Leading People of the Renaissance

Reading Notes 29

Michelangelo TitianAlbrecht Durer Nicolaus Copernicus

Andreas Vesalius

Queen Isabella IQueen Elizabeth IWilliam ShakespeareMiguel Cervantes

Leonardo da Vinci

MichelangeloItalian Painter and Sculptor

Lived : 1475–1564From: Near Florence, ItalyPersonality and Training:• He was ambitious,

religious, and said to have a bad temper.

• Studied art, especially painting and sculpture. David

Michelangelo Italian Painter and Sculptor

Talents and Achievements: • He was a very talented painter and

sculptor.• His art shows emotions and human

beauty. • His sculpting seems to bring figures to life. • His work influenced others.• Three of his greatest sculptures are the

“Pieta,” “David,” and “Moses.” • One of his painted masterpieces is the

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Moses

Michelangelo

Pope Julius II Tomb

Michelangelo

Pieta

MichelangeloCeiling of the Sistine Chapel

TitianItalian Painter

Lived : about 1488–1576From: the Italian AlpsPersonality and Training: • Persuasive and generous• He studied painting• Including fresco painting,

and • Art from Rome and Florence.

Venus and Adonis. Oil on canvas, Metropolitan

Museum of Art

TitianItalian Painter

Talents and Achievements: • Titian was known for his use of color• For loose, lively brushwork that made

his paintings seem to be alive • For human personality in his work• He created many paintings of myths

and Bible Stories, as well as• Portraits of royalty.• His color and brushwork techniques are

still copied today.

King Philip IIOil on canvas

Albrecht DurerGerman Artist

Lived: 1471–1528From: Nuremberg, GermanyPersonality and Training: • Fashionable, confident, and

intellectual,• He studied goldsmithing, painting,

printmaking, math, Latin, and classical literature and sculpture.

• Traveled; met humanists.

A Young Hare watercolor, 1502

Albrecht DurerGerman Artist

Talents and Achievements: • He blended detailed German painting

with Italian techniques of perspective and idealized beauty.

• He had a talent for engravings and woodcuts.

• He painted religious figures, myths, self-portraits, and court portraits.

• He wrote influential books about human proportions in art.

Betende Hände Praying hands

Woodcut Engraving, 1508

Nicolaus CopernicusPolish Scientist

Lived: 1473–1543From: Torun, PolandPersonality and Training: • A creative, free thinker• He went to the University of

Krakow and studied medicine, law, and astronomy in Italy. Copernicus' drawing

of his system.

Nicolaus CopernicusPolish Scientist

Talents and Achievements: • Skilled in observation and math• He studied what he really saw in the

skies, not what he was “supposed” to see.

• He proposed the theory that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.

• This theory was attacked by the church but influenced key scientists, and is part of the basis of modern astronomy.

A well-known illustration of the Copernican Model, with the celestial spheres moving around the Sun.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Andreas VesaliusBelgian Scientist

Lived: 1514–1564From (the place): Brussels, BelgiumPersonality and Training: • He was hardworking, curious,

confident, and gloomy and distant at times.

• He studied stray animals as a child, and later earned a medical degree.

Andreas VesaliusBelgian Scientist

Talents and Achievements: • A good observer and an independent

thinker• He studied dead human bodies and

made important discoveries• Such as that the human heart has four

chambers. • He wrote the first modern medical

textbook, which included illustrations based on his drawings.

Anatomical drawing from De humani

Corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius

Isabella IQueen of Spain

Lived: 1451–1504From: Castile, SpainPersonality and Training: • She was intelligent, strong-willed, and a devoted

Catholic. • Her schooling was limited. • She learned about court affairs at King Henry’s court. • She studied Latin as an adult and collected fine art.

Isabella of CastileJan Flanders, 16th century

Isabella IQueen of Spain

Talents and Achievements: • She was a forceful woman and

held her own in court politics. • Her marriage to Ferdinand

united Spain into one kingdom. • She sponsored Columbus’s

voyages, which led to the European discovery of America.

Christopher Columbus is shown appearing before Isabella I of

Spain and her co-ruler, Ferdinand of Aragon, on his return from the New World.

Elizabeth IQueen of England

Lived: 1533–1603From: London, EnglandPersonality and Training: • Strongminded and independent • But also flexible and willing to listen

to good advice• She was a gifted student, highly

educated, and spoke five languages.

Queen Elizabeth I being carried in Procession Eliza

Triumphans c.1601

Elizabeth IQueen of England

Talents and Achievements: • A flexible and thoughtful ruler.• She changed unpopular policies and

strengthened England’s economy. • She had political skill and inspired love

and loyalty. • She supported theater, education,

culture, trade, and exploration.• Under her rule, England became rich

and powerful.

Elizabeth I: The Darnley Portrait,

1575, by an unknown artist.

William ShakespeareEnglish Poet and Playwright

Lived: 1564–1616From: Stratford-on-Avon, EnglandPersonality and Training: • Quiet, a bit mysterious, and a keen

observer• He thought deeply about life and had a

sense of humor. • He studied Latin, classical literature, and

acting. • His work shows a knowledge of many

subjects.

William ShakespeareEnglish Poet and Playwright

Talents and Achievements: • An actor, poet, and playwright• He had a way with words and an

understanding of human behavior.• People admire his beautiful poetry.• He wrote 38 plays• Many of his plays and sayings are

still popular today.

William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;As You Like It

To be, or not to be, that is the question:Hamlet

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?Romeo and Juliet

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Julius Caeser

A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!Richard the Third

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.“

Twelfth Night

"Cowards die many times before their deaths,The valiant never taste of death but once.“

Julius Caeser

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!

Hamlet

Things without all remedyShould be without regard: what's done, is done.

Richard the Third

William Shakespeare

The Globe Theater

Miguel CervantesSpanish Writer

Lived: 1547–1616From: near Madrid, SpainPersonality and Training: • He was adventurous, courageous,

and had a biting sense of humor and a shady side.

• He may have studied with humanist priests, but much of his education came from his experiences.

Miguel CervantesSpanish Writer

Talents and Achievements: • He was a gifted writer with a talent

for satire.• He wrote many plays, poems, and

novels. • His masterpiece, “Don Quixote,” is a

satire that pokes fun at tales of heroic knights and at Spanish society.

• It is a masterpiece of world literature.

Leonardo da VinciItalian Renaissance Person

Lived: 1452–1519From: near Florence, ItalyPersonality and Training: • He was brilliant, extremely curious• A vegetarian• A keen observer, and an independent

thinker. • He trained under a master painter and

sculptor in Florence. • He studied art, music, math, anatomy,

botany, architecture, and engineering.

Leonardo da VinciItalian Renaissance Person

Talents and Achievements: • He was a painter, sculptor,

architect, and engineer.• He sketched inventions that

were far ahead of their time. • His “Mona Lisa” shows

perspective, balance, detail, and a rich use of light, color, and shade.

Leonardo da Vinci

Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci