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The Renaissance was the re-birth of the arts and science, after the Middle Ages. Italy largely avoided the economic crisis of the late Middle Ages. Italian towns remained important centers of Mediterranean trade and boosted their production of textiles and luxury goods.
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As the people of the Renaissance made all sorts of unsettleing discoveries, it futher validated their desire to challenge and question nearly everything, even long, standing church traditions.
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Giovanni Medici created a banking house for trade in foreign bills of exchange and commodities. Eventually the bank started using methods such as withdrawls, depostits, and transfers of funds.
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Artist Jan van Eyck was the first to show the world the intensity of oil painting. Oil paintings allowed artists to create more subtle tones of light and color. Renaissance art captured realistic, human emotions, lighting, and perspectives. During the Middle Ages, painting were typicaly flat, symbolic styles, and were religious.
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The linear perspective was invented by Filippo Brunelleschi. It allowed more accurate architecture work.
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Filippo Brunelleschi made the Cathedral of Florence dome of the church. Architects in the Renaissance took credit for their work, classical style. It consisted of domes, tapestries, and glass windows. Middle Ages had soaring arches, anonymous architects, and spires.
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Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. The printing press published books more quickly and less expensively. Books became less expensive and available to more people, allowing more education.
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Michelangelo sculpted the La Pieta. Scultures in the Renaissance were free-standing statues of nude figures sculpted in bronze or marble. Middle Ages were stiff, stylized manner.
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One of the best-known English playwrights was Shakespeare. Shakespeare delt with universal human qualities such as jealousy, ambition, love and despair so effectively that his plays are still relevent to audiences today.
