The renaissance

The renaissance saw a rebirth in learning and art.
It started in Italy due to the fact there were rich patrons such as Medici who paid artists to work for them, there was a lot of artists in Italy.
Artists mixed their paints with oils and used techniques such as sfumato. They painted frescoes on fresh plaster.

The artist Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Virgin of the Rocks, the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.

The Sculptor Michelandelo Buonarroti The Pieta and David. He painted The last Judgement in the Sistine chapel and he designed the dome of St Peters Basilica.

The Renaissance had inventors too: Galileo invented the pendulum clock, a telescope, and proved Copernicus theory that the earth orbited the sun.

Medical scientist William Harvey discovered the heart pumped blood around the body.
Gutenburg invented the printing press which allowed more books to be produced more cheaply and it encouraged education and spread the new ideas and the development of standard versions of languages.

Writer William Shakespeare wrote many sonnets and plays during the Renaissance such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear etc.


Results of the Renaissance

Invention of printing press encouraged development of education.
Art changed forever.
People began to question old ideas.
Discoveries improved science and medicine.