Florence Cathedral

Renaissance Women During the Renaissance (14th-16th c.), Italy flourished in cultural and artistic achievements. However, as culture and education advanced, restrictions on women grew. The status of women in the Renaissance remains a contested topic amongst historians today. Most notably, historians Jacob Burckhardt and Joan Kelly adopt differing views in their works on hwo the Renaissance impacted women. In his 1860 work The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Swiss historian Burckhardt…

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest of the Renaissance period. Some may say that he was the epitome of the renaissance. He was famous for being a painter, architect, musician, inventor, sculptor and scientist. Leonardo Da Vinci was mostly known for his paintings and inventions back in the renaissance era and is still very much famous today from the paintings of the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. Some may also say that Leonardo was a revolutionary of his time. Many people say that because…

Giotto, a younger member of the artist guild, was a student of Cimabue. Both Giotto and Cimabue painted Virgin and Child Enthroned altarpieces created from wood panels of tempera and gold. Viewing their renditions of the Virgin and Child Enthroned, Cimabue’s and Giotto’s distinct styles are apparent. By comparing and contrasting Cimabue’s and Giotto’s style of work, the viewer can see the shift from Byzantine to classical style of art. Cimabue’s and Giotto’s Virgin and Child Enthroned…

Parenting is not a popularity contest, and for good reason. Many times what is best for a child, or for the family unit, is not enjoyable or even comfortable – but for the ultimate good, it must be done. Ruling a nation is not so far removed, in fact they are much the same when it comes to fostering goodness and contentment. It is impossible to please everyone, and any attempt at achieving such widespread approval oftentimes loses the respect of all. Yet, if not a popularity contest the…

Late Renaissance (mid XVI - 90 years of the XVI century) (Brotton). Early Renaissance (XIV-XV centuries) in Italian art is primarily connected with the Florence, where the Medici patronized humanists and all the arts. Artists of Early Renaissance in Italy created a plastic one-piece, having an inner unity concept of the World. Systematically studying the nature, they drew the motifs from the everyday life…

the body of David, shaping and sculpting him into a symbolic figure of their time. The bible 's story of David and Goliath was a notable symbol of the light overcoming the darkness that influenced numerous years of commissioned art in the city of Florence Italy. The real question is why were there so many sculpture representations of David throughout the history of art? In Book 1 Samuel of the Bible, the chronicle of the battle between David and Goliath is told. It begins with Saul and his men,…

To demonstrate this phenomenon, Machiavelli in his magnum opus ‘The Prince’ refers to the onetime ruler of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola, to illustrate that tender hearted governance is often counterproductive towards achieving prosperity and freedom for society. Savonarola, who incorporated Christian values of equality and altruism into his political agenda in an attempt to purge Florence of its moral transgressions, was quickly deposed and executed after a short reign of less than four years…

Machiavelli is a man of many labels, but perhaps the most accurate is that he was a main of calculation. For all the talk of evil, cruelty and virtues, he could really be seen as the father of the cost-benefit analysis. In that same light, Machiavelli’s virtù and traditional virtues should not be seen as at odds, but rather as tools that work in tandem. To view them as wholly incompatible by nature is a narrow view at best, and woefully idealistic at worst. Indeed, they appear incompatible only…

Graffiti art has been around since the ancient Egyptian times. As graffiti art becomes modernized, painting techniques are charged along with the style for perfection. These techniques consist of sketching with pencil and paper and drawing on the wall. In the United Kingdom, a famous giraffid artist known as Banksy uses these techniques in his art. Banksy’s satirical art is usually controversial along with dark humor. One of his most recognizable pieces, commonly known as Sweeping It Under the…

The world when the modern poetry was born was deeply touched by the discoveries of that time, be it Einstein’s theory, or Freud, or the development of a new art – photography. Everything come together and left its mark on modern literature, and implicit, on poetry. On this period, a great influence over the poetry of the world had the American poets. According to Cary Nelson, the modern American poetry is “unexcelled in its richness, inventiveness, and diversity”, and those characteristic are…