Renaissance Essays

The distinction between love and lust is not necessarily clear in certain aspects of Renaissance literature. In ‘The Rape of Lucrece’, we are presented with an obvious distinction between the chaste Lucrece and her example of married love, and Tarquin’s violent expression of lust. However, in ‘Venus and Adonis’, sexual …

In his essay “The Development of the Individual,” Jacob Burckhardt analyzes the dramatic transformation of thought that distinguishes the Renaissance philosophy of self-perception from that of the Medieval man. Central to Burckhardt’s thesis is the idea that Italy became the epicenter of this tide of intellectual rebirth because its fragmented …

The Northern Renaissance developed about 100 years after the Italian Renaissance and will therefore show some similar characteristics. This is partly due to creative adaptation, as the achievements of the Italian Renaissance were not simply plagiarised by the Northern Renaissance, but adapted and reformed to suit their own needs and …

When the majority of people think of Mother Teresa, their conception is that of the 87 year old Angel of Mercy, the empathetic, sympathetic, condoling, and selfless care giver who aided those afflicted by poverty and disease in India. Most people think of her as the harmless, grandmother figure who …

Early Renaissance art and literature brought real life depictions to print form. Artists and writers alike began to pay close attention to things such as social class, social interaction, human society, personal experiences, lifestyles, and individual personalities. The focus was on real people living very real lives. This wasn’t a …

What are some methods that were used to treat individuals who were presumably suffering from some form of mental illness prior to the Renaissance period? What are the rationales behind these methods? Prior to the Renaissance period, Enlightenment thinkers urged the reformation of treating mental illnesses, which many treatments were …

The famous genius of realism in Northern Europe during the Renaissance was Jan van Eyck, who is a Flemish artist who was extremely successful in the area of using precise detailing and vivid lively colors. Van Eyck’s artwork and masterpieces were created in oil, usually on wood. As a painting …

            In 1450, many scholars were exploring the unknown to gain more knowledge about the  world that surrounds them. A wide-range of fields from the arts to science were studied and mastered. This fondness for discovery paved the way for the birth of the Renaissance in Europe which in French …

The Renaissance was a cultural movement in Europe during the middle ages that primarily surrounded on the revival of elements based on the Classical period.  This cultural period was mostly inclined on drastic developments and changes in the intellectual field, but it is best known for the contributions in aesthetics …

This essay deals with some of the different ways in which women have been represented in Italian Renaissance. It attempts to place these images of women within the cultural context of the artist who painted them and of the patrons who commissioned them. It also tries to make accessible to …