The Humanistic Movement In The Italian Renaissance

Humanism and philosophy: a variety of ethical theory and practice that emphasizes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and often rejects the importance of belief in God (Dictionary.com, 2017). From this definition the values of the individual and realistic reason can be seen. These two factors are the biggest influences on the Humanistic movement in the Italian Renaissance. Humanism can be simply described as an intellectual movement but to leave it at that would be a discredit to this incredible regime, for Humanism brought self worth to what it means to be human. It incorporated critical thinking, analyzation and questions. These aspects formed the modern scientific studies of today, bringing technology and
Within his work Oration, on the Dignity of Man, Giovanni wrote “Thou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in hand.” (Mirandola, 1486-1496). In this statement, Giovanni explains that God has gifted humans with free will and therefore, we aren’t constrained by limitations. Furthermore, we should use this free will to make ourselves more than what we are to be educated an inventive and admire the world God has created for us. This ideal of self improvement and worth of the individual was a new introduction found in the Renaissance complementary of the Humanists such as Giovanni. In the Middle Ages, the popular view on the person was a servant of God, nothing more or less. Giovanni represents a Humanist philosophy that introduces meaning, as well as keeping with traditional Christian beliefs that an individual can be of worth. The Renaissance period was greatly influenced by Petrarch and Giovanni. These individuals were not only the pillars of Humanism, but also persuasive figures in the Renaissance period as well, with a number of followers and fans these role models allowed the Renaissance to obtain its prestige
This huge piece of Renaissance life was also not free from the influence of Humanism. In the Renaissance, art had taken on a new form as the expression of realism, mathematical placements, and accuracy became the new standard for painting and art (Basson, 2017). One of the examples as to how the Humanist impacted the arts can be found in the Instructions of Isabella d’Este to Perugino. In this letter, Isabella describes a scene where Pallas and Diana are fighting vigorously against Venus and Cupid with a number of other famous characters like Athena, nymphs, Polyphemus, Mercury and angles (d’Este, 1503). There are a number of Humanistic aspects of this piece. The subjects chosen to be represented include a number of Roman and Greek mythological characters, this aspect is Renaissance and Humanistic in nature by comparison of the strict Christian gold leaf background paintings that are typically seen in the Middle