Renaissance the 10 most famous people by panagiotis morphakidis

Renaissance the 10 most famous people by panagiotis morphakidis

1. 10 MOST FAMOUS PEOPLE OF THE RENAISSANCE BY PANAGIOTIS MORPHAKIDIS

2. #10 LORENZO DE’ MEDICI Lorenzo de Medici Lifespan:   1449 – 1492 Region:  Italy Role:   Patron During the Renaissance, artists depended entirely on patrons. The  Medici family , perhaps the  wealthiest family in Europe , were for a large part during the period the  de facto  rulers of  Florence , the  birthplace of the Renaissance. The members of the family are famous for fostering the Renaissance, none more so than  Lorenzo de’ Medici . Also known as  Lorenzo the Magnificent , he is perhaps the most famous and enthusiastic patron of the Renaissance. Though he did not commission many works himself, Lorenzo helped many artists, including  Da Vinci, Botticelli  and  Michelangelo , to secure commissions from other patrons. He also supported the development of  Renaissance Humanism  through his circle of scholarly friends. Lorenzo de’ Medici was himself was an artist and wrote poetry in his native Tuscan.

3. #9 PETRARCH Petrarch Lifespan:   1304 – 1374 Region:  Italy Role:   Humanist Humanism  is a philosophy that emphasizes the  value of human beings and their capacities . Renaissance humanism, based on ancient Greco-Roman philosophies, can be considered the  driving force  of the movement.  Francesco Petrarca , known as  Petrarch , led the resurgence of learning based on classical sources. He described the preceding 900 years, as  “dark” , for he saw it as a time where humans didn’t realize their potential; leading to little cultural achievements. He thus created the term  Dark Ages  to refer to this period. Petrarch inspired humanist philosophy which was highly influential in the intellectual flowering of the Renaissance. Many consider Petrarch as not only the  founder of Humanism  but also the  “Father of the Renaissance” . Also, his sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe; and became a model for lyrical poetry.

4. #8 FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI Filippo Brunelleschi Lifespan:   1377 – 1446 Region:   Italy Role:   Architect Filippo Brunelleschi , along with his friend, the famous sculptor  Donatello , took a trip to Rome and studied the ancient Roman ruins, an endeavor not attempted in such great detail till then. Donatello and Brunelleschi went on to exert a great and profound influence on Renaissance art and architecture. They are considered among the  founding fathers of the Renaissance . Brunelleschi is widely believed to be the  most inventive and gifted designer  of time. He formulated the Renaissance style that emulated and improved on classical forms. He is also credited with inventing  one-point linear perspective  which  revolutionized painting  and is one of the  defining features  of Renaissance art. Brunelleschi is considered the  first modern engineer, planner  and  sole construction supervisor . His major feat of engineering was building the  dome of the Florence Cathedral .

5. #7 MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Michel de Montaigne Lifespan:   1533 – 1592 Region:   France Role:   Humanist The  French Renaissance  is usually dated between the  15th  and  early 17th centuries .  Michel de Montaigne  was a philosopher of the period who exerted the most long lasting influence among all Renaissance humanists. He is famous for  popularizing the essay as a literary genre  and his 1580 work  Essays  contains some of the  most influential essays ever written . Montaigne’s writings are remarkably modern even today; and his thoughts and ideas on topics as varied as  motivation, child education and human action  continue to be relevant. Montaigne exerted an influence on numerous later writers including  Francis Bacon, René Descartes  and  Jean-Jacques Rousseau . His masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling continues to be an inspiration for modern literary non-fiction.

6. #6 RAPHAEL Raphael Lifespan:   1483 – 1520 Region:   Italy Role:   Artist The  High Renaissance  is a term used to denote the apex of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance.  Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, forms the  trinity of great masters  of the High Renaissance. Raphael was perhaps the most popular painter during the Renaissance and even till  late 19th century , his works were  revered more than any other artist  and he was regarded as the  best model for history painting . Though Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s fame has surpassed his since then, Raphael is still considered among the greatest artists in history. He, more than anyone else, was a  master in realistically depicting emotion  which brought his paintings to life. Many of his paintings are considered cornerstones of Renaissance art.

