Renaissance history and cultural significance

Renaissance was born out of a new vision of the world called Humanism. Humanism put forth a new system of thought which centered on the rediscovery of the Antiquity and the importance of the humanistic values in society. Man's happiness, intellectual and political emancipation are only three of the most prominent concepts of the Renaissance. Man is considered God's masterpiece, the center of the world and the measure of all things. The Renaissance was born at the cusp between the 14th and the 15th centuries in Italy, and marked the end of the middle ages, and the beginning of the modern era. At the time, the Italian cities of Venice, Florence, Milan, etc. were the most flourishing powers of Europe thanks to their fleets, banks, and trade. This paper looks at the cultural effects of Renaissance in three countries outside of Italy, namely Spain, the German principalities, and France.

Spanish Renaissance took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, and emerged from Italian Renaissance. However, critics have agreed on the fact that Spanish Renaissance did not reach the level of modernity found in Italy, or Northern Europe. For instance, the Spanish imported several important painters and sculptors, such as Titian, the leading painter of the Spanish court. Spanish Renaissance is directly linked to the monarchy of the Catholic Monarchs, namely Queen Isabella I of Castille and King Ferdiand II of Aragon. Spain's focus on art, science and literature was the result of a series of historical events which occured at the end of the 15th century: the discovery of the Americas, the taking of Granada by the Spanish monarchy, the expulsions of Muslim and Jewish people, and the publication of the first grammar of a Romance language, namely Castillian, by Seville born scholar Antonio de Nebrija.

Spanish painting was mostly done in oil; the colors and shading are applied in tonal ranges in accordance with the Italian painters of the day. Moreover, several elements of Italian painting, such as the adornments a candelieri, are reproduced by Spanish artists. As far as literature, there are a few names that definitely stand out from the rest of the Spanish Renaissance writers, such as: novelists Amadis of Gaul, Juan Boscan Almogaver, Garcilaso de la Vega, Baltasar Gracian, and of course, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, as well as playwrights Calderon de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Guillen de Castro y Bellvis, and Lope de Vega Carpio.

Considered part of the Northern Renaissance, German Renaissance developed in the 15th and 16th centuries among German thinkers who had traveled to Italy, the cradle of the movement, and had been inspired to import it to Germany. Humanism exerted a strong influence over the arts and sciences in several German principalities, and coincided with a period of political development.

Painting was one of the most prominent ways of artistic expression within the German Renaissance. Also, publishing and printmaking were two areas which developed significantly throughout this period. German art was deeply influenced by its Gothic past, but many painters became increasingly more interested in fusing these Gothic elements with newer developments. Two of the most important figures of German visual arts were Konrad Witz, a conservative German painter who was less keen on adopting Italian trends, and Albrecht Durer who was both a painter and a graphic master. In fact, it was Durer who laregely contributed to the birth of a real German Renaissance.