refers to the re-discovery of the 'classical'
ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
- The Renaissance started in Italy
in the 14th century. It slowly spread across Europe. Renaissance ideas
became popular in England & Scotland from about 1520. They lasted
about a hundred years.
- The most obvious things that
reflected these new ideas were produced in art (paintings), crafts
(such as jewelry making), sculpture (statues & carvings) and
architecture (building design). They all included more realistic
depictions of creatures and objects and the use of perspective (the
way things look small in the distance and big close up).
- London once had many fine
Renaissance style buildings, like Old
Somerset House.
- You can recognise Renaissance
art & architecture by some of the common motifs that were used:
- Columns
- Caryatids (columns shaped
like people)
- Naked people
- Cherubs (winged babies)
- Masks
- Urns (large two-handled
vases)
- Panelling
- Scrolls (often of plants)
- Garlands of fruit &
flowers
- Armour
- Ox skulls
- Mythical creatures
- Renaissance ideas also led to an
increase in fine poetry and plays for the theatre, like those by
William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. There was also an
increasing interest in philosophy (thinking about things like
existence, knowledge, values & reasoning) from people like Thomas
More and Francis Bacon.
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