By: Fletcher Pike

If you’ve ever seen famous artworks such as the ‘Mona Lisa’, or ‘The Last Supper’, you may have noticed that they have similar art styles. This is because these paintings were made in the Renaissance era.

But some might ask, “What exactly was the Renaissance?”

The Renaissance era was a period in European civilization following the Middle Ages, from the 14th century to the 17th century. This era featured a revival in learning and innovations, as the Middle Ages was seen as a time of cultural decline in education and politics. Renaissance is a French word that means “rebirth”, which correlates to the fact that the Renaissance revived ideas and values from the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans.

The Renaissance is mostly associated with the city of Florence in Italy, though many other countries underwent similar cultural changes. Many famous people from this era were born in Italy, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Christopher Columbus, and Galileo. Other famous non-Italian people from this era include Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare.

A large part of the Renaissance was a cultural movement known as humanism. Humanism is a philosophy that every person should strive to become educated in classical art, science, and literature. Humanists held a belief that humankind was rational and beautiful rather than sinful and weak. The humanists celebrated the beauty in life and the achievements of their scholarship.

This iconic era created some of the most popular art, coming in forms of statues, paintings, drawings, and literature. It could also be majorly found in architecture, such as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, created by Michelangelo.

The impacts of the Renaissance can still be seen today, and was an overall important era for society due to its advancements in knowledge, philosophy, and art.