7. #5 GALILEO GALILEI Galileo Galilei Lifespan :   1564 – 1642 Region:   Italy Role:   Scientist Galileo Galilei  was perhaps the  most influential scientist  of the Renaissance who paved the way for the  scientific revolution that later flourished in Northern Europe. He  pioneered the telescope  with his best version magnifying objects about  30 times . He was among the  first to use the telescope to observe the skies . He confirmed the phases of Venus, discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter and analysed the sunspots. He is considered the  “father of observational astronomy” . Galileo played a key role in  Copernican Revolution  by advocating the  heliocentric model  of the Solar System. He made significant discoveries in both pure fundamental science like  kinematics of motion , as well as practical applied science like  strength of materials . He also worked in applied technology, inventing an  improved military compass  and other instruments.  Albert Einstein  called Galileo the  father of modern science .

8. #4 MICHELANGELO Michelangelo Lifespan:   1475 – 1564 Region:   Italy Role:   Polymath One of the tenets of Renaissance humanism was the limitless capacity of humans for development. Renaissance saw gifted people who developed their abilities in a wide variety of fields leading to the concept of  “Renaissance man”  or  “Universal Genius” .  Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , as a Renaissance man, is exceeded only by Leonardo da Vinci. He was a sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer. But above all, Michelangelo was an artist who became the  most influential figure in the history of western art . His works of painting, sculpture and architecture are among the most famous ever created making him perhaps the  greatest artist of all time . His statue of  David  is the most famous sculpture in the west; his painting  The Creation of Adam  is second only to Mona Lisa in popularity; and his  St. Peter’s Basilica  is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture.

9. #3 NICOLAUS COPERNICUS Nicolaus Copernicus Lifespan:   1473 – 1543 Region:   Poland Role:   Polymath The most prominent scientific achievement of the Renaissance was the establishment of the  heliocentric model of the Solar System  that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center . This came about due to the work of one of the leading minds of the period  Nicolaus Copernicus . Though similar models had been put forward by a few astronomers earlier, Copernicus’s solar system was more detailed and provided a more accurate formula for calculating planetary positions. His heliocentric model led to the  Copernican Revolution , which is considered as the  launching point of modern astronomy and the Scientific Revolution . Copernicus was a polymath with expertise in a wide variety of fields including  medicine, governance  and  economics , apart from astronomy. Among his achievements is formulating the  Quantity Theory of Money , which is still studied in economics.

10. #2 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE William Shakespeare Lifespan:   1564 – 1616 Region:   England Role:   Writer The Renaissance caught on in England in  late 15th century  and lasted till  early 17th century . The English Renaissance differed from the Italian Renaissance with the main art forms in England being  literature and music  rather than visual arts. The towering figure of the English Renaissance was  William Shakespeare , who is widely regarded as the  greatest writer in the English language  and the  world’s pre-eminent dramatist . Shakespeare wrote some of the finest and most famous works ever written. He is one of the most influential figures in English literature and his plays continue to be performed and adapted.

11. #1 LEONARDO DA VINCI Leonardo da Vinci Lifespan:   1452 – 1519 Region:  Italy Role:   Polymath Leonardo da Vinci  was the  ideal Renaissance man , the  greatest Universal Genius , who, among other things, was a painter, mathematician, engineer, architect, botanist, sculptor and anatomist. Da Vinci is one of the greatest painters in history. He painted the  Mona Lisa , world’s most famous painting. Other famous works in art by him include  The Last Supper , the most reproduced religious painting; and  Vitruvian Man , one of the most reproduced artistic images. As an inventor, he designed workable precursors of  a tank, a robot, a diving suit  and several other things  centuries before they became a reality . Many of his inventions passed into general and practical use without Da Vinci being given credit. Other scientific achievements of Da Vinci include designing the  first self-propelled machine in history and   describing the processes governing friction . In anatomy, he did the  most detailed study of the human body before the 20th century.