Read Online A Short History of Europe: From Charlemagne to the Treaty of Europe by Gordon Kerr - Free Book Online

invented the Construzione Legittima that formalised the rules of perspective. The analysis of light and shadow and, in the case of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), human anatomy, added to the trend for more realistic painting. Amongst the artists who wielded most influence were Leonardo (1452–1519), Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Raphael (1483–1520).

    In the north, too, there was a flowering of the representational arts and the paintings of Dutch artists Hugo van der Goes (c. 1440–83) and Jan van Eyck (c. 1395–1441) even influenced some of the Italian masters. Van Eyck’s use of oils was so innovative and striking that it led Vasari, wrongly, to credit him with the invention of oil painting. The Dutch brought a refreshing naturalism to theirwork that was appreciated and assimilated by their fellow artists. Elsewhere, talented artists such as painter and printmaker, Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), working in Germany, also explored the techniques and aesthetics developed first in Italy.
Architecture
    Renaissance architecture was very much influenced by the remains of classical buildings, with Roman columns often being used. Technique wasalso enhanced by developments in the science of mathematics. Furthermore, the discovery in 1414 of De Architectura , a book on architecture by the first century BCE Roman architect, Vitruvius, provided Renaissance practitioners with technical knowledge that had been lost for many centuries.
    Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the greatest of all Renaissance architects. The dome of Florence Cathedral,completed in 1436, was a technical marvel that drew on the construction techniques used for the dome of the Pantheon in Rome, built in 125 CE. In general, the architecture of the Renaissance displayed an emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and a formal regularity that can be found in works of classical antiquity, especially in those of Rome. Its precepts quickly spread to other parts ofEurope.
Science
    The Renaissance brought significant developments in many fields of science and the way the universe was viewed. Amongst the most important of these was the focus on empirical evidence to provide proof of theories and discoveries. Coupled with this was the rediscovery of ancient texts, accelerated by the influx into Western Europe of many Byzantine scholars following the fall ofConstantinople. Furthermore, the invention of printing made many scientific texts and theories more widely available. Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543) benefited from the availability of material and sensationally postulated that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice-versa. Some decades later his book containing the theory, De Revolutionibus , was placed on the Vatican’s list of banned books.

The Northern Renaissance
    The French were the first to pick up on what had been going on in Italy. They brought back the ideas and innovations of the Italian Renaissance after Charles VIII’s (ruled 1483–98) invasion of Italy in 1494. Francis I (1515–47) is considered to be France’s first Renaissance monarch and he was responsible for bringing Leonardo to France where the great artist spent hislast years. The influence of the Renaissance can be felt in the works of great writers such as François Rabelais (c. 1494–1553), Pierre de Ronsard (1524–85) and Michel de Montaigne (1533–92). By the sixteenth century, the Renaissance had spread to the Low Countries, Germany and, in the late sixteenth century, to Scandinavia, Central Europe and England. In England it was marked by some of literature’sgreatest exponents – dramatists William Shakespeare (1564–1616) and Christopher Marlowe (1564–93) and the poet Edmund Spenser. Composers such as Thomas Tallis (1505–85), John Taverner (c. 1490–1545) and William Byrd (c. 1540–1623) also espoused the spirit of the age. Meanwhile, in the Iberian Peninsula, the novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) and playwright Lope de Vega (c. 1562–1635